Put Your Best Foot Forward on
LinkedIn BY ERIN MCFEETERS
L
inkedIn is the world’s largest professional network in the world, with over 700 million users. As a Realtor®, you can be networking, generating leads, and growing your industry knowledge. “It’s social networking for business,” said Adam Binder, Founder and CEO of Creative Click Media, a full-service digital marketing agency in Manahawkin. Binder looks at LinkedIn as a platform for people “looking to generate leads, to promote their business, and looking to connect with other professionals.” If you’re just getting started with LinkedIn, the first task on your to-do list is setting up your LinkedIn profile—visit linkedin.com/ home to join now. “Your LinkedIn profile tells your professional story, and often serves as a first impression for prospective clients, recruiters or hiring managers,” said Yamini Kasera, Principal Product Manager at LinkedIn. “With many professionals working remotely, accurately representing your capabilities and highlighting your experience online is a key way to land opportunities.”
14 | NEW JERSEY REALTOR® | November/December 2020
PROFILE BASICS Profile Photo According to Kasera, LinkedIn members who have a profile photo receive up to 21 times more profile views than a member who does not. It’s vital to have a profile photo that fits LinkedIn’s recommended specifications. Photos must be between 400 x 400 pixels and 7680 x 4320 pixels, a PNG or JPEG file with a maximum file size of 8MB. For the best results, choose a photo that does not require too much cropping. Kasera recommends “making sure your profile photo embodies who you are as a professional, but also makes you approachable and shows a bit of your personality.” When choosing a photo, keep in mind that LinkedIn is for networking with business professionals so do not use a photo you would use on other platforms such as Facebook or Instagram.
Background Photo Similar to Facebook and Twitter, LinkedIn has the option to add a header or background image behind your profile photo. Much like the profile photo, your background photo must fit LinkedIn’s size specifications of 1584 x 396 pixels. “You can utilize [the background photo], and I think most people don’t realize or don’t know how to make it look nice because it requires special dimensions,” said Binder. “My advice would be if you can’t do it yourself either use a service software like Canva or just hire a graphic designer to do that one piece for you because that’s a great piece of digital real estate and it’s so cheap to get right.”
