I do all of the following once a year and suggest all my clients do the same! You’ll see what I’m talking about in a second, but having a daily, monthly, and yearly routine for LinkedIn keeps my account fresh and current. Nothing is more of a turn off than a LinkedIn account that looks like it hasn’t been touched in the past five years. Read my list and see if this won’t work for you.
The first thing I do is update my head shot. I’m a stickler on having a professional, up to date photo of myself. As my rolls at my business change, I need to change my photo to reflect that. In addition, I always reread and update my profile summary. I run my own business, and from year to year, well, things change. My summary needs to reflect that! Along with the profile summary, I change my headline adding keywords or subtracting them, and massaging the emphasis of what it says, if needed.
That’s not all!
The above only takes a few minutes, not including the time it takes to get a new photo. (And, that doesn’t take long. All my photos are done with my iPhone. I just need to make sure I’m dressed appropriately.) In addition to all this, I update my experiences. Again, like all businesses, mine grows and changes. I want my LinkedIn profile to reflect that and be current!
If I have an accomplishment that need bragging about, of course, I need to add that in. Recently, another big thing I do is consider what type of content I’m adding in. Recently, for instance, I’ve been using video and SlideShare a lot. A year from now, will that still be current? I don’t know. I do know, however, that once a year I need to think about it.
My final tasks are to revise my groups, shedding some and adding others. Again, these reflect the current trajectory of my business. Lastly, I go through my email and make sure that I connect with any of my new contacts on LinkedIn.
This all only takes an hour or so, but it cleans up my account wonderfully! And, it invariably leads to more sales!
