LinkedIn Profile Tips: 9 Ways to Keep Your Profile Fresh

LinkedIn Profile Tips: 9 Ways to Keep Your Profile Fresh. How to make sure your LinkedIn profile stays up-to-date 1. › Your summary is a good place to do some storytelling. Hot tip: Your summary is also a chance to include some SEO in your profile—making your LinkedIn profile easier to find on Google. You can update your URL multiple times, so feel free to add in keywords related to your position or industry. For example, you could try a vanity URL that includes your job title, company, or industry. Personalizing your URL is a way of making sure that your LinkedIn profile is the first thing people see when they look you up on Google. At Hootsuite, we use Amplify—our mobile advocacy solution—to give our employees access to on-brand content they can share on their personal social media handles. LinkedIn makes requesting a recommendation easy—reach out to colleagues, business partners, clients, and other professional contacts. Like a real resume, you should update your LinkedIn profile on an ongoing basis.

Author: Kaylynn Chong / Source: Hootsuite Social Media Management

You wouldn’t send an outdated resume to a potential employer—so why let your LinkedIn profile wither away with old information?

As the world’s largest professional networking site, LinkedIn isn’t slowing down when it comes to growth. More than two new members join LinkedIn every second—contributing to a total of 467 million registered users that continues to increase.

To make the most of your LinkedIn presence, here are nine easy ways to make sure your profile stays fully optimized.

How to make sure your LinkedIn profile stays up-to-date

1. Update your profile photo

Your profile photo is the virtual equivalent to walking into an in-person interview—it’s a first impression.

It’s the first thing someone notices about your LinkedIn profile, so make sure it sends the right message. Ask yourself: it professional? How’s the quality? Was it taken in the last five years? Has someone else has been cropped out? Is it an accurate representation of what you actually look like?

Our advice is to update your profile with a good-quality headshot. Refrain from using a webcam image from 2007 (please). No one wants to do business with a thumbnail image of your pixelated face.

2. Update your background image

Now that you can add a background image to your LinkedIn profile, you’ve got another opportunity to further enhance and personalize your online presence.

We suggest that your background image reflect part of your professional life. For example, the industry you work in, a recent product release from your company, or something you care about.

It’s all about establishing a LinkedIn profile that says as much as it can about who you are in the workplace.

3. Change your headline

Your LinkedIn headline is right up there when it comes to first impressions. It’s a section of your profile people will first see when they conduct a search in LinkedIn’s user database.

Image via LinkedIn.

Headlines used to be matter-of-fact statements about your current role—say, “Junior Copywriter at Hootsuite.” But we’re seeing an increase in unique profile headlines as LinkedIn becomes more creative as a social network and people look for ways to set themselves apart from the masses.

For users who are in-between positions, it’s especially effective to explain what kind of opportunity you’re looking for and what experiences you already have. Instead of putting down “Unemployed and Looking”—try giving your headline more context to your job search, such as “Software Engineer Seeking to Build a Better Future With Companies in the Public Service.”

Hot tip: Turn a bland headline into a memorable one by explaining your job in a way that shows how you solve problems at work.