How to Write a Great LinkedIn Summary (Tips + Examples)
LinkedIn currently hosts more than 55 million businesses and over 740 million professionals. This makes it a hive of opportunities for job seekers, B2B marketers, and recruiters looking for stellar talents. LinkedIn is particularly the most recent addition to the marketing arsenal of B2B businesses and professionals alike. The platform offers several opportunities for growth, learning, marketing, and networking.
In this article, we explain why you need to pay extra attention to your LinkedIn summary and how to create an outstanding LinkedIn summary, plus 5 great samples that can inspire you.
Why You Need A Stellar LinkedIn Summary
When it comes to networking, there’s an important ingredient you don’t want to ignore. When sending out or accepting connection requests, one thing most people look out for is the profile summary of the new connection. Of course, your name, type of business, work background, profile tagline, education, location, and industry are always important.
But your summary can go a long way to inform the decision (whether to connect with you or not) of a potential connection. It makes sense to connect with people with experiences, backgrounds, and specializations that are important to you and your business. And most professionals on LinkedIn make this a priority.
Here is it: your LinkedIn profile summary gives everyone a concise description of who you are, your abilities, and your accomplishments. An ideal LinkedIn summary should grab the attention of any reader and be compelling enough to make them connect with you.
Tips for Writing an Attention-Grabbing LinkedIn Summary
When writing your LinkedIn Summary, the three most important things to keep in mind are making it concise with your accomplishments highlighted, adding a hook, and keeping it conversational. Here are practical tips to help you create an ideal LinkedIn profile summary.
1. Make it concise
Remember not to go detailed here. Putting up a long wall of text can be boring to people. Better to keep it short and direct, but make sure to highlight all your relevant work experience and accomplishments. Talking about your entire journey in life can make it long and boring. Keep in mind that the focus is to stir up the interests of potential connections in you or your business.
2. Write in the first person
It is more authentic and natural when the reader sees you from your own perspective. Instead of describing yourself in the third person, consider using “I’s” in your profile summary. The point here is that your profile talks about you, and makes it sound natural; it doesn’t mean that writing in the third person is absolutely wrong.
3. Optimize it with keywords
You must know that LinkedIn articles and posts are search-engine friendly. So is the LinkedIn profile summary. The big benefit here is that you can incorporate relevant SEO keywords in your profile summary to make your profile discoverable on search engines. This is an excellent way to attract the right connections.
4. Use enough whitespace in your profile
Chunking up words in long paragraphs can make any read tiring and boring. So you want to be sure to space out the words with sufficient whitespaces. It makes it even more appealing and interesting.
5. Hone in on your strengths and personality
If there’s something interesting about you aside from your professional side, be sure to add that as well. However, the main focus is on your skillset and accomplishments. If possible, briefly highlight your certification, training, and participation in laudable projects (if any).
Try to make your personality shine, but do not paint an untrue picture of yourself. Ideally, when people reach out to you as a potential connection, their focus would most likely be to learn from you, get a closer look into what you do, or leverage the connection in other ways that benefit them. It would be a disservice to you if they discover that your profile summary is not a proper representation of who you are.
6. Write in simple, comprehensible terms
It is okay to use professional jargon, but do not forget that keeping it simple will make it easy for people who are not directly in your industry to understand you better and hit the connect button. Avoid long, winding sentences with ambiguous words that add little value to the reader. Remember - simple and catchy.
7. Include emojis
Yes, emojis are not professional per se, but you can agree that they are fun. Considering that we’re trying to make the read as lighthearted as possible, you may use them sparingly, so as not to go overboard. You’ll find an excellent example of how to use emojis in Austin Belcak’s profile summary. It makes it interesting and fun to read. Austin is an executive coach who teaches people how to land jobs they love in today's market without traditional experience and without the conventional approach of applying online.
8. Narrow it down to a conversation
Adding a little call to action can also help. In addition to making your profile summary conversational, consider keeping the conversation going by encouraging the reader to reach out via message, In Mail, or by sending a connection request to you.
Examples of Great LinkedIn Profile Summaries
As helpful as tips are, it is best when you find practical examples that you can use to build yours. To make it even better, you can check out examples of professionals in your niche. Here are real-life examples of great LinkedIn profile summaries that you draw inspiration from.
1. Strati Georgopoulos’s - Executive Search, Creating Social Impact, Impact Investor
Strati’s profile summary is a bit unconventional. If you noticed, it is pretty concise, straight-to-the-point, and interesting. But as expected, you’ll find more details when you click on experiences.
2. Anthony J James - CEO, Innovation, and Growth at Trinity Consulting
The profile summary shown below sounds natural and has a good flow. The paragraphs are short and well-spaced out. The use of pronouns is in the first person. Anthony starts with a brief introduction of himself by describing his personal views on life, then gradually moves to explain his experience and achievements.
3. Chris Do - Digital Influencer, Content Marketer, and Brand Consultant
Similar to Strati’s profile, Chris has a concise summary that is presented in the first person. The ending of the summary leads the reader to take an action by reaching out to him for his services.
4. Phillip Oakley - Brand strategist
Philip's profile is quite a read and it's written in the third person. Although experts advise writing your summary in the third person, you could still catch the natural feel in Philip’s summary. Again, the read is interesting and well-paragraphed. And even though it doesn’t end with a call to action, it does again, itemize what he is professionally known for.
5. Ash Rathod - Brand Storyteller and Certified Brand Strategist
Indeed, reading Ash’s profile feels like reading an interesting story - one that gets you hooked into taking an action at the end. Note how the profile summary ends with his contact details well-written out, encouraging the reader to engage immediately. Although it is a long read, it is an interesting one.
Conclusions
Now that you have seen for yourself how to create an attention-grabbing LinkedIn summary, you can get down to yours as well. Keep in mind that graphics/pictures are an essential part of your profile, as seen in the examples above. This, in combination with the tips we shared above, will definitely inspire you to create a stellar LinkedIn profile that commands the right attention.