LinkedIn profile tutorials always start with what seems like the obvious thing, and that is that you need to have an enticing title and a professional photo, so people will actually click through to your profile. That is incredibly important – but totally NOT the best place to start.
Today, let’s talk about why not, and even more so, let’s talk about where we do want to start to make sure your profile drives business and career results.
As always, you can watch this article in video format, or just read it below:
To Maximize LinkedIn Lead Generation, Always Start with the Audience in Mind When Writing Your Profile
The headline and photo on your LinkedIn profile are the first two aspects people are going to see when they’re searching on LinkedIn or browsing through the feed, which means they need to be crafted with someone very specific in mind – your #1 target audience. The ideal reader of your profile.
In order to write the kind of headline that will speak to your audience, and really – in order to write a profile that will speak to your audience – you have to be really, really clear on who your audience is and what they need from your profile.
So the first step is to choose a target audience.
This could be your company’s target audience. It could be journalists and bloggers if you’re looking to get interviewed. It could also be that you’re looking for a new marketing position – in which case, make sure you come back to this blog, because I’ll be sharing marketing positions that just pop up in my network.
Of course, if you’re looking for a marketing position, then your profile’s #1 audience is obviously different, and what you’ll emphasize will be different.
But what if you need to attract more than one audience?
Can You Maximize LinkedIn Lead Generation with More than One Audience in Mind?
The answer to that depends on how different those audiences are, but it is possible.
For example, if you’re in an industry like marketing to marketers, there’s potentially common ground between your company’s ideal customer and the kind of company you’d like to work for next.
Because, let’s say, you’re really great at converting email subscribers into paying customers. Well, if you work in a marketing agency, that agency’s prospects want to know that. And guess what? If you’re looking for another marketing position, your future employer also wants to know that.
But there are other ways to do this.
For example, if you talk about managing a marketing team that educates customers and therefore helps them maximize success with their purchases, it could help you connect with your company’s customers to hear more from them and identify gaps that you can fill – but it will also indicate to potential new employers that you are rocking this all managing thing, and you are potentially even going the extra mile to drive results for your employer.
I mean, who doesn’t want employees like that?
So there are ways to speak to two audiences at the same time, but my suggestion is to speak to one person if you can, or at least prioritize. Understand who your primary audience is right now, and who’s the secondary audience, and make a big effort to find the common ground between the two of them, because when that person or type of person that you want to connect with most comes to your profile, you want to make sure they feel like, yes! This is my person! This is someone who gets me and gets what I need.
How to Choose the Best Audience in Order to Write a GREAT LinkedIn Profile
You actually go back to the basics and think about your goals for this profile. Why are you investing time or money, or both, in LinkedIn?
What do you dream to accomplish?
Or if it’s not your choice, what do your CMO or CEO expect you to accomplish?
Once you figure it out, it’s going to be easier to choose a target audience, and that’s not only going to help you write a more accurate profile – or give whoever’s writing for you the information they need to generate leads for your on LinkedIn – but it’s going to help you build a higher quality network on the platform, and by higher quality I mean the kind of network that will help you reach that goal.
Give Your Profile Readers a Feeling that You GET Them if You Want to Increase LinkedIn Lead Generation
I have questions that I always ask my clients before I write anything for them – their LinkedIn profile, their case studies, their ebooks, their website copy, their articles – anything.
And I shared some of the most important questions I ask in another article. Check it out here and ask these questions about your audience too, before you write one more word for them. It’s the first step toward an audience that connects with you and helps you reach your goals.
