by Petra Fisher | Apr 15, 2018 | LinkedIn Profile |
On the first day of spring, 21 March 2018, my friend Angus Grady told me something was up. The way he viewed LinkedIn Profiles had gone all topsy-turvy. Two weeks later I understood what he meant. By now this new LinkedIn Profile Look is visible to most people; time to have a closer look.
CRAZY THING ABOUT NEW LINKEDIN PROFILE LOOK
It is all about who’s LOOKING. So when you didn’t have it yet, all looked unchanged, yet when someone else looked at your profile, they might see the new LinkedIn Profile Look. The reason this matters most is your background image (LinkedIn Banner). It used to be obscured by your profile picture in the centre, but now it covers the left. To make matter worse: at time of writing, there is a discrepancy between mobile and desktop. The image is this post is a desktop view, on mobile your headshot still covers the centre of your banner.
9 CHANGES TO BE AWARE OFF
You’ve just read all about change #1, your pretty face has been shoved to the left. Below the list of 9 changes, you can read all about numbers 2 through 9.
- Headshot moved, implications for banner image.
- Your headline moved to the left.
- The blue button has new meaning.
- More is more or less the same.
- Your current position is also easier to spot.
- You have the option to NOT show education on the top card.
- Contact info is no longer hidden.
- Slightly longer preview of your summary.
- Up to 5 media visible with summary; without clicking “Show more”.
YOUR HEADLINE MOVED TO THE LEFT.
Why does this matter? Depending on the length of your headline it might look funny. On desktop mine now has one word all by itself on a 3rd line. It used to be two lines and centered instead of left aligned. Not much you can do about it. It will look different on various devices people view on.
THE BLUE BUTTON HAS NEW MEANING.
When on your own profile, this now holds the options to add sections to your profile! I like how that now all lives in one easy to find spot. When visiting someone’s profile it still holds the option to message or connect (depending on your relationship).
MORE IS MORE OR LESS THE SAME.
On your own profile more lets you save your profile as PDF or share your profile. When visiting someone else’s profile more gives these options as well as options to recommend, ask to be recommended, disconnect, block or un-follow.
YOUR CURRENT POSITION IS EASIER TO SPOT.
In the old LinkedIn Profile Look your current job title, company, educational institute, location and number of connections were all more or less one long sentence directly under your headline. In the new LinkedIn Profile Look there is a neat, organised clear list of the most important parts of your profile.
YOU HAVE THE OPTION TO NOT SHOW EDUCATION ON THE TOP.
Generally, I advise listing all your experience and education. They show your professional development and by writing clever descriptions you can use keywords all through your profile. At the same time, I am all for personal choice and options, so YAY for the ability not to show education in the top section of your LinkedIn Profile.
CONTACT INFO NO LONGER HIDDEN.
This one I LOVE. It used to be hard to find. Now it is in clear view. Make sure you utilise this piece of LinkedIn Profile real estate to the max. Read all about the hidden gems of your contact details on LinkedIn right here.
SLIGHTLY LONGER PREVIEW OF YOUR SUMMARY.
This is a great improvement! Your summary is where you present yourself to the reader who made it past your pretty picture and great headline. Beware that people checking you out via the mobile app will still see less than those using the desktop version. If you need some help structuring your summary, you might like to read this post.
UP TO 5 MEDIA VISIBLE WITH SUMMARY.
YAY media with the summary is no longer hidden behind the “Show more” link. Not only is it directly visible with the new look LinkedIn Profile, there are also MORE media items visible without scrolling. I’m sure you’ve heard that thing about a picture vs 1000 words. You can also upload video, presentations, PDFs or links to websites. Mind you, not all displays pretty.
>>> Tell me in the comments: have you updated your banner? What other changes have you made?<<<
by Petra Fisher | Feb 18, 2018 | LinkedIn Profile |
Love it when I get asked questions. Like the other day, when Business & Marketing Coach Stephanie Ward asked: “How come I no longer receive an email about LinkedIn Invitations? All my settings seem correct.” LinkedIn Notifications exists in two flavours. The ones with the little bell icon and the ones through email.
GREMLINS OR SETTINGS
My first instinct is to blame Gremlins, as I do for most stuff. Then I had a look at the settings and noticed the little “detail” drop-down thingy… please do click and check all the sub-settings.
CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT
If that doesn’t fix it … gremlins, or more likely bugs. LinkedIn is doing LOTS OF STUFF behind the scenes to improve the platform. Unfortunately, this often plays havoc with existing functionality. But then again, good stuff comes to those who wait (and put up with the funny stuff along the way).
>>>Have a question for me? Pop it in the comments. You could be featured in my next blog! With a link to your profile. How is that for exposure?<<<
by Petra Fisher | Jan 24, 2018 | LinkedIn Profile |
How would you like to take control of your LinkedIn Notifications? Decide what makes that little bell on the menu bar get all excited! I dunno about you, but I have turned off all sounds for notifications. It is bad enough to see the number next to the bell icon go up and up and up and up… Just as well it isn’t a balloon icon or I’d be afraid it might explode!
