Marc Guberti: 3 elements of a booming LinkedIn bio

LinkedIn is a sizzling social network, but it doesnӪt always look that way. While the social network is 500 million users strong, most see the behemoth as a place to fill out an online r̩sum̩ and find jobs.

Aspiring employees use the social network to get found, and unless businesses are looking for hires, they”™re not on LinkedIn. This narrative blinds many from opportunity and those who see through the misconception can tap into a goldmine.

LinkedIn is a fantastic social network for building relationships and engaging with prospects, but why would someone ask you about your services? Why would someone want to learn more about you?

The way you structure your LinkedIn bio determines how many people want to learn about you and buy your services. However, your bio may not be best suited for prospects and customers. Most LinkedIn bios follow the résumé outline because even though more people are beginning to see the opportunity LinkedIn provides, chances are their bios are out of date or read like a résumé.

You don”™t create an effective LinkedIn bio by writing about yourself. You create a compelling LinkedIn bio by writing for your intended audience. Here are three elements that you need to incorporate into your LinkedIn Bio:

1: Brief summary of what you do

In three sentences or less, summarize what you are doing right now. Focus on the present things you do that your ideal clients would care about. The first sentence of my LinkedIn bio makes it clear that I help people grow their online businesses. Upon reading the first sentence, someone visiting my LinkedIn profile will learn that I coach people on how they can improve their online businesses.

In the first two-to-three sentences, you simply lay out what you do. Include your purpose in those two-to-three sentences so people can better understand the why behind your work. Part of my mission is to empower others, and I mention my podcast “Breakthrough Success” as my means of realizing this part of my purpose.

2: Detail how you can help

This is the closest you will get to writing a résumé and this will easily be the longest portion of your LinkedIn bio. You are listing some of the products, services and resources you provide. Let your new visitors know some of the ways they can work with you and some of the products they can buy. List them one after the other and provide a brief explanation for each item you mention.

When you mention the different ways you can help and provide value, mix in free resources with paid resources. The resources I currently mention are my books, training courses, virtual summits and podcast. While the books and training courses always have a cost, the virtual summits are temporarily free by design and the podcast is always free.

Including the free resource will give your visitors a reference point to understand the level of value you bring to the marketplace. If they like your free content, they are far more likely to buy one of your products or services ”¦ and you can only get those sales if people know about your products or services.

3: The “want more” Recap

Skimmers are bountiful in a hyper-busy world and the best way to stop a skimmer is with a recap. A LinkedIn recap is nothing more than including the links to some of your resources and inviting people to check them out. The copy I use to invite people to listen to my show is “Listen to the show: marcguberti.com/itunes,” which reads very differently from “Breakthrough Success Podcast: marcguberti.com/itunes.” Including three to five resources you previously covered in your bio is a great way to recap what you offer and conclude your LinkedIn bio.

Optimizing your LinkedIn bio is one of the most critical steps to dominate the platform aside from building relationships. The optimized bio will put you in a position to build higher-quality relationships and get more clients and sales for your business.

Marc Guberti is a digital marketing expert, entrepreneur, author with over 80,000 online students and host of the “Breakthrough Success Podcast.” His latest book, “Content Marketing Secrets,” teaches people how they can create, promote and optimize their content for growth and revenue. Guberti coaches business owners how to grow and monetize their online businesses. You can contact him at Marc@MarcGuberti.com.