Get to the point with your LinkedIn headline. Don't just add your job title and employer name.
You have a headline below your name on LinkedIn. The reason it's called a headline is because it comes at the top, and it's what people see and read first.
It also appears every time you make a comment or share something on LinkedIn. As a default, LinkedIn suggests that it's your current job title and company you use here.
Bad advice. Don't use that information in your headline.
Make it count. Write a good headline. Tell us what's in the story to follow.
Use your headline effectively
You have 120 characters to use in your headline. So there's plenty of room to add a few descriptive words that will interest people.
Don't use the default that LinkedIn suggests; your job title and company. This information already appears on your profile - so you're just repeating yourself.
Use your headline to describe what you're good at, what value you deliver, and why it's worth reading your profile and connecting with you. Here's a simple formula: "[Job title]: helping X do Y."
Imagine it as a short introduction so that people want to know more. Don't include your email, phone or web address - this just makes you look pushy or plain desperate.
Avoid hyperbole, such as describing yourself as a Acknowledged Expert or being Results-Driven. Nobody believes that manure. You'll just come across as being arrogant, insecure, and self-involved.
Your headline is also important because it's heavily weighted relative to other information in any LinkedIn search - so why not use keywords that potential customers will search for, and find you with?
You can include geographical indicators so that people can locate you in the areas you operate. 'Plumber in Edinburgh' is going to work better than just 'Plumber'.
You can also include #hashtags that you use for your updates in your headline, for better visibility for all of your content across LinkedIn.
There are at least two forms of your headline - one short version people see when they view your content, and the full version when they 'mouse over' your contributions on LinkedIn or view your profile.
Headline truncated. But it still 'scans' OK.
Mouseover a name to see full headline
Here are some examples where the headline does not work because of a cutoff:
None of these headlines sells, tells or really says anything memorable, other than perhaps rather negatively implying that the subject of the headline has not really thought about how they present themselves to the world on LinkedIn.
The issue with these, and many examples on LinkedIn are that people are concentrating on getting their current job title in there as the first part of the headline.
Your job title is not your headline.
It's not the lead!
So wake up - use your headline to sell yourself to your readers!
Lead with the main story, and test it to make sure your headline makes sense (or at least intrigues) when it breaks at (currently) around 68 characters, and also works at its full length of up to 120.
And please use simple language. "Homo sapiens engages with canine" is not as good as "Man bites dog" when it comes down to getting attention!
The classic questions people want to know in the lead of a news story are who, what, where, why, when, and very often - how much? So make your headline do the same: introduce an interesting story.
