Born in 2002, LinkedIn is two years older than Facebook. They both are part of the social media family. But, LinkedIn’s mission is not that of his little brother; socializing with your friends.

LinkedIn is your professional virtual showcase.

A good LinkedIn profile boosts the development of your business and advances your career. In other words, a good LinkedIn profile pays off.

Isn’t that a good reason to invest as much, if not more, time to creating your profile than you spend browsing on Facebook?

Here’s how to create a precise and purposeful LinkedIn profile to will attract relevant partners.

THE BIG TITLE; YOUR INFOMERCIAL

With a maximum of 120 characters, it must be catchy, simple and specific. It highlights your skills, abilities and unique talents. Empathic, it solves the problems of those you want to attract as customers. Describe what you do and how you contribute. This title is the priority of your profile. Invest time in writing. Take inspiration from other people’s profiles that have similar positions to yours.

THE PICTURE; YOUR VIRTUAL IMAGE.

Without a photo, your connections will doubt your seriousness, your techno skills and even your honesty. It must be recent and without fluff. No sunglasses, no beach background, no kitty, no cat and no toddlers. Unless you work in one of these sectors. You must look like what you do when conducting business. Pay close attention to your clothes. Look straight ahead. Smile, as much with your eyes as with your lips.

THE SUMMARY; YOUR MINI-BIO.

This is what you do, how you do it and especially why you do it. It details your present and describes your future. Use verbs. Compose with “I” and authenticity. Just like when you network in person, even if you do business B2B or B2C write from an H2H, human to human perspective. LinkedIn’s SEO is made of these keywords. Customize your LinkedIn URL (Uniform Resource Locator). Here is mine www.linkedin.com/in/julieblaiscomeauso we may connect.

THE EXPERIENCE; YOUR VIRTUAL RESUME.

Display the logos from your current and previous employers. Qualify, but above all quantify, your achievements with results. Add successes, honors and relevant videos. These clips are one of the great benefits of LinkedIn.

TRAINING; YOUR DIPLOMAS AND CERTIFICATES.

Be sure to include all of your continuing education activities.

VOLUNTEERING; YOUR VALUES AND PASSIONS.

Your connections will see where you donate the gift of your time and talents. This section gives prospects the opportunity to get to know you better by recognizing similarities.

THE SKILLS AND RECOMMENDATIONS; YOUR PROFESSIONAL KNOWLEDGE.

Choose five to ten that you master. Seek the support of your superiors, colleagues and clients to validate them by asking for recommendations and “clicks”. As needed you can adjust the order of your skills. Clicking is contagious! Click the qualities of your employees and customers. The effect of reciprocity will follow.

THE CENTER OF INTEREST; YOUR SUBSCRIPTIONS TO THE PEOPLE AND GROUPS YOU FOLLOW.

Add your networks, associations, affiliations and professional groupings. If you are like me and have publications, add them too.

HOW TO CONNECT; THE INSTRUCTIONS.

1) Log in; start with your current contacts.

Then continue by inviting those that inspire you and those you can help to connect. After a networking event, at the beginning or end of a collaborate, congratulate, invite to an exploratory meeting or welcome to LinkedIn. Do it regularly.

2) Personalize your messages; do your homework.

You do not know what to write? Read their profiles to customize your messages. Highlight how you can help.

3) Be social; but remember it’s not Facebook.

Contribute and share content. Play fair. Give credit and celebrate the successes of others. Share.

4) Enable email notifications; answer promptly.

Do not miss a great opportunity for connection and conversation. Respect the usual time of an email to respond, especially during a job search.

5) Click “Ignore” or “I do not know”; it’s your choice.

Unless a connection is detrimental to your reputation, think about it before you decline an invitation. Compared to in-person connections, you are within “six degrees of separation” of a coveted connection.

LinkedIn gives you the ability to connect to more than 500,000,000 users. I have had three lucrative contracts from my LinkedIn. It’s an excellent return on investment! Invest time in fine tuning your profile.

Translated from my mitsoumagazine.com post (c) Julie Blais Comeau