When you are freelancer, it is very important that you have a wide network of contacts and clients to increase your chances of getting new projects. A good way to achieve this is through social networks such as LinkedIn. But in such a busy online market, how can you make your LinkedIn profile stand out from the rest? Here in this article are some tips to help you promote yourself using LinkedIn and what you stand to gain by doing that.
The truth is that LinkedIn can be a wonderful platform to help grow your career as a freelancer and help you get jobs and projects regularly. Now that there are even several LinkedIn automation tools that help do the job, it much easier. However, to be successful on LinkedIn, you need to device a strategy that will make you stand out from the rest, starting from how your profile image looks like. Why do you need a good strategy?
Advantages of Having A Strategy on LinkedIn?
– Connect with a potential network of 414 million people
But let’s be honest, you do not need “so many” people. With a few hundred people interested in what you offer, do not you think it would be more than enough? Dedicate yourself to fall in love with a few; the others will arrive alone.
– Give you visibility in searches not only within the platform … but also on Google
If you already have a profile, do the test and include your name in the Google search engine … probably your LinkedIn profile appears in the first results. In Google images, something similar also happens. The positioning power of LinkedIn within Google is very high. And you’re wasting it.
– Generate traffic to your web page
You can do the test because from Analytics, you can check from which social network comes traffic to your blog. Remember, in the case of many people, more than 64% of visits come from LinkedIn.
– Build trust in your potential customers
Through the recommendations of third parties, the exhibition of your works and your “history” and professional “experiences,” your prospective clients will be able to build trust in you and commit their projects into your hands.
Who would you call to request a quote? A person with a professional photograph, a complete profile, and a sample of their work or a person where their profile information “shines” due to their absence?
Yes, I would also call the first one.
The fundamental areas you need to work upon to help promote yourself
There are three important elements your LinkedIn profile must have so that potential clients can feel compelled to add you to their network and keep you in mind for future projects. These three elements are your profile photo, the title, and the summary.
– A profile image is an important element, since it gives a face to your profile, makes it more personal and memorable.
When you see a LinkedIn profile without a photo, it may appear that the person is hiding something and it is not transparent. If you do not want to give this bad impression, put a photo on your profile. Not only will you increase your visits and connections, but also the possibilities of being considered for a job.
When choosing a profile picture, make sure it conveys professionalism. If you do not have a studio photo, use a “decent” one. With decent, I mean that it is a clear image, with a good smile and adequate clothing. Sexy selfies and party photos are for other social networks.
The owner, for his part, must include what your profession is, what you do and for whom, and the summary must support it. It is advisable to write the title and the summary in the first person.
Keep a conversational tone with which customers can easily identify. Make sure it does not sound too informal, but neither pedantic. You must maintain a professional tone.
Also, you can include some keywords within your summary. This will help make your profile easier to find.
– Show your skills and experiences
As a freelance professional, you have probably acquired a lot of work experience and a range of skills, and it is important that clients know them. LinkedIn is a good way to show everything you know.
Include all your skills in your profile, as well as the different work experiences you have had. To make it more organized, you can classify your work experiences according to the projects that you have participated in or the clients that have hired you.
– Receive recommendations and validations
Having recommendations and skills validated by other people will help you build a reputation and make your profile much more attractive.
Start by recommending and validating the skills of the people you have previously worked with. In most cases, they will return the favor. Otherwise, you can always keep in touch with them and ask them.
– Networking and updates
Always keep your LinkedIn profile updated. If you are working on a project for a particular client, include it in your profile as soon as possible.
However, an updated and complete profile may not be enough to reach your customers. That’s the reason you need to join LinkedIn groups. This will help you create an interaction in the community, find more opportunities, learn new things, and grow your network.
– Next is your contacts. Create your follower’s community
Once you have your complete profile, you will have to work your network of contacts. In LinkedIn, your network consists of first, second and third grade contacts.
The contacts of first degree of your contacts, automatically become your contacts of 2nd-grade. And your 2nd-grade contacts in your third-grade contacts. This way, with each quality contact you add, your network expands exponentially.
It is important that you decide who you accept and to whom you send an invitation because in LinkedIn, you have a limited number of invitations to send. You can only send 5000 invitations.
