How publishers can optimize their LinkedIn profile

Are sellers optimizing LinkedIn for their next job or their next customer?

That was the question posed by Colleen McKenna, Founder and CEO of Intero Advisory, to attendees of the 2023 Niche Media Conference. Intero provides LinkedIn training for publishers and other companies, specializing in what she calls “deep selling.”

Too often, sales and other executives optimize their profile for their next job without realizing how critical their LinkedIn profile is to the process of B2B sales, she said.

“Positioning for B2B selling is in trouble,” she said. “Only 5% of the buyer’s journey is spent with the salesperson.”

In addition, “6.8 people on average participate in making business buying decisions. Now some say it’s almost 13 people. No one on the buying side wants to make a mistake,” McKenna explained. So most crucial pre-purchase research tools for purchasers are the company’s website and LinkedIn profiles.

More often than not, the first thing a customer will do is Google a seller’s name, and a link to their LinkedIn profile typically comes up first, at least for working professionals, she said.

When McKenna asked the attendees of her presentation to Google their own names, the “ooohs” of an “aha” moment sounded through the crowd as LinkedIn profiles usually topped the results.

The same holds for writers calling news sources and publishers arranging events: The person meeting a business contact for the first time has usually researched their name on LinkedIn.

“Your profile is your number one piece of content on LinkedIn. That is the first impression,” she said.

So how can sellers and publishers optimize their profile pages? Here are eight tips from McKenna’s presentation & Wiza.co:

1. Start by auditing the current profile and optimizing it for the next person your team wants to meet, rather than for the next job. It’s a subtle difference but an important one. Does the profile say “Experienced, battle-tested account executive?” That sounds like a resume. “Experienced in and passionate about creating outstanding ROI for advertisers using multi-channel campaigns” may sound like someone who could help build a successful campaign.

2. Show expertise, not just a job description. Does the profile portray someone worth spending time with? “More than 300+ campaigns with successful, proven ROI” sounds like a higher expertise level than “Managed 300 accounts.” How about this quote from Ryan Doran’s about section, “I had the unique privilege of winning an Emmy and over 20 other industry awards for sales and marketing excellence.” Anyone researching him as a sales trainer is bound to be impressed.

Here’s Justin’s Welsh’s profile mentioned as an example of what to do right in a Wiza.co blog:  “I coach SMB SAAS founders to accelerate reoccurring revenue towards $50 million.”

3. Add a background image.  Note that Justin Welsh’s profile has a background image that sells the value proposition, too, along with a “book a call” CTA. While not all profiles will be this aggressive, the default background is not a good look, especially for marketers displaying their own expertise. Give your profile more importance by adding a strong visual that ties in with your messaging.

Here’s  McKenna’s background  featuring her signature slogan: She pointed out that  Ryan Dohrn, the conference’s producer, and a professional sales trainer and speaker, has a great image of himself speaking at an event, showcasing his event production and speaking experience. “I love this image,” she said.

5. Write in the first person. Everyone knows who wrote it. The third-person description of yourself sounds awkward and slightly off.

6. Post content that positions you as an expert.  Sharing and resharing valuable content in your feed helps position you as an industry expert worth talking to.

7. Ask for recommendations. Recommendations are almost as crucial as referrals; they show that other people confirm your expertise and that you are great to work with.

8. Organize the content in a way that tells a story to the network you are building. Don’t be afraid to be creative and innovative: Dohrn starts his “About” section with “I love my job!” He uses the “featured section” to showcase his YouTube videos:

8. Build contacts intentionally, not randomly. Too few connections is a red flag indicating inexperience. The best practice is to connect with the business contacts you meet who may be future collaborators.  It’s an extra step after sending a text or email but an important one.  McKenna suggests that you download your list occasionally to see who is there. “Take a new look and ask, ‘Do I have the right kind of network to drive my business further?’”

9. Weave-in keywords likely to be found by search engines. If you use language like “Instigator of promotional wizardry,” it’s clever. However, those words are not likely to be search engine friendly. So if you want to keep the excellent language, add more search-friendly words as well.

In summary, the LinkedIn profile is the building block for creating a network that generates referrals and an excellent place for any B2B seller to start enhancing a LinkedIn strategy.  Start to build a strategy by optimizing the profile.