“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” ― Thomas A. Edison
True, that may be inspiring, but it’s terrible advice when it comes to crafting a LinkedIn profile aiming for optimum impact. First of all, you are not Thomas Edison. Second of all, LinkedIn is not the place for experimenting. You really can’t afford to make 10,000 bad first impressions.
As Koka Sexton points out, LinkedIn has emerged as the number one professional connection tool and an integral component of a social selling platform. Sales reps have found that LinkedIn profile problems have wide-ranging negative effects on personal branding across all networks. In other words, getting your LinkedIn profile right is kind of a big deal.
The reason we are focusing on mistakes – the dark side of best practices – is because they could be holding you back when you’re doing everything else right. If some of these “worst practices” hit a little too close to home, don’t panic. You’re not being picked on. The attempt is to try to help you increase your ability to sell yourself socially, boost your reputation and shine like the star that you can be.
