In marketing, we know that the more distinctive brands Voice is, the more likely it is to be recognized and shared. Whether it's a signature color like Coca-Cola’s red or Tiffany's blue, or a phrase that seeks its way into pop culture, “Where’s the beef, What’s in your wallet?” the more flavorful the brand, the more it will be remembered.
So if LinkedIn is all about personal branding – and it is – then why are LinkedIn profile so freaking dull?
Most profiles out there are nothing more than uploaded resumes, about as sexy as a corporate biography. But as Marketers, don't we want our clients to know our wit, our intelligence, and our personalities?
Two people spring to mind when I think about LinkedIn profiles with personality – my friend Bryan Seely in the US and Danusia Malina-Derben in the UK.
Neither of them are even in Marketing and yet their witty, attractive and engaging profiles blow the LinkedIn profiles of marketing geniuses (and mine) out of the water!
Danusia’s profile photo – she's also Photographer – will make you chuckle. Bryan’s Profile hero image will make you laugh out loud. Both Danusia and Bryan have professional headlines that make you scratch your head – and more importantly – read one! Their summary sections are works of art.
Both have managed to infuse humor while going about the serious business of doing business on LinkedIn. Bryan even got Steve Wozniak to agree to write the forward to his book! What!?!
We’re not all as funny and clever as Bryan and Danusia. Your profile does not have to be slapstick humor – you know your audience and what they'll expect and accept from you – but you want to have a LinkedIn profile that's more than just a black-and-white imprint of your work history.
LinkedIn gives us lots of opportunities to add personality to our profiles. Not just with the additional sections where we can list our skills, (speaking of an opportunity to add humor – consider adding something humorous to your skill section and see how many endorsements it gets! I had 12 endorsements for “underwater basket weaving” before I finally deleted that skill.) We can also add our certifications, our publications, and our patents. But with the introduction of the media button, it's now easy to add images, videos, PowerPoint presentations, etc.
While your profile does not have to be (probably can’t be) the masterpiece that Danusia and Bryan have created, I would recommend taking a little time to infuse some personality into it:
- Create an eye-catching header image
- Upload a decent picture of yourself – let your personality shine through
- Use your Summary section to describe not only who you are but who you serve and why they should hire you
- Add media! Maybe not singing cat videos, but something that showcases your work
- Add some “Additional Sections” to your profile
- If you haven't used all 1000 characters in the experience description section, consider getting a few testimonials from happy clients or colleagues to put in there.
- In “Advice for contacting” under Additional Information, consider creating some mildly amusing content. (I have written a rather caustic note to all the spammers on LinkedIn).
Just making these few little tweaks will make all the difference to your profile, and may in fact increase your engagement on LinkedIn (just ask Bryan the results of his profile!) Because increased visibility and engagement means more business! And that is serious business!