How To Maximise The FEATURED Section Of Your LinkedIn Profile
The Featured section was a new feature that was introduced to LinkedIn Profiles back in February 2020 and for me it was one of best things LinkedIn has done!
I absolutely LOVE 😍the Featured Section (and I’ll explain why in this article!)
Yet, I am surprised by how many people are either totally unaware of the Featured Section and haven’t added it to their profile OR are not really using it to maximum advantage.
So in this article I am going to do a deep dive as to how to use Featured on your profile, top tips on how to maximise, including how to add it to your profile if you haven’t already!
💥Where does the Featured Section appear?
The Featured section appears either ABOVE or BELOW the About section.
Pre the introduction of Creator Mode, Featured was below the About section and still will be if you don’t have Creator Mode turned on.
FEATURED underneath The About
However, if you have Creator Mode turned on, then Featured is ABOVE the About section, making it even more prominent on your profile.
With Creator Mode turned on Featured appears above the About Section
💥How to add Featured to your LinkedIn profile
Always the first question I get asked when I’m training and talking about the Featured section is “HOW DO YOU ADD IT?”
Sadly, like a lot of LinkedIn it’s not always obvious – so here’s a quick little video to show you where it is when you click on “add Profile Section” from the top of your profile, then click on “Recommended” and “Add Featured” is the first option.
Add featured is the first option under “Recommended”
💥What CAN you Feature Vs what SHOULD you Feature?
Use the + symbol to add posts, a newsletter, articles, links to websites and any images or documents
Once added to your profile, you have the option of adding (or featuring as LinkedIn calls it) posts you’ve done, any articles you’re written, links to websites including YouTube and upload media such as images, documents, pdfs, etc.
If you have created a LinkedIn Newsletter (check mine out here: The LinkedIn Edit) it’s also a great place to have a link to this as well, so that any new profile visitors can quickly subscribe.
However . . .
What I see a lot, is people who have featured their posts, mainly because they had good engagement but these posts could be months out of date.
The key is keeping it fresh
For me, making the best use of the Featured section is not about putting your best performing posts there.
It’s an opportunity to visually highlight your most important information, information that you want your audience needs and wants to know and what you want your audience to know about you.
It’s an opportunity to demonstrate your expertise.
It’s an opportunity to drive them to your free offer and get them onto your mailing list – always good to get people off LinkedIn and one way of doing this is onto your mailing that you own.
Think about what you want profile visitors to do?
Some ideas include:
💡 Link to your free offer – featured links are hyperlinks that will take them straight to that website/landing page. Note, the first option on my Featured is a link to download my free LinkedIn profile ebook!
💡Link to your website – BUT think about why and where you are sending people from LinkedIn. If you send them to the home page of your website, could you lose them? Ideally it’s always best to send them to a landing page (such as a free offer) so you have the opportunity to capture their details
💡Got a podcast? then add a link to your podcast channel or YouTube channel. Make it easy for people to find it
💡Your Calendly link (or other calendar link) – I’ve seen this used very effectively if you’re looking to get meetings booked in
💡Video testimonials and case studies – or even a video of you introducing yourself. Link to YouTube or Vimeo for video testimonials
💡Promote an event or other marketing campaign – drive people to sign up to an event you’re hosting
💡Your latest blog or article (note the word latest! Keep it fresh and feature your latest blog or LinkedIn article)
💡TIP 💡 Bear in mind that only 3 ‘features’ are visible before someone has to click on the right pointing arrow to see more.
Then if they do click on the right arrow, they can see two more ‘features’ before the option of “Show All Featured Items”.
It’s very unlikely that anyone will click on show all featured items, so you have to think about what’s your top 3 most important features as these are most visible and then what are the next 2 after that.
For me, my top 3 are:
- Link to my free e-book
- Link to subscribe to my newsletter
- A link to my latest article
💥 Time To Take Action?💥
Let me know . . . will you be making any changes to your Featured Section?
If you haven’t already add the Featured section to your profile
If you’ve got the Featured section is now the time to review what you have featured and update those that are out of date?
💥 If you can’t face sorting your LinkedIn profile yourself, or are interested in making LinkedIn work as a lead generator for your business, email judy@judithparsons.com or connect with me on LinkedIn to chat about how I can help.
Or book a virtual brew here and let’s make LinkedIn work for you . . . ⭐
