In my opinion, your LinkedIn About section is the story of you in the context of your career. Whether you are a business owner or a job seeker, the focus needs to be on the direction you are heading. Yet, people also want to know a bit of your back story to help them learn more about you.

Do you tell your unique, compelling story in your LinkedIn About section? Be sure to use this section to its full advantage by sharing your story in a meaningful way.

In her excellent book, “LinkedIn for Personal Branding: The Ultimate Guide,” Linked consultant Sandra Long advises: “Try to weave together your story in an exciting way to compel your audience to be motivated to work with you or refer you to someone else.”

She discourages people from using this section to rehash what is in other parts of their profile. However, I believe there can be some degree of duplication between your About section and your Experience section.

If you haven’t added the About section yet, here’s what you need to do. Click on the “Add profile section” button, click on “Core” and then on “Add about.” Populate this section, ideally by first composing the wording of it in a Word document. Update this section by clicking on the pencil icon at the top right-hand corner of the section.

 

Recommendations for Your About Section

  • Get right to the point. Only the first couple of sentences in your About section will display (unless you click on “see more”). Start with a sentence that will grab the attention of the reader. You have up to 2,600 characters for this section, and you might want it to be shorter, depending on your audience.
  • Write for your target audience. Go through your About section to see how many times you use the word “I” versus the word “you.” Do your best to create more sentences that have “you” in them than have “I.” Picture your target audience – your potential clients or your potential hiring authorities. Write this section with them in mind in terms of how you hope to come across to them.
  • Describe your background. Tell us how you got into your line of work. People love to hear these kinds of stories. Business owners – please don’t make the About section simply a PR piece about your company. We want to hear about YOU in the context of your company.
  • Be clear about the types of people you serve or the type of job you want to get. Share the results you have produced and how you have positively impacted others. Here’s a statement from my About section that demonstrates this point. “My clients are primarily baby boomers who have their own business or are job seekers. I help them to be more effective and productive on LinkedIn and Facebook.”
  • Include a testimonial or two. Testimonials are one of the best ways to validate the quality of your work. Request a testimonial from one of your favorite clients or referral partners or from a former colleague. You don’t have to have a LinkedIn connection with that person to use a testimonial from them. However, I would get their permission to use a testimonial. Another alternative is to use an excerpt from one of the best LinkedIn recommendations you have gotten.

 

To learn more about Sandra Long go to her LinkedIn profile here.

You can order her book here.

 

About Joyce

Joyce Feustel helps people, especially those age 55 and up, to become more effective using social media, especially LinkedIn and Facebook. She works with business owners, business development professionals, business consultants, job seekers, and more – ranging from entrepreneurs to people in large corporations. Find her at www.boomerssocialmediatutor.com.