Let’s say you reach out to someone with something extremely valuable to offer, but they don’t know you.
What do you think they’re gonna do?
They’ll probably Google your name and company and check the first social media link, which is most often your LinkedIn profile.
And then, they’ll see who you are and whether or not you are someone they can trust.
I see people wasting months to create a website when their LinkedIn profile is actually pure crap.
If you’re in B2B, having a great LinkedIn profile can drive a thousand times more business than having a website.
At least when you get started.
You see, the internet and social media gave people a window into who we are, what we stand for, and how we think.
Who would you rather trust between these 2?
I guess the choice is pretty obvious.
In a previous video I explained why trust was critical to grow a business.
As we mentioned, trust needs three key aspects to be established and maintained: credibility, emotional connection and reliability.
If one of the three components is missing, then trust can’t be established.
Your LinkedIn profile can either make or break that trust framework.
So how exactly can you build a kickass LinkedIn profile?
Your profile picture
First, you need to make sure that you pick the right photo.
Don’t overcomplicate it, simply choose a professional and recent profile picture.
And please don't take selfies in the mirror…
As no one will take you seriously.
If you want to step up your game a bit, you can also use a free tool called Profile Picture Maker - which turns a profile pic into a catchy one.
Your cover photo
Here the goal is to build even more trust with your audience.
When you see a profile without a cover photo and one with a cover photo, which person are you more likely to trust?
Kevin is a great example of a great cover photo.
It states exactly what you’re going to get.
Roxana is also a great example, as she uses a testimonial as a cover photo.
People's words are often more powerful to drive trust.
That’s what we call social proof.
And adding this directly on your cover photo, is a clever way to build even more trust.
Your headline
That’s probably the most important part.
Your headline is what people will see every single time you post or comment on LinkedIn.
It’s the hook that can drive a lot of traffic to your LinkedIn profile and, therefore, more revenue your way.
Here again, no need to reinvent the wheel.
I’ve prepared a list of 22 headlines that you can steal to create your own.
You simply have to duplicate the template that I’ll share at the end of this article, and it’s all yours.
Here are a few of my favorites:
The one from Dickie Bush is simple and shows who he’s helping. I help beginner writers start writing online” - pretty straightforward and clear.
Here’s the framework he used: “I help [audience] do [thing] | [position] at [company]”
The one from Gary is also great, as I feel like he’s a little bit more specific on his target audience. “I help career changers”
Here’s the framework he used: “I help [target audience] achieve [specific goal] in [timeframe] while [secondary goal] | [position]”
Lara is also killing it with her personal brand on LinkedIn.
And every time she comments on something, here’s exactly what you’re gonna see.
Which is extremely intriguing and, therefore, will drive a lot of people to check her profile out and enter her funnel.
That’s a super easy way to leverage other people’s audience to grow your audience and get more customers, but we will talk about it a bit later 😉
How can you make your profile more personal and human?
Your LinkedIn URL
To do so, the first thing you want to do it to personalize your LinkedIn URL.
You can either add your full name in the URL.
Or be more creative and add something you’ve created.
For example, I coined the term profit-led growth, which is how to grow a B2B business extremely fast while being profitable, so I decided to have it in my LinkedIn profile.
Your About section
The goal here is to convince the person who will visit your profile that you’re someone they should meet.
So, you should divide your About section into four parts: the hook, the story, the social proof, and the call to action.
If you look at my About section, you want to click on “see more” to see what's next.
And that’s exactly what you want people to do.
Then, I’ve mixed the story and social proof because I think they can work well together and are also a bit smoother when you read them.
I’ve added a part to convince a little bit more with “What’s in it for them?”
And finally, the CTA is to click on follow.
Here again, I’m selling the next step, which is to start following my content so that when they’re ready to buy or connect with me, they’ll do it naturally.
Your experience and education
If you refer to the triangle of trust, here, we want to build “reliability.”
Meaning, are you able to deliver on your promises.
That’s why you should always put the most relevant experience at the top.
Perhaps it’s your business, your newsletter, or your product.
For each experience, you should always include measurable results, links to articles, or presentations.
Anything that could show what you built essentially.
Also, make sure to remove everything that’s irrelevant to what you want to accomplish with your brand.
For example, you can’t see on my profile that I have a master of science in drug discovery and another master's in chemical engineering.
Because that’s pretty irrelevant to what I’m doing now.
Your certifications and skills
To finish, you can always add some social proof.
That can be certifications, volunteering experience, or skills and recommendations.
If you’re just getting started, all of that can be helpful, but in my opinion, it’s not crucial to have that on your profile.
To make your life easy, as always, I’ve created a Notion doc where you’ll be able to find all the important parts of this article, including unique checklists, templates, and resources.
Chapter 9: Build your personal brand to become a lead magnet
Every week I’ll publish new articles on how to build and grow a B2B business that generates millions of dollars.
Without any BS and giving you practical templates that you can steal.
Peace, love, and profit 💰
G. ✌️
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