Setting Up Your Personal Profile
- Choose a Professional Photo: Most people have a LinkedIn profile, but too many people use their Facebook profile photo. LinkedIn is a professional platform, so present yourself as such.
- Career Experience: Consider this your resume (even if you’re not looking for a job) and be descriptive, listing why your previous and current positions are worth noting.
- List Your Skills: It may feel like bragging but listing your professional skills is what helps set you apart. You can then be endorsed or recommended, so choose numerous, relevant skills to list.
Start Making Connections
- It’s a Numbers Game: Teachers, mentors, dental professionals, company representatives, suppliers, team members, previous coworkers, etc. The list goes on, and the more the merrier!
Get Confident Networking
- Add People Immediately: Adding someone on LinkedIn is the new exchange of business cards. It can (and should) be done immediately after meeting – for the sake of both of your memories.
- Ask for Endorsements: Your list of skills can be endorsed, and it’s okay to ask for it! If you’re connected with someone it’s because they know you’re a professional worth working with, so ask for an endorsement of a skill or two (and hope for more).
- Post Professional Updates: Link to your practice, a clinical article you wrote, a blog post you enjoyed – it’s all appropriate, just make sure you remain professional.
- Promote Your Link: A great way to connect with people you meet in person is to add your LinkedIn URL to your business card. This makes it easy for others to find and add you.
- Connect with Prospects: Make new connections – this is a space to network online, so add new people, send them a message and make global connections.
- Follow Pages and People: Most companies have a LinkedIn page, so follow them for updates. You can also follow well-established business professionals for insights into their industry.
Extra Tips for Success
- Edit Your URL: You can customize your profile’s URL to make it simple and easy to find. For example, instead of the default www.linkedin.com/in/first-last-8f03853/ you can change it to www.linkedin.com/in/first-last/
- Make Your Email Accessible: Make it easy for people to reach you by having your professional email available. Your account (login) email and primary (public) email can be different. Ensure potential connections are reaching you in the right spot.
- Stay Professional: Just because LinkedIn is a social media platform doesn’t mean it isn’t a professional place. Keep it professional and don’t let personal posts fill your connections’ feeds.
- Engage with People: Endorse others, ‘like’ updates/posts and message potential connections – put yourself out there and connect!
- Get Your News: Watch the news ticker on your feed for the latest headlines and engage. You can post about the story, comment on others’ posts… anything to stay on top.
- Make a Practice Page: Creating a Company Page is a great way to share practice updates. Caution: Only set up a Page if you plan on updating it. An empty page is far less professional than no page at all.
