LinkMe Up Before You Go Go🪀

Unfold Weekly Follow-up: LinkedIn Edition

Round 2…here we go!

We built the structure, now it’s time to add depth to our newly minted business card. In case you were not an Unfold Weekly aficionado a few weeks ago (yes, we are pointing fingers 👉), here is the link for Part 1:

https://unfoldweekly.substack.com/p/we-should-link-up6-feet-apart

Continuing from last time, we can now look up and see the shining ⭐️ of the holy trinity of S-A-R (Situation-Action-Result). But first, how do you want to be known?

Give me a Headline

This is one of the most important, yet overlooked aspects. As much as the Silicon Valley Chic promotes “Visionary”, “Game Changer” or “Innovator” (insert douchey headline), one should convey their actual role. Click the link for some mundane advice🤷🏽‍♀️.

Updating Your Current Position on Your Introduction Card

Remember the tongue twister, “she sells sea shells by the sea shore”? It would be very confusing to write “Seaside Entrepreneur” or “Growth @ the Sea Shore 🌊”. The Headline must be the easiest, most direct way of describing you and possibly your business. This is literally the second thing (after your name…which hey, you can even record the pronunciation of on your LinkedIn page!) everyone reads.

Keep it easy and to the point!

….And now back to the S-A-R (without the 2nd “S”, it’s not a disease 🤒)

An overarching theme across Experience/Education will be your bullet points and their structure. Borrowing from the “How to write a CV 101”, the best approach is to use a Situation-Action-Result format. So what was the situation? How did you solve it? And what was the result (hard numbers look more impressive)? Make it relevant to your career path; update it every so often. Share the story that has allowed you to be a (semi) successful person.

But bullet points are long and people don’t have time!

Similar to a resume, the most critical part is the first bullet point. Here you really want to show what it is that you do. There’s a large drop off of attention span to continue reading further. Also, be mindful that when checking LinkedIn on mobile, job titles and education are likely the only thing your reader is going to see (unless they click a couple of times aka stalker!)

We do need...Education!🎓

As much as it hurts, no one cares about your grade in 1st year Microeconomics (A+ FYI). Education, more than the Experience part of your LinkedIn, is all about where and what degree you did without much of a description. People like success that they can relate to. Have a weird and wonderful exchange experience? Add it! You want to expand your potential connection points with a customer. For all you know, their parents met in Granada, just where you spent a semester in Europe….and no one will be asking how much studying you actually got done.

Get out of the car 🚘 and show me your License and Certifications please!

Thankfully, we never get asked that when pulled over (not that we can relate!), but again, here is where you can really show that you are an expert in a subject matter. Have a certificate in planning? Add it! Took a summer course in marketing back in the day before you went scuba diving in Australia? You know what you need to do.

Skills & Endorsements….ehm….

The one section that we are sure someone thought would be a good idea, but no one had the courage to tell them it was pretty useless. Does Chuck from the neighborhood bakery endorsing your financial modeling skills truly mean anything? It’s there….looks pretty. Not much of a value add.

Recommendations, because you know people who know people

Similar to the above section, but more of a nice to have. You need more than three, but if you start getting in the double digits then who reads your profile will start suspecting bots did the reviews (unfortunately we did not cover this in our AI/Automation newsletter). Validation helps build the trust, but you are not an influencer so do not overdo it!

Accomplishments….which is Languages

You know what you speak...so high school French is only relevant if you can go beyond the “bonjour!” LinkedIn is used by people who do not know you yet. Since trust is still being built, better be honest. English is a widely used language anyway!

Contact...Yes please!

Please no wheniwasyoung@hotmail.com. This is your best email, not an old email you used for MSN Messenger back in high school, but the one where if you get contacted you will reply within 30 minutes. Because yes, you live, smell, breathe your career. This is where you get the good and the bad news..where potentials see your perfect email address and want to partner with you. Make it special.

And because everyone else has it….Stories!🤯

When LinkedIn recently added this feature, we spent some time asking ourselves if our professional network really cares about what we had for dinner last night. Then again, pretty sure most of your InstaFriends don’t care either! However (and this will be as counter intuitive as Billy Beane’s Oakland A’s), it’s actually a really, really good tool because no one else is publishing (except for a handful of companies). Therefore, if you really want to send a message out, be it a promotion or an accomplishment, you will literally be one of the few people using this feature. You will be a standout in anyone’s network.

Do you think LinkedIn Stories are here to stay, or be a forgotten social media feature? Let us know!