WHICH LINKEDIN NOTIFICATION BUGS YOU THE MOST?
- InMail reminders (when you received one and didn’t answer yet).
- Job recommendations
- Your connection wants your input on conversations
- Responses to a post that mentions you
- Skills endorsements
- Birthdays
- Job changes in your network
- Responses to your group post
As you can see, not all LinkedIn Notifications are evil! Most are quite useful actually. If there are some that you find pointless, just switch them off. There are FIFTY-SIX (56) different types of notifications. Enough to drive any person insane. Just as well it is easy peasy to take control!
HERE IS WHAT YOU DO
- Click the notifications icon on the menu-bar.
- Click “view settings” (I already clicked, hence the blank space at number 2 above).
- Click on the > for each category (one at the time) and switch off to your heart’s content.
>>> Tell me! What notifications are you switching off?<<<
by Petra Fisher | Jan 22, 2018 | LinkedIn Profile |
Its all about me! Actually, that is YOU! LinkedIn Settings and Privacy are found by clicking the drop-down arrow next to “Me” underneath the tiny picture of your gorgeous self (in the menu bar). There are three main categories with twelve subcategories: 48 SETTINGS TO DEAL WITH! Not going to bore you with all of them, but there are some you really have to look at! Advertising Preferences, Representing your Organisation, and Profile Viewing Options for example.
ACCOUNT – PRIVACY – COMMUNICATIONS
As we know, LinkedIn continually develops, meaning features come and go. This isn’t always noticeable in everyday use. It doesn’t hurt to add a repeat reminder to your calendar, to check your LinkedIn Settings & Privacy quarterly. The three main categories are Account, Privacy and Communications. They each have subcategories which each have multiple items. Dizzy yet? Not to worry, it is all very organised and easy to review. I’ll explain some below the screenshot. Not all, not even half, as I pride myself on short blogs that just take minutes to read.
LET’S LOOK AT SOME OF THOSE 48 SETTINGS…
Representing your organization, this is a tricky one. In the olden days, if the company you work for advertised on LinkedIn, your profile picture and name could be displayed with it. To be honest, I have not been able to find if this is still the case. You do show up in “company insights” to users with a Premium Business, Sales Navigator or (some) Recruiter accounts. That can look like this:
Other insights are: Total Employee count, New Hires (with profile pic, name, clickable link to profile), notable company alumni (with profile pic, name, clickable link to profile). Up to you to weigh up professional visibility against privacy.
Advertising preferences: I’ve always put this on ‘no’, but once again it comes down to personal preference. You will get to see advertisements regardless. Unless you install the “Adbock Plus” extension in your browser (highly recommended, no affiliate). If you leave this setting on yes, you’ll see targeted ads based on your interest. If you set it to no, you’ll get random advertising.
Profile viewing options: This is where you decide to openly smile at someone or secretly check them out.Occasionally there are good reasons to stay under the radar. If you are a therapist and checking out LinkedIn profiles of your clients, they might feel creeped out. Not sure why, as it is only your PROFESSIONAL life displayed. If you are open to a new position or new clients, be open! Let people know they sparked your interest enough to check out their profile!
HAVE A GOOD LOOK AT THE COMMUNICATIONS TAB
How many emails a day to you delete without opening? I suggest if you are on LinkedIn daily, you can turn off all e-mail notifications. You will see the little notification bell on LinkedIn anyway. Just if you are a member of groups you don’t visit daily, set the email notification for those groups on a weekly digest, to quickly scan what is happening.
Download your data: this is a pretty nifty feature. I know you would never download your connections to then add them to your newsletter or otherwise spam them. It is handy to have your network in Excel though, a lot easier to analyse your network by: First Name, Last Name, Email Address, Company, Position, or Connected On date. More ore fun (for the ego) it is to download your recommendations! In the olden days, you could only download your full data archive, now you can pick and choose, go have a look!
>>> Please go to Settings and Privacy and walk through each option. If you have ANY questions, pop them in the comments below!”<<<
by Petra Fisher | Jan 19, 2018 | LinkedIn Profile |
How up to date and complete is the contact section on your LinkedIn profile? When I took a screenshot for this post I found out – shock horror – that the 3 links to my website, the information with address, and Skype were all missing. Yikes. Especially since I did something clever with 2 out of those 3 entries.
THERE ARE 8 HIDDEN GEMS IN CONTACT
- Profile URL (make it clean and lean)
- Websites (add description)
- Phone (more on that later)
- Address (here I got real clever)
- Email (more on that later)
- Twitter (remember twitter?)
