Since you’re not approaching LinkedIn with a sales approach mindset (but with a Serving Mindset), you need to make every aspect of this platform work to your advantage in order to both attract prospective clients and then convince them that you are the expert they’ve been searching for. 

One way to achieve this is by showcasing your expertise in a natural, informative way which leads to increasing your credibility as an expert.

Here are

5 Ways to Increase Your Credibility on LinkedIn and Attract Ideal Clients

1. Create a personal LinkedIn URL

Don’t settle for a generic profile number that’s impossible to remember; leave those for less savvy people who aren’t as detail oriented. Create a personalized URL that represents your brand and is easy to remember. Put it on your business cards and in your email signatures.

2. Splurge on a professional photo shoot

Make your profile page work for you. At a minimum, get a professional headshot taken, preferably in a few different styles or poses so you can use them on multiple platforms. If you can afford a full-on photo shoot, choose the best shots and make good use of them in all your branded graphics, including your social media headers. Only less experienced and more frugal DIY types will use a blurry selfie for their LinkedIn headshot.

3. Brand your profile with a custom banner image

It’s the little details that count when it comes to optimizing your LinkedIn profile. As the saying goes, “A picture is worth a thousand words,” so either hire a graphic designer to design your branded LinkedIn banner or create your own with Canva.com.

4. Publish regular content

You need to be active on LinkedIn for people to recognize you and you need to publish informative content for people to remember you. It doesn’t need to be a 1,000-word manifesto; social media users have extremely short attention spans. Simply publish a Top 10 list or throw out some helpful tips. Record a 1-2 minute video series with these tips and you’ll get noticed faster, simply because few people use video on LinkedIn. Forget about the funny cat pictures or silly memes; this is a professional space so save those posts for less formal Facebook. The key points here are to post regularly and to be informative in your content.

5. Publish long-form articles

Besides the small updates via your newsfeed, you also have the option to publish long-form articles on LinkedIn. They no longer get the same attention as they did when LinkedIn first introduced them a couple of years ago, but they still have their purpose. I use them to re-publish content that I’ve previously published on my blog – so this is in-depth content which has the benefit of being accessible via your profile through and can also be found by LinkedIn users when they use the ‘search for content’ option.

Paying attention to small details on your profile can help build your credibility as will publishing content on a regular basis. When people recognize your name as a regular, they will check out your profile and a possible business relationship can blossom from there.

 

Get a professional on your LinkedIn Profile

Your LinkedIn Profile is your business card. And as they say, you often can’t read the label of the jar you’re sitting in and it’s really worth wile to get your profile reviewed by a professional.

Check out my LinkedIn Profile Video Review.