The 5 LinkedIn Mistakes To Avoid

You’re on LinkedIn, right? If you said no, you’ve made your first big mistake. LinkedIn is a must for your company’s social media marketing plan.

LinkedIn is the social network for displaying your professional profile, displaying your company profile and connecting with colleagues, clients and friends in your business. Having a LinkedIn page should at least be a part of your personal social media strategy, if not your company’s.

Once you have a LinkedIn profile, it’s necessary to keep it updated and keep improving it as a way to brand yourself or your company. There are many ways to keep your profile updated and with that comes many ways you could make mistakes.

Here are five mistakes you’ll want to make sure you avoid when updating your LinkedIn profile.

1. You don’t have a profile picture. Or, maybe you do have a picture, but it sends a message that makes visitors question your credibility. Research shows your photo can make or break your profile. Your profile picture is going to be one of the first impressions for people viewing your profile. You want to be sure to give off a professional and approachable impression right away. If you don’t have one, get one. Possible connections will think twice about connecting with you if you don’t even have a picture.

Once you do have a picture, make sure it gives the right impression. A picture with your dog, cat, favorite athlete or even with your significant other, can hurt your credibility and professionalism from the get-go. If you don’t want to be in a suit in front of a white wall, spice it up a bit. Take a picture of you sitting at your desk or in action within your company.

2. You haven’t optimized your profile. Find out what your career and your company keywords are and incorporate them into your profile, accurately. Parts of your profile you’ll want to optimize include: your headline (below your name), your summary and your experiences. There are many different ways to optimize your LinkedIn profile or company page.

3. You aren’t connected to groups. If you haven’t joined any groups, then you’re not maximizing your LinkedIn productivity. By joining groups, you are able to connect with more people who you may have not had a connection with before. You also get the opportunity to engage others in posts and discussions about topics related to your interests, skills and business.

4. No one recommends you. Continue to establish your professional credibility with recommendations from past or present co-workers, clients and others you have worked with. It may seem strange to ask for recommendations, but if you have a good rapport, they should be willing. It would also be beneficial to give recommendations, in order to receive more in return.

5. Outdated or complex links. Don’t have links that are too long or lead nowhere. You’ll want to make sure your current and past experiences are linked to the company’s profile page (if it exists). You’ll also want to make sure any company or personal websites, as well as your LinkedIn profile URL, are properly linked and simplified so they read: www.linkedin.com/in/johndoe instead of www.linkedin.com/in/john_doe8473?1!0abc.

Making sure you haven’t committed these simple mistakes is a big step in keeping your LinkedIn profile on track and, in the big picture, keeping your company’s social media strategy on track.

Have you made these mistakes? Are there any you can think of that we missed? Please share your thoughts below!

Published on: July 25, 2013