How To Write a Good LinkedIn Summary
LinkedIn is not only famous for job seekers but also professionals, marketers, and business owners. It has significantly different user characteristics compared to other social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
The LinkedIn summary is a vital part of your account page. It's where the first impression is defined. So, having it delivered excellently will improve your chance of getting a new job or having more connections.
Whether you're an unemployed looking for a job, a modern marketer, or a text animation app owner, having a winning LinkedIn summary is paramount. You can implement some tips below to write a good LinkedIn summary.
Keep reading to discover the essentials!
What is a LinkedIn Summary?
The LinkedIn summary refers to the "About" section on your account, which you can find below your profile picture. It is a dedicated space where you should promote yourself by adding essential and relevant information.
A LinkedIn summary is vital for any user, including job seekers, professionals, or business owners. But, writing a good one can be challenging and trickier than you think. Yours should, at least, have the points below.
Authenticity
Your LinkedIn summary needs to be authentic. It means you must stay true to who you are, what you do, your strength, or other additional information that can make you stand out. Most importantly, never copy others' LinkedIn summaries.
Job Experience
Add your job experience to your summary to add a kick to it. Job experience can help you build a professional image, which will be beneficial, especially if you're looking for a new job.
Unique Traits
State your unique traits or qualities that most companies are looking for in a candidate. You can support it by providing achievements and accomplishments in your previous job or throughout your career.
Why Do You Need a Good LinkedIn Summary?
A good LinkedIn summary will play an important role in shaping your professional life. However, it may have different roles depending on your status, whether you're a job hunter, professional, or businessman.
For job hunters, the LinkedIn summary is a space to impress recruiters, but for professionals and business owners, it's a space to promote their businesses and show their integrity. Below are three points why a good LinkedIn summary is necessary.
Define the First Impression
Your LinkedIn summary will define the first impressions of every user who sees your profile. If yours isn't well-structured and written, it can downgrade your integrity and professionalism. Therefore, your LinkedIn summary will also define your future.
Strengthen Your Searchability and Visibility
If you're looking for a job, using work-related words is important, including adding your last position and skills.
Moreover, professionals and business owners should also input their company names and expertise. Adding the two can improve their searchability and visibility in the LinkedIn search engine.
Show Your Personality
How you deliver your LinkedIn summary will show your personality. Especially recruiters can tell what kind of person you are by looking into your "about" section. If you have it well-developed, you are more likely to get the call.
How to Write a Good LinkedIn Summary?
Writing a good LinkedIn summary requires you to be strategic. LinkedIn provides a max of 2,000 characters for the "About" section. It should be around 300–500 words. What should you write then?
If you're still figuring out how to start, we got your back! Below is a list of some steps to write a good LinkedIn summary. Let's discuss each of them below.
#1. Show Personality
You need the first few words of your summary to evoke interest. Share a bit about your expertise and why you like it.
You can write, "I'm an animator with two years of experience," or "I’ve loved drawing since a kid. That's what drove me to become an illustrator,"
Consider adding how you discover your passion and what makes you passionate about it. You can also state what makes you proud about your role to show your expertise and personality.
#2. Make Attention-Grabber Beginning
The beginning of your summary is vital to grab attention. Therefore, the first 300 words must be powerful as they will always be visible to anyone. Keep in mind that LinkedIn has the "see more" button in this section.
Continuing the previous example, you can write your achievements and accomplishments throughout your career. Mentioning works and changes you've made will prove your competencies.
#3. Explain Your Background
You can follow up by explaining your background. State your formal education, internships, or training programs you've taken before. Mentioning those can escalate your image to others, especially recruiters.
Even if you're self-taught, you can also mention your journey in a compelling narration. Show off your persistence and how you achieve your goals until the present time.
#4. Highlight Your Skills and Strength
Other important things to highlight are your skills and strength. It's necessary to highlight your technical skills and explain your skill levels. Whether you're an experienced writer, videographer, salesperson, or others.
Your skills and achievement will be your strength. So, focus on compiling well-structured sentences to make your summary readable and understandable by readers. For instance, marketers need to understand data-driven marketing, HR team wants to experiment with new employee onboarding trends, and more.
#5. Add Numbers and Data
You can also add numbers and data into your summary, but make sure not to make it too formal. It's always better to deliver your LinkedIn summary in a conversational tone.
Use numbers to show how many projects you've done or how many works you've completed. You can also mention your achievement in your previous jobs.
#6. End with a CTA
Call-to-action (CTAs) are important at the end of your LinkedIn summary. It's not always necessary to input CTA, but it can be very helpful if you're looking for a job.
Close your summary with some goals you want to achieve and encourage readers to connect with you on LinkedIn.
Moreover, a CTA is worth writing, even if you're not a job seeker. It can help you broaden your connections and get to know more valuable insights. For example, you can add CTA and compelling presentation slides, which can be in the form of 3D animation or motion graphics
#7. Use Job-Related Keywords
One more important thing is to use job-related keywords. Recruiters often search for candidates through specific keywords. The work-related keywords can be skills, job titles, or even industry jargon.
Having the right keywords on your LinkedIn summary will improve your visibility on search engines. So, your profile will appear more often when recruiters look for candidates through the search bar.
The Bottom Line
Your LinkedIn page is a tremendous promotional medium for everyone, especially job-seekers. Having it more manageable and well-organized can give you many benefits for your career ahead.
The above point can help you write a good LinkedIn summary. Ensure the paragraph you write is readable and easily understood by readers. Also, don't forget to update your summary whenever you achieve something new.
Author
Andre Oentoro is the founder of Breadnbeyond, an award-winning explainer video production company. He helps businesses increase conversion rates, close more sales, and get positive ROI from explainer videos (in that order).
Twitter: @breadnbeyond
Email/Gravatar: andre@breadnbeyond.com
LinkedIn: Andre Oentoro