7 Ways to Make Your LinkedIn Profile a Conversion Machine

I recently came across a HubSpot blog called LinkedIn 277% More Effective for Lead Generation Than Facebook & Twitter [New Data]. The name kind of say it all. HubSpot found that traffic from LinkedIn generates the highest visitor-to-lead conversion of any social media channel. At 2.74 percent, that's over 270 percent higher than Twitter's .69 percent and Facebook's .77 percent.

If that doesn't convince you that both your personal brand and your company brand should be represented on LinkedIn, then you might as well stop reading now.

In the age of the Internet where anyone can learn anything they want about you during a single Google session, it's important to present yourself professionally on your public social media channels. And in an age where companies are expected to be as transparent, responsive and personable as, well, a person, the same presence and professionalism applies.

We've compiled a list of common sense and lesser know tips for gaining those coveted "so-and-so viewed your profile" notifications.

They WILL judge your book by its cover.

While this feels like a no-brainer, it wouldn't be a LinkedIn list without it - choose a good profile picture! For your personal account, use a professional picture of your smiling face. For your company account, a crisp logo should be fine.

And while this isn't one I'm completely sold on, many LinkedIn "gurus" will tell you that your headline, that first line that appears under your name on your profile, should be more than just a job title. It can describe who you are, what you do and what you can promise the viewer if they click on your profile to learn more. We'll cover the more tactical reason to update your headline later in this post.

Consistency is key.

Whether you're running several company accounts or just your single personal account, be consistent with when and what you post. To use the site to its full potential, you'll generally want to post once a day. Morning posts perform better, followed by updates made after hours. Experiment with what works best for the page you're managing and, if applicable, consider taking an "always on" approach if you find that will allow you to better serve yourself and your audience.

There are many tools out there that can help you with consistency, especially if you plan to stay engaged 24/7. However, you should only schedule your posts or use a single tool to publish across multiple platforms if you can be sure that they will maintain the level of quality that you demand from your manual updates.

Play well with others.

Connect your address books to your LinkedIn profile to find those long lost class and office mates that you might not have thought to connect to. Join LinkedIn groups that match your objective to expand your network with like-minded companies and individuals.

Tactics, not gimmicks.

Don't resort to flashy gimmicks to "sell" your LinkedIn profile - those usually come off as desperate and pushy in the end. Instead, include a link to your profile in your email signature, put a link on your website so visitors can stalk you across the web or even add sharing plugins to your posts so visitors can share your content right from the source.

Optimize all the things. 

If you're managing a company page, you can make multiple versions of your Products and Services page to cater to different segments of your audience. Choose from geography, company size, seniority, job function and imagery. You can even update the same page regularly with links that direct viewers to your most valuable or newest website content.

For any kind of user, search engine optimization of your profile is key. Because Google will preview about 150 words of your profile, make sure your headline is clear and keyword rich. Because users can research via keyword on LinkedIn, also make sure your entire profile is filled out in human-friendly content that utilizes keywords for your industry.

Avoid the "status" quo.

If you're reading this, you're probably familiar with the "status update" popularized by Facebook. Well, on LinkedIn these are simply called updates and are hopefully a lot more professional than the House of Cards statuses you can't quite stop yourself from making. (I know. I know.)

LinkedIn itself has some helpful tips on what kinds of content engages readers the most, such as:

• Updates should be compelling and give the reader a clear action to take.
• Use the "share with" dropdown under your update to more specifically target your update at the audience with the most potential to share, buy, connect, etc.
• Headlines that use the word "top" and the numbers 3, 5, 10, 25, 30, 50, or 100 can get almost 40 percent more amplification (shares, likes and similar actions) than headlines that don't. See what I did there with my headline for this article?
• Updates with links reach up to 45 percent higher engagement.
• Status updates that ask questions receive almost 50 percent more comments.
• Updates with images can gain 98 percent more comments.
• Links to YouTube videos can result in twice as much amplification and 75 percent more shares.

 The true measure of a man. (Or woman.)

Though I'm sure I've said this in previous posts and will likely say it again, you can't improve upon results if you aren't measuring them. The same is true on LinkedIn. If you're looking to improve your LinkedIn game, set goals for connections made, profile views, how your views rank among your connections and more. Experiment with some of the above tips and check in on your progress from time to time to see where you can improve and where you need to set new goals in lieu of broken ones.

Are you a LinkedIn pro? School us! Find Integrity on ​Facebook or ​Twitter or contact the author directly on her ​personal Twitter.

Sources:

​7 Reasons Why Your LinkedIn Profile Does Not Get Views

​Master The LinkedIn Company Page: 12 New Data-Backed Tips To Max Out Yours

​LinkedIn Company Pages and Followers

​15 Tips for Compelling Company Updates

LinkedIn 277% More Effective for Lead Generation Than Facebook & Twitter [New Data]

​Please Change Your LinkedIn Headline Now.. Here's Why and How