Your LinkedIn Summary: Is it a Grabber?

In our world of social media, LinkedIn is an incredible social media channel for business. Your LinkedIn summary is one of the most critical elements of your LinkedIn profile. Your summary will go a long way to “selling” you.

One of the most important reasons why you have a LinkedIn profile is so that you can expand your business network. Your summary, if written correctly, is an essential vehicle to achieving your goal of expanding your network.

There are many possible approaches that you can take when writing your summary that will engage your readers and compel them to connect with you and to form a bond with you and your business.

• Make sure that you use your summary correctly: When it comes to selling yourself, the first line of defense is your headline, which really has to grab your readers in a huge way. Your LinkedIn summary is an extension of your headline in terms of your “selling yourself” strategy. If the content of your summary is exciting and compelling, your readers will be fascinated by it and want to read more and will hopefully want to interact with you on a deeper level. The summary is your opportunity to get all of your unique selling points across in one succinct paragraph. When you are writing your summary, you need to really make sure that the writing is exciting and interesting.
   
• Write a powerful opening paragraph: You have very little time to grab the reader’s attention with your first paragraph. If you don’t get their attention quickly, they will move on to someone else. You need to make sure to write something in your opening paragraph that will make the readers want to connect with you.
   
• Write content that pops: There is a common theory that your LinkedIn summary should be written like your 30-second elevator pitch. With that in mind, you must always make sure that your writing is interesting, just like you would want to say something in your elevator pitch makes those people who are listening to you remember you after you are done speaking (for a long time after). Your summary should not contain jargon and definitely should not have phrases that seem as though they were not written by you. It is not a bad thing if you want to interject a little humor into your summary (in good taste, of course). That usually makes the writing interesting to read.
   
• Pepper your summary: Throughout your summary, you should pepper the writing with powerful and attention-grabbing words. They are the same kinds of words that you would use if you were speaking to one of your potential clients. Just remember not to overdo it and use too many of those sorts of words. Some of the most effective words are: vitality, inspiration, creativity, and challenge, and last and probably one of the most powerful and compelling words, love.
   
• Write your summary in first person: Content written in the first person is very effective and very personal. You want your summary to touch your readers in a way that is memorable and emotional. People respond to writing that touches them in a way that makes them remember your uniqueness. That is exactly what will help you to build relationships with them.
   
• Focus: When you are writing your LinkedIn summary, make sure that your content is clear and concise; that you focus on your skills, accomplishments and goals; and that you are modest but communicative at the same time. Try to put yourself into the reader’s shoes and write something that you would want to read if you were the reader. You should use your skills, accomplishments and goals to guide you when writing your summary. You should explain your experience in a direct manner without any arrogance and always think of yourself as part of a team.

Conclusion

LinkedIn is one of the best social media channels for business. Your LinkedIn summary is an extremely critical part of your presence on LinkedIn and the impression that you create with your summary will mean the difference between getting people to interact with you and eventually want to become your customers and choosing someone else who has a more impressive and compelling summary that has captured their attention.

We are pleased to provide you with the insightful comments contained herein. Please contact us at CompuKol Communications for further discussion on how we might be able to assist you and your team.