Does your profile online stand out or are you Mr. Faceless?
What’s On Your Profile
When was the last time you looked at your online profiles? Even on LinkedIn?
The truth is you get busy. You set up your profile with the intention of going back and filling in the gaps. Something interrupts you. You move onto the next project. Three months later you still have those blanks in your profile.
An Incomplete Profile Has A Voice
Your profile is the first place your future customers go to check you out. If you’re profile is incomplete,they might think you’re saying:
“I’m way to busy to complete this so I’m way to busy for you.”
“I don’t really care about you so I’m not going to complete this.”
“I have something to hide,don’t trust me.” Really I’m not kidding.
What My Client Learned
Recently I was working with a client who didn’t have a complete LinkedIn profile. They didn’t think it was that big of a deal so we did a quick activity. I had them think of a service professional they needed to hire. Then we pulled up three randomly selected profiles of people in that industry.
We compared the profiles. Two were incomplete. One was complete with recommendations. I asked,if they were using LinkedIn as a decision criteria,which professional would they hire?
Without hesitation,they said the person with the completed profile. When I asked why,they said they felt they knew more about them. The professional had included links to their website,blog and industry association they belonged to. They had also taken the time to write a concise Summary and listed Specialties. They felt they could trust this person more than the other two.
Yep,That’s What Your Customer Thinks
Your customers are doing the same evaluation with your profiles. It doesn’t matter if it’s LinkedIn,Facebook,Twitter or other online network you’re using. When your profile is complete,you give the customer enough information to take the next step.
Not only is a complete profile useful for your future customers,but also for your current connections.
Setting Your Connections Up For Success…or not
Let’s say a connection wants to refer you to a potential client. They want to share your LinkedIn profile with them through an email introduction. When they go over to your profile,they notice how incomplete it is. That would be embarrassing for them to include so they leave it off.
You’ve just missed a huge opportunity to provide your connections with the “sales tools”they need to properly promote you. You would never print a flyer with just your name on it and give it to your team to distribute would you? Then why would you leave an incomplete profile out there for your connections to use (or not).
Plan Time Now For Tomorrow
The next couple weeks are busy getting the kids ready for school,but they are also the last weeks of semi-structured time for many of you. I’m going to recommend you look at the top three social networking sites you’re using and beef up those profile. This fall is going to be busy. Better get ready now rather than put it off any longer.
___________________________________________________________
Check out our latest homestudy program –LinkedIn 101
Jen Vondenbrink is a business life coach who helps small businesses put the systems in place to grow while still finding time to enjoy life. She 
