LinkedIn Profiles: can they have personality and functionality?

Despite not getting much attention from their owners, our LinkedIn profiles are working pretty hard for us. From a new contact taking a sneak peak or a well-intentioned stalking from a potential new client, our profiles see a lot of action. Let’s face it, we’re a nosy species! It’s because you can tell so much about someone from their profile. It’s part of our personal brand. 

So why then, do we avoid updating them?

I have a confession, I was guilty of letting my LinkedIn profile languish for 5 years. It’d been on my to-do list for so long it had become meaningless. It was just something I’d learned to ignore. If I did look at my profile I’d realise I didn’t know what I wanted to say, so I’d say nothing and put it off again, and again.

So I started to wonder, why are LinkedIn profiles so damn hard to write?

The answer came to me while pondering how much personality I should put into my LinkedIn profile? LinkedIn is a platform for professionals, but even so we should show some humanity and personability. To do so requires sharing a piece of ourselves with our audience. This is why we’re so reluctant to write our profiles. This is why it’s so damn hard.

I knew that my profile should be a mix of personal and professional, but how much of each? How much personal information is too much? Too little and we could sound staid, or worse, boring. Too much and it may sound narcissistic, unprofessional. There’s a risk of alienating our customers and contacts because our profile isn’t resonating, and we’ve failed to show how we can help them.

Happily I can report that I’ve updated my personal Linkedin profile, photo and all. I know you’re all desperate to rush off and read it, and who could blame you? But before you do, I’ll let you into a secret…

… I worked with a professional copywriter to perfect it.

I asked our copywriter and our photographer for their expertise. Writing your own LinkedIn profile is an art form, and even should you find the time, you’ll end up questioning what you write. You’ll sell yourself short. You’ll fall into cliché, or hide behind jargon. You’ll probably never be happy with it, and on top of all that, you’re already a pretty busy person.

Similarly, it’s very difficult to take a great selfie. Your friends and colleagues only have so much patience, which will likely run out after the 50th take… Plus, at PLOTT, we’re all about collaboration, so this was a great excuse to use our amazing network – not that we really needed an excuse!

Here’s what I learned about writing a great LinkedIn profile, one that’s both fun and functional.

Always use a professional photo.

Have a scroll through your connections and play a quick game of ‘pro photo’. Is it a selfie or a professional photo? Once you start looking, you won’t stop noticing. Your profile picture speaks volumes about your reputation and – if you’re a business owner – your business. Having a professional photo that captures your personality is an investment worth making. A professional photo and business background banner can still be fun but it will show that you take your business seriously.

Watch your tone (of voice!)

Your profile should sound like you. This is all about authenticity. Think about your tone of voice when you talk and what words you use most often. Readers should get a sense of you as a person and as a professional. Are you formal or conversational? Are you serious or playful? Are you frank and to the point, or enthusiastic and warm? When you’re writing, think about how you want to come across but also how you want to make people feel. You’ll want to sound professional, but your profile will suffer if it reads like you’ve swallowed a thesaurus or it’s full of corporate waffle.

Think about the value of your story

We all love a story. We’re wired to remember stories.  Reading about how you started or what you really stand-for will draw in your audience. LinkedIn’s 2,000 character limit doesn’t allow for your full history but it is enough to tell a short tale. Write out your story and then try to distil it into a line or two, ideally with something people may not know about you. 

Be yourself – there’s no ‘I’ in Anna.

Always write in the first person. Third-person perspective sounds odd when your own profile talks about you as if you are someone else. It’s your profile so it should read as though you wrote it yourself. Even if, as in my case, you did not!

Write your profile on purpose

It helps to think about your motives when compiling a list of things to convey. If sharing something won’t help people understand how you can help them, or convey how you work and what you stand-for, it’s better left out. Your purpose – your ‘why’ – should ooze from your profile. So if you do share a hobby or pastime, make sure it’s relevant somehow, (or at the very least, interesting or funny to read.)

And if in doubt, get someone else to write it for you. 

They’ll make you sound better than you thought possible but without bragging. Instead you can brag about your new profile without feeling like a twit!