- IM (I put my Skype name here)
- Birthday (if you like congrats)
LET ME WALK YOU THROUGH
LinkedIn Profile URL
By default, LinkedIn adds some gibberish after your name. Not a pretty sight. Please clean it up by just typing in your name.
Websites
You can add THREE websites to your profile. They can all link to the same website! Link to the home page, the services page and the contact page for example. Make sure to go for “other” instead of “personal” or “company” the other field allows you type a short description that appears after the URL (in brackets).
Phone
If you are happy to be contacted to by phone, do add the number. Now remember: these gems are HIDDEN. The contact bit sits in the right sidebar AND people need to click “show more” double whammy hidden. Add the phone number (with a call to action) to your summary as well.
Address
Sure, you can add your business address. But it is a free text field, so you can just type any message you like here! Whoppaaa… get creative and clever people.
Email
Same story as the phone number. Nuf said.
Twitter
If you are on Twitter, add it here. It becomes a clickable link on your profile AND it is visible ABOVE the contact section as well, without having to click on “show more”
IM
Here you can add ONE messenger service. Options are: AIM, Skype, Yahoo!Messenger (do people use that?), ICQ (whoohoo its back! Born in 1996, 7 years before LinkedIn, WordPress or Skype), Google Hangouts, QQ, WeChat (cannot be serious about Chinese market if you are not on WeChat).
Birthday
This is so cool! You connections send you messages. True, often just the default LinkedIn one, but hey, they DO put in the effort to click that. Or (makes me feel real special) people use the LinkedIn trigger and then replace the default message with a personal birthday wish!
>>> Tell me (in the comments) are you using all 8? Why/why not? <<<
by Petra Fisher | Aug 2, 2017 | LinkedIn Profile |
Media on LinkedIn can stuff your reputation. If done without thought. Yup, gotta put thought into it. The banner on your LinkedIn profile strengthens or weakens your message. I explained this in “3 Things you need to know about your profile banner.” This goes for any media you add to your profile. Make sure it sends one clear message with the words on your profile.
TYPES OF MEDIA TO ENHANCE YOUR LINKEDIN PROFILE
Below 5 ways to use media on LinkedIn that are pretty clever. First, let me tell you what types of media you can add to your profile.
- Video: if you are lucky, you can now record native video on LinkedIn (I haven’t got it yet (July 2017). You can also embed from 50+ providers such as YouTube, Vimeo or Hulu.
- Images: I love creating images with Canva and with Paint (scribbling on screenshots). You can upload an image from your computer or embed an image from sites such as Instragram, Dribble or Dinosaur Comics. Yeah right!
- Rich Media: I always struggle with this. What does the rich stand for? Also makes me wonder if we can display poor media on LinkedIn. LinkedIn gives Slideshare (which they happen to own 🙂 ), Prezi and Storify as examples.
You can also add ‘Audio’, ‘Products’ and ‘Other’ to your profile. Explore all 50+ options here, pretty much anything you can embed with embedly by the looks of it. (I got this from this page on LinkedIn Help).
5 CLEVER WAYS TO USE MEDIA ON LINKEDIN
- Counter attack prejudice.
- Showcase written publications.
- Conduct a mini lecture.
- Record a live video.
- Make a point.
1. An Armenian guy (3rd generation in The Netherlands) asked me: “When your last name is 5 syllables and your hair is pitch black, any idea what that does for your profile views?” Unfortunately, I understood his point. To counter attack he recorded a 1 minute video introducing himself. The main aim of the video was: prove he spoke flawless, accent-less Dutch.
2. If you’ve been published in a magazine, journal or newspaper there is not always a digital version to link to. You can take a picture of the publication and add this to your profile. Does miracles for establishing your authority. I published several articles in a Dutch Publication called “Marketing Rendement”. The generation that values paper publications is a dying breed, but we have not gone extinct just yet!
3. After you add media to LinkedIn, 2 items display without scrolling. I wrote 3, went to grab a screenshot and LinkedIn had changed it to 2! You can create three images that explain a topic to your audience or give step by step instructions. If you want to go over 2 images, write a table of contents on the first image, so people will know to scroll. Pay attention with uploading. The most recent upload displays first.
4. Social platforms always favour their own content. It won’t surprise me if LinkedIn will favour ‘native video’ over embedded video. What I like about live video (I use it on Facebook) is that people do not expect high tech quality. I do download the video afterwards, add captions, upload it to my YouTube channel and share it again. 85% of Facebook video is watched without sound. I have no doubt things on LinkedIn will go in the same direction.
5. Why would people read the articles you publish on LinkedIn? If you have a good title, that might entice people to click through. When people scroll quickly through their news feed an image stands out more than a text message. Always create a banner image for you LinkedIn articles that includes wording with the main point of your article.
>>> One of these days I shall follow up on my brilliant thought under point 3. How do you use media on LinkedIn? <<<
