What does the perfect social media profile look like? On this week’s episode of Dear Katie, we explored all of the elements of the ideal social profile.
I often get asked to review people’s social media profiles, so this week, I polled my audience and asked if anyone would be willing for me to publicly review their social media profile.
I had multiple people raise their hands, so I picked one lucky tribute:
Thanks, Roman, for volunteering!
When I think about building a profile on LinkedIn or any social platform, the goal is to make sure people get the information they need. You should use social media intentionally to inform and engage, and you should take this approach with your content and your profile.
Profiles are NOT:
- Resumes
- Places for “cute and fluffy” language
- Gatekeepers to important information
Profiles SHOULD make it easy to understand:
- What you offer
- How you can help
- How followers can take the next step to work with you
With all of these points in mind, let’s dive in and take a closer look at Roman’s profile, from top to bottom.
Profile Picture
What’s the first thing everyone sees when they view your LinkedIn profile? Your profile pic. Make it count!
Roman has a great profile picture. It’s unique, and it reflects his personality. Remember that your personality makes you stand out on social media, so don’t be afraid to let it come through in your profile picture.
Roman gets bonus points here because when you click his picture, it plays a cover video that explains who he is and what his firm does.
Action Steps
Update your profile picture – especially if your current one is outdated or doesn’t represent you! It’s time to ditch that composite photo from your fraternity or sorority.
Don’t be afraid to take a different approach to your profile pic. Stand out and let your personality shine through.
Profile Banner
Your banner is a great opportunity to incorporate branding into your profile. Roman has done a great job of that here – love the aesthetic!
But I do have one recommendation: clarify the tagline. “Elevating Financial Data for Startups” sounds intriguing, but I’m unsure what “elevated financial data” means.
I’d encourage Roman to tell people what the outcome is. What does “elevated financial data” mean for his clients?
Ultimately, people want to know what kind of results you get for them.
Action Steps
If your profile banner is outdated or you don’t have one, update it. Make sure that it reflects your brand. Include your logo and follow Roman’s lead by adding a tagline.
I’d recommend making sure that your tagline is clear. What kind of outcome can you achieve?
Another alternative is to add a call to action to your banner, like:
- Book a call
- Sign up for my newsletter
- Join my group
Your banner is at the top of your profile and one of the first things visitors see. Take advantage of this space.
Tagline
When people read your tagline, they should know:
- If you can help them, and
- How you can help
While Roman’s tagline doesn’t necessarily do this outright, it’s clear who he serves (check to point one above), and most people know what a CPA does (check to point two above). The emojis also inject his personality into this space, which helps tie his whole profile together.
Action Steps
For taglines, I recommend using one of the formulas below:
- I help [who you help] with [what you help them achieve] by [how you help them do this], OR
- I help [who you help] [what you help them with] so they can [the outcome of your service]
People Also Viewed
The “People Also Viewed” tab shows up on the right side of LinkedIn. When people visit your profile, it will list other LinkedIn users who are similar to yourself. That makes it really easy for people to click off your profile and check out one of your potential competitors.
Here’s the good news: you can turn this setting off.
I noticed that Roman turned this setting off – great job! But just for your own reference, here’s what it looks like:
Action Steps
Don’t give visitors an easy way to get off of your profile. Turn it off in your settings, and LinkedIn will no longer show the “People Also Viewed” tab.
Featured Posts
Featured posts are an opportunity to get someone off of your social profile and onto a platform that you own and control. For example, if I wanted to work with Full Send, how would I go about that?
A featured post with a link to a contact page would make it very easy for me to reach out to Roman.
If he has a newsletter, he can also create a featured post that explains the value subscribers can expect from the emails he sends and provide a link for people to sign up.
Action Steps
Take a look at Justin Welsh’s featured section 👆. He gives you one clear, actionable option with his featured section. You should do the following when trying to create the perfect featured section for your LinkedIn:
- Ask yourself: what steps do you want your followers to take?
- How can you help followers take action as easily as possible?
About
About sections are one of the hardest to create because you have to do it in a way that is engaging and interesting without boasting too much (but also not too little). Let’s see what Roman has in his About section:
Action Steps
Roman did exceptionally well on his About page, but I would recommend that he brag on himself and his firm more. I know Roman personally, and he has been an integral cog in some very impressive client transformations over the years.
If you’re reviewing your own about page or want to revise it, be sure to explain:
- Who you are (consider background, passions, etc.)
- Why your work matters/the outcome of your services
- Who you work with
- How you’re different
- How should someone contact you? A direct message? An email? A booking link?
If you do have a call-to-action in your banner, make sure you leave the link in your About section, but again, it’s not 100% necessary to have a call-to-action in your banner.
Skills
LinkedIn allows you to be endorsed for many skills, and then you can feature two of those skills. Spend time selecting the skills that best match what you offer. Roman has been endorsed for 47 skills, and he features these two:
Action Steps
For Roman, these are two great skills because he is killing it as an advisor and prefers working with startups. You should:
- Select the skills that match you as a professional
- Strategically choose the 2 skills to display on your main profile
Recommendations
Roman! Your profile is missing key recommendations that can really make it shine. Recommendations are the most important thing to show off on your profile. Why? Because they give you credibility.
I recommend getting at least three recommendations. Since Roman’s clients and colleagues love working with him, this should be simple enough.
Action Steps
You can ask current (and past) colleagues and clients for recommendations, but they’re busy, right? To make it as simple and easy as possible for them to leave a recommendation, you can provide them with key questions to answer.
For Roman, I recommended that he ask:
1. Where were you before we started working together?
2. Where are you now?
3. What would you say to business owners thinking about working with me?
These three simple questions will make it much easier for people to leave a recommendation for you – or Roman.
Since 70% of people trust recommendations and seek this form of social proof, it’s a way to complete the perfect social profile and make it as strong as possible.
Again, I would like to thank Roman for volunteering. I love his profile, and with just a few small tweaks, I think it could be even better,
And, that’s a wrap on this Dear Katie question.
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Now I want to hear from you. Do you have a question?
Until next time, cheers to your success!
Katie
