It’s that time of year when I like to refresh and update my LinkedIn presence – over the course of the last 12 months, you may have found yourself connecting with people you don’t know, adding sections to your profile that are no longer relevant, as well as a whole multitude of other LinkedIn activities which you have no recollection of doing! So here is my New Year checklist for tidying up your LinkedIn presence for 2020:
Your Profile
Is your headshot up-to-date? LinkedIn isn’t a dating site so your photo really should be a reflection of you! Add in a professional background image as well to grab the reader’s attention.
Check that your contact information and website links are still current – click on the ‘Me’ menu > View profile > Contact info.
Is your professional summary, work experience and other sections a fair reflection of your day-to-day activities? Remember, if you have attended one of my workshops you will understand the importance of telling the reader ‘what’s in it for them’ – LinkedIn is not just an online CV. Why would the reader want to engage with you? Do you need to add in any personal milestones or achievements from the last 12 months?
Do your media attachments need updating? If you work for a regulated firm, make sure any brochures that are attached are the most up-to-date version.
Tidy up your Skills & Endorsements – this is one of those sections that really can get out of hand very quickly. Remove any skills that are no longer relevant, add any new ones, and remove any endorsements from people you don’t know!
Update any Optional sections of your profile, such as Certifications, Organisations and Languages
Scroll down to the very bottom of your profile where you will find a list of all the LinkedIn Groups you are a member of, as well as all the Companies and Influencers you are following. I’m a big fan of keeping these lists to around 10-20 of each, otherwise I simply can’t keep up-to-date with everything that is happening on my news feed. Unfollow those Companies and Influencers you no longer want to follow and leave any Groups that are no longer relevant to your objectives.
Your Connections
I like to have an annual cleanse of my connections, otherwise the number can get out of hand. You have probably connected over the last 12 months with people you don’t know or have never met, so it is worth going through all of your connections and removing those that are no longer relevant (or have annoyed you!) – remember, they don’t get told that you have removed them. To do this, go to My Network, then click on your number of connections on the left-hand side. To remove a connection, click on the 3 dots next to their profile, then Remove.
Your Settings
In this era of data protection and online privacy, it is important to check that the visibility of your data is set to a level you are comfortable with. I won’t go through all the various Settings here (there are over 60 of them!), but the ones to pay particular attention to are:
– See where you are logged in (all of the locations where you are logged in to LinkedIn)
– Set the frequency of e-mails (this will tidy up your Inbox)
– View your applications (a list of all third-party sites that have access to your LinkedIn account)
– Select who can see your connections
– Select your profile visibility
– Ads (data-sharing) – in this post-GDPR world, make sure your data isn’t shared without your permission
All of these can be found by hovering over your photo in the top right-hand corner, then click on Settings & Privacy.
Happy tidying up!
