I recently returned from presenting a LinkedIn workshop for hospitality professionals and hotel sales managers who are members of HSMAI's Los Angeles Chapter and one of the areas that I addressed was the importance of completing a profile.
In this post I will cover some ideas on the essentials of your summary, one of the most important areas of your profile, so viewers of your profile can find out who you are in addition to the information you provided in your job title.
Think about your summary as an ‘elevator pitch‘ that you might share at a live networking event. It's a short story about you that should be designed to entice a viewer to hang around and decide to learn more about you and if they want to work or connect with you.
Here are seven tips that you can use to make the most out of the 2,000 characters that can be included in your summary.
Tip #1 – Your opening statement: Thank the viewer for taking time out of their schedule to view your profile. It's an obvious statement to make yet often overlooked. You greet a prospective customer who visits your hotel for a site inspection with a ‘Thank you' or a ‘Welcome to' so why not follow that logic and include it in your opening statement?
Tip #2 – Grab their attention: After you have welcomed a viewer to your profile the next objective is to grab their attention in a sentence or two that makes them want to continue to read on. Keep it light but make sure that this area includes your personal side that reflects your individualism and not corporate speak.
Tip #3 – Set the table: This paragraph should give the viewer an idea of what you have done for your clients that will provide an insight into how the viewer my experience the same results if they choose to work or connect with you in the future.
Tip #4 – Unveil your humility: This paragraph may include your humble side. What makes your professional world go round and how the visitor would feel if they were included in that world.
Tip #5 – Call to action: Always include some sort of call to action before you wrap things up. This is the proverbial ‘reach out' that provides the viewer with an invitation to take the next step with you.
Tip #6 – Contact information: Since you took the time to include a call to action then take the time to include how the visitor can get in touch with you. Include your business email address and, if you choose, your business telephone number. BTW, when you include your email address it can be used to send you an invitation to connect so you should consider the good and not so good implications.
Tip #7 – Specialties: You should use relevant keyword terms in this area but don't be afraid to step out of the box with some creative terminology that separates you from your peers.
Here are some additional tips on what others have written about the subject of a LinkedIn Summary.
- How To Pack A Powerful Punch With Your LinkedIn Summary
- How to Distinguish Yourself from Your Company
- LinkedIn's summary feature allows you to Shine
- 3 Stunningly Good LinkedIn Profile SUMMARIES
- 6 Secrets For A More Powerful LinkedIn Summary
So on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being best, how would you rate your LinkedIn summary?
Source: iGroupAdvisors
About the Author
Tom Costello is the President and Managing Director of iGroupAdvisors, a hotel consulting and sales training company that helps hotel owners and their sales teams grow their business and generate more sales.
