LinkedIn Profile Mistakes You Should Avoid
LinkedIn can be an excellent eLearning tool, as this professional networking platform can become an invaluable social learning instrument that significantly increases the effectiveness of your eLearning courses. But what about your eLearning professional online presence there? In this article, I'll share the top 10 LinkedIn profile mistakes one can make when joining LinkedIn and help you flawlessly promote yourself as a highly skilled eLearning professional.
- Not having a profile picture or using an unprofessional one.
Not including a photo in your LinkedIn profile suggests that you don’t care to introduce yourself properly. People need to connect a name with a face and if you don’t put an image to your professional identity you may lose some business opportunities, as recruiters and potential clients are more likely to skip profiles that don’t include a photo. Furthermore, be sure that your profile picture is professional; inappropriate choices are immediate first impression killers and have a negative effect on your network activity. Remember that LinkedIn is a platform where you share your professional identity, not your personality traits. All in all, a professional headshot of yourself, so your contacts will not be surprised when you meet them in person, is the best solution to accompany your professional background. - Incomplete profile.
Not completing your profile sends the message that you may be trying to hide something or, even worse, that you never finish what you start, which is not a good way to sell yourself as a professional. Show your value to potential clients, employers, and partners by writing a brief but concrete summary section clearly laying out where you have worked in the past, for how long, and what your duties and accomplishments have been. Fill the main sections, such as professional background, experience, skills, endorsements, educational background and additional info, and make sure that you add your contact information; people don’t like to spend extra time looking for something that is not available. - Not customizing your LinkedIn profile url.
Setting up a proper LinkedIn profile url means changing the default string of numbers and letters that are assigned to your account to your own unique LinkedIn address that reflects your business name. A customized url will not only make your profile more authentic, but also help search engines easily find you. If you haven’t done it yet, take a few minutes and personalize your LinkedIn profile url here. - Not using the right keywords.
A common LinkedIn mistake that eLearning professionals do is neglecting to focus on the right keywords in their profile. If you want recruiters, clients, and potential partners to find you among nearly 400 million members on LinkedIn, you need to connect your name with keywords that apply to your specific eLearning professional skills and job position. If you are wondering whether the keywords you are using are right, look at similar LinkedIn eLearning profiles or articles about trends in the eLearning industry. - Grammar and spelling mistakes.
This goes without saying: grammar and spelling mistakes give a very negative first impression and make you look sloppy and inadequate. Especially in the eLearning field, it could be a total disaster. Be sure that you proofread everything you post on your LinkedIn profile, before you post it. This way you will not risk having your potential clients doubting your professional skills. - Using LinkedIn like Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.
LinkedIn is a purely professional network, that features professional content. It is a reliable business information and networking source, so if you want to be a credible LinkedIn member you cannot post your updates as you would for social media like Facebook and Twitter. So, when using LinkedIn to reflect your professional identity, professional etiquette is required. Have this also in mind when choosing your profile picture, as a photo that suggests a laid-back and fun attitude would be more suitable for your Instagram uploads. - Asking too much of your new connections.
Don’t make your brand new connections regret the decision to have accepted your request. Asking from a person you barely know to introduce you to someone you don’t know at all is a major LinkedIn mistake; it is like asking a person who doesn’t have any knowledge of your services to recommend you. You need to build a trusting LinkedIn relationship before you ask anyone for an introduction or a recommendation, and in order to achieve this, you need to be patient. Don’t start overloading your new connections’ walls and inboxes with self-serving sales pitches, eLearning articles, and videos. Get involved in their LinkedIn activity by commenting on their eLearning related content instead, so that you can point out your commonalities. - Being impersonal.
Speaking of new connections, be sure that you take the time to personalize a connection request before sending it; this way, your potential connection will be sure that you know who they are and your request wasn’t random. An effective way to personalize your request message is to include something specific that you wouldn’t know unless you have researched your potential connection’s background, like a comment on an eLearning article they have written, or mentioning that you have the same eLearning concerns, which you realized having read their comments on someone else’s article. Furthermore, always thank a new connection for their acceptance, as this shows them that you appreciate it and that you are not just randomly adding every LinkedIn member you can. - Being annoying.
Undoubtedly, it is very tempting to expand your eLearning network on LinkedIn as much as you can; but sending connection requests to everyone is not a very effective way to do it. After all, if too many LinkedIn members click “I don’t know this person” when you send them a connection request, LinkedIn will take action and may delete your account. Unsolicited connection requests are spamming, and nobody likes spam. Show that you give value to your potential eLearning connections by carefully selecting them and sending them a personalized message, as discussed above. Furthermore, try not to over post. You don’t want to annoy your connections by bombarding them with over frequent posting that may bore or alienate them. - Not being there.
The flip side of over frequent updates is zero activity for a long period of time; a serious LinkedIn mistake. You should regularly update your LinkedIn profile to reflect your eLearning career progress and goals. Join eLearning professional groups and then become an active member by commenting on posts and articles; this way, you will not only make your presence known, but also have the chance to show your eLearning expertise, which can lead to new business opportunities and a bigger network building.
Now that you know how to avoid the most common LinkedIn profile mistakes, you may be interested in using this networking platform to develop a winning social learning strategy for your eLearning courses. Read the article 5 Steps To Use LinkedIn For Social Learning to learn how to offer your learners the ability to benefit from the experience and knowledge base of their peers and other top professionals.