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Blog

LinkedIn: Stand out from the broker crowd

Your LinkedIn profile is likely to be your best digital opportunity to showcase your expertise, credibility, and experience to potential clients. 

After all, prospects will Google you: they’ll search for you online and are likely to land on your LinkedIn profile.

 So, it's important that you present yourself in the best possible light and provide the information they are looking for. It doesn’t take long to improve your profile. But when doing so, keep two things in mind: 

  1. How easy is it to find your profile on LinkedIn?

  2. How well does your profile sell you and your service?

 With those questions in mind, here are seven tips to improve your LinkedIn profile.

1. Use the right profile picture

It may be tempting to avoid adding a profile picture, but having a profile picture is essential for creating a connection with your LinkedIn audience. Research from LinkedIn shows that just having a picture makes your profile 14 times more likely to be viewed by others.

 Which picture to choose? Simple: it needs to be recent, relatively professional and look like you. Make sure you are on your own, with no distractions, wearing clothes you would wear to work, and that you are smiling - a study of profile pictures found that people who smile are considered more likable, competent, and influential. Your chosen picture should reflect how you like to present yourself when you meet face-to-face with clients.

 There is a second image option on your profile to consider too: the banner that runs across the top of the page. Add a company logo and banner image, using any brand colours. You can use a simple and free programme like Canva to create this image. 

2. Change your headline (it needn’t be your job title)

The headline text under your name and photo needn’t be your actual job title. It can describe what you do and how you can help prospects. This is a really useful space as headline text is searchable. So, think of keywords to include that feature your expertise, like ‘trade credit insurance’. 

 Have a look at what headlines your competitors are using for inspiration. 

3. Add your name pronunciation

If people tend to mispronounce your name, you can record your name pronunciation and display it on your LinkedIn profile. People will then know how to say it correctly, saving any awkwardness on their behalf. 

 Learn how to record and display your name pronunciation on your LinkedIn profile.

4. Tell your story in the summary (‘About’) section

If you haven’t written anything in the ‘About’ section, then you’re missing an opportunity. Most of your LinkedIn profile will be a factual run-down of your past experience, skills and education. But the ‘About’ section is a prominent part of your profile. It gives you an opportunity to show a prospect how you can solve their problems and why they should do business with you. 

 But avoid corporate buzzwords and jargon like strategic and motivated. Instead, be human, tell your story, and paint yourself as genuine, passionate about what you do and knowledgeable. 

5. Add relevant skills

What skills might a prospect look for in a broker? Brainstorm half a dozen that you want to be known for and add them to the ‘skills’ section on your profile. When you do, be sure to click on the relevant job role in which you have used those skills, and they’ll be displayed more prominently on your profile as a result. Finally, ask close contacts to endorse you for these key skills.  

6. Follow relevant influencers and thought leaders

Find those individuals that post nuggets of gold. It could be a colleague who is a regular and insightful commentator on LinkedIn. Or perhaps a thought leader in a space like AI who you think would be valuable for your contacts and prospects to see. Once you follow these individuals, their posts will appear in your feed, and you can comment on them to add your own value. 

7. Have someone else check your profile

Once you have improved your profile, then ask someone you trust to check it over for you. They can point out typos or grammatical mistakes that make you look unprofessional. They can tell you if your profile picture doesn’t quite hit the mark or maybe doesn’t show the real you. Or they can point out if you’re missing something or could sell yourself more.