why you might be failing on LinkedIn


I’ve been spying on you.

I know, I know, it’s not polite but I did it for your own good.

See I was going through my LinkedIn database, culling out voice talents for a client email blast I was doing.

I noticed something odd about the LinkedIn listings of voice over talents — many (but not all) seemed to forget that LinkedIn is both a social network AND a search engine tool.

By search engine tool, I mean that your listing and text on LinkedIn are listed and impact your search results on all major search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing!

So why does your job title on LinkedIn say “owner”?

Or “freelancer”?

Or “president”?

You may be all those things and maybe they are listed on your business cards and letterhead but on the web, those titles don’t help you much.

If you are a ‘voice-over talent’, or ‘voice talent’ or ‘voice actor’, those terms have value on the web because very often (but not always), that’s how prospects search the web for folks like us. It’s a little thing but for organic web search, it can mean a lot.

My simple point is this: with Linked In I think voice-over talents would be wise to be very keyword specific (and thoughtful) as they write their profile. Certainly, personality should come through in your writing — LinkedIn copy shouldn’t be robotic just to please search engines. But I’m just suggesting a little more thought be put into the words you include in your LinkedIn profile.

With LinkedIn being so incredibly business-centric (thus many of your prospects likely search for vendors or information on the site) the right content on your profile can initiate a profitable connection.

There are likely millions of ‘president’ and ‘owner’ job titles on LinkedIn; there are also lots of people who have been in ‘commercials’. But on LinkedIn, they are not as many ‘voice actors’ or ‘commercial voice talents’ and that could make a big difference for you.

So when WAS the last time you reviewed and refreshed your LinkedIn profile? Maybe now?

I hope this helps.

6 Responses to “why you might be failing on LinkedIn”

  1. Peter!

    This is a brilliant insight! Thanks so much for sharing that. I immediately went and updated my Linkedin profile…because of you!

    Thank you so much!

  2. […] Why You Might Be Failing On LinkedIn – Peter O’Connell […]

  3. Wonderful comment and I posted it many other places on the web giving you credit of course.
    Thanks!
    Bettye Zoller
    Voicesvoices.com

  4. Great article which makes total sense!! Thanks Peter.

  5. Glad you liked it Pearl, thank you VERY much for visiting the blog!

    Best always,
    –Peter

  6. Thanks Bettye, glad you enjoyed it and thanks for reading the blog!

    Best always,
    –Peter