Lessons
Lesson Info
Build Your Lindedin Profile
Let's get into optimizing our LinkedIn profile. There's no place better to start than our profile itself, right? Everybody in here has a LinkedIn profile, you raised your hand, you said it. The majority of people understandingly have this blank, John Doe, very generic profile on LinkedIn and most of the time it's something to pay attention to because this is the one platform where it's not like, I'm not building friends. I'm not building followers in this case, this is my professional network. This is my career, this affects my money. This is something that I should pay attention to way more than just thinking that it's going to help me get a job or not get a job. So your profile is the first place that people are going to interact with you, period. So here's some tips. You gotta have the right LinkedIn pic, guys. You've gotta have one and I've just seen it so many times and all of us are thinking about our picture right now, we're all going "What do I have on there?" Right? So you got...
ta choose a recent pic that looks like you. A recent pic that looks like you. Anybody ever met or saw someone online that has a picture and then met them in real life and you're like "Nah, that ain't it player"? That's not it. You don't, hey man, who? Oh you're what? Nah Jim, I don't think this is gonna happen, right? So if you meet me and this is not the kid, right? This was pre-baby, pre-marriage, still trying to be an artist kind of thing going on right there. Or maybe like, hey, do the high angle thing down so it makes me look skinny and then put a bunch of corn behind me cause I really like that motif. Then it kind of evolved into this, the dad chic look for me, which has been very approachable. It's funny because I used to have the buttoned up look. I've had the tie and the whole deal. Usually when I do speak on bigger stages I do have that kind of look, but man, I've tried to find a way to make it look approachable and when I think about it I'm like, "What really represents me now?" Well, I've got two kids, I got two little girls, they're beautiful, Florence and Pearl. I've got a wife who likes me, and I've got, no I'm just kidding she loves me, you love me. I also have a team of wonderful people that are talented trying toward a mission. How is it that I can convey that in a photo? And I know that's crazy. I'm on Creative Live. Like everyone here is creative and I'm giving you this advice. You're like "Yeah, we've got this, yeah I know how to take a photo." But there are some rules. So on LinkedIn, it should be 60% of the frame. 60% of the frame, okay? And usually when you're thinking about it, you have to choose the right expression. Let me ask you a question about this person. If this was their LinkedIn profile, what is it telling us? What is it telling us? Is it saying "Hi, come hug me"? Is it saying "Hey, I want to be your friend and connect with you and be a part of your professional network"? No, it's saying that I have a pouty mean face. (audience laughs) That's what it says. I'm a very handsome pouty mean face, but I have a pouty, this is my friend, Gary, by the way, who is probably most likely watching this so he also does have a pouty mean face. And you see them though, there's all kinds of, I have categorized all of them. There's the dramatic, avant garde look of is that my face? I don't know. Or the body part, I see this all the time, it's like an ear or an eye or a mouth, in this case it was a mouth and I was like "What is happening?" or the mean mug. Like I don't want to, don't mess with me, I'm a stock broker. Like that's how I feel about him. Or the hair face, hair face is my favorite. Ladies, if you've got good hair, guys, if you've got great hair, make sure it doesn't cover your face because people want to see who you are and not, even if you have illustrious, beautiful hair, or the explorer. This is like you want to show your outdoor activity and you're kind of, I don't know, you're just running around. No one knows if that's not you or Matthew McConaughey. They all know who that is. Or the dad joke, I think this is fun. Like people put their stuff at angles, anybody still take pictures at an angle, like this? Not like a vertical or a horizontal photo with their phone? That's like an early 2000 move there. That's like JNCO jeans and I don't know, it's just like a really, let's get over it. Or just the old fashioned I don't have a photo. You need to have a photo and it needs to be somewhat following these guidelines so that I know who I'm connecting with and I can trust you. So I built out a few different pieces here to show you how easy it is. So what I want you to understand is I'm putting out these GIFs and there are two ways to personalize this. So one, you have a cover photo now, and my rule of thumb with a cover photo is make sure it's branded and make sure it's conveying some, so what do you think here, like I'm speaking, I'm a rockstar, I'm on stage throwing out t-shirts. No, I'm not really that cool, but it's cool because it shows my company and what we do. It also shows you how easy, you can pick filters, you can adjust them right within the platform and you can even size it up and make sure it's in that 60% window. So it's not just your eyeball. Or it's not so far away that they don't know who it is. You can adjust all of this right within the platform. And then you have your headline. This is another way, personalization is a big part of gaining trust and doing a lot of this. One of the things you're going to see is that they give you space to do this. Your headline, it should be, for me, most people just put their title and their company. How many people have title and their company on their page? They give you more space to do this, cause they give you 20 characters for your last name, 40 total for your name. And then you have your headline, so it's 120 character limit. The headline is not a place where you have to put your company and what you do. Your headline can be personalized so it can say "Hey, I'm an executive sales leader, that's what I want to connect with as well" because when people see you as they're scrolling through their phone, they're seeing your headline, and they're seeing a little bit of your summary, the first line of your summary. They want to get that quickly that you are trying, so you can put here "Hey I'm trying to connect with people that are looking to partner in this area." I am looking for this, I am a world renowned photographer, I'm a world renowned speaker, whatever you want to put there, but that is the first interaction people are going to have and you can actually customize that part of the headline.
Class Materials
Bonus Materials with Purchase
Ratings and Reviews
Jeff Williams
Class was great, and Marcus was a great speaker, interesting and fun to listen to. A lot of great content and advise that I will follow.
Robin Hanson
I watched this class twice yesterday. I have been on LI for more than a decade. In all the classes I have taken through college and beyond, I have never learned more on-point information in such a short span of time. I started putting it to use yesterday, and already it is yielding positive results. I cannot recommend this class, and this instructor, highly enough. Thank you so much Marcus. Hope you connect to me on LI! I post beautiful images daily to give my connections a morning smile. RobinConstableHanson
Rajiv Chopra
I will definitely say that this is a good course, I have been on Linkedin for some years now, and there are many things that I did learn from this course. Yes, I do need to go back, and optimise my profile (and, my company's), start practising some good habits. Yes, he speaks fast, but Marcus is clear so, if you pay attention, there is indeed much to be learned.