One of the top ways to land high-paying clients is to learn how to optimize your LinkedIn profile. A recent SHRM report shows that about 90% of recruiters utilize LinkedIn when searching for suitable job candidates. Moreover, over 120 million people have secured job interviews through LinkedIn.
In reality, LinkedIn is not just a platform to supply your resume to potential employers. It is a place to build your profile and share it as a personal brand with potential clients and employees.
To help you succeed with LinkedIn, we’ll demonstrate how to create and optimize your LinkedIn profile as a virtual assistant.
Why You Should Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile
The answer to this question is simple at face value. At the end of the day, you want to find more clients. If you’re just starting, you want to score your first client. More reasons to optimize your profile include:
It makes networking easier
It is a chance to showcase your skills
It makes you a priority for clients looking for VAs to hire
LinkedIn is a top lead generator
It is a chance to boost your website traffic
Now that you’re aware of the benefits, optimize your profile using the following easy steps.
1. Optimize Your Profile Photo
Your profile photo is the first thing that’ll draw people’s attention to your profile. Hence, you need a profile photo that’ll create a good first impression on your profile visitors.
Start by taking a professional headshot that’ll make recruiters want to learn more about you by going through your profile even further. Take the photo in a non-distracting background; at least 80% of it should be your face.
Speaking of personality, you should look naturally confident in your profile picture. Also, remember to update it to capture current changes. For example, if you started wearing glasses since you last uploaded your profile picture, update accordingly.
2. Optimize Your Headline
Your LinkedIn headline is your brand in a snapshot. It should tell prospective clients who you are and what you do. If you want clients to hire you as a social media management virtual assistant, your headline should include this role.
Include crucial keywords in your headline description. For example, “Helping entrepreneurs manage their online presence through optimized content, social media campaigns, and analyzing engagement data.”
3. Optimize the “About” Section
The about section of your LinkedIn profile is where you share your brand story with your visitors. You have about 2500 characters to give prospective customers reasons to trust you.
The section allows you to let your audience know that you understand their needs and you are the virtual assistant to help solve them. Because some potential clients rarely care about your past experiences. They just want to hear how you can help them solve their current needs.
Therefore, it would be best to use relevant keywords in describing the customer needs and how you intend to solve them. The idea is to drive more traffic to your profile. Optimizing your content using keywords helps you do that.
4. Add Rich Media
There is no limit to your creativity when creating your LinkedIn profile. Feel free to add several media attachments at the bottom of your “about” section. For example, a case study that demonstrates how you solved a certain client’s needs will win your prospects’ trust.
Other things you may attach include your certifications, sample graphics, resume, and portfolio.
Learn from Fellow VAs What Works When Optimizing Your LinkedIn Profile
Join the Royal VA community and network with other experienced virtual assistants. Learn what has worked for them when it comes to optimizing their LinkedIn profiles. Then use these strategies to build an irresistible profile that’ll help you grow your virtual assistant business.