Is your LinkedIn profile up-to-date? Would you be embarrassed if a potential employer or client visited your profile and found a blank space where your photo should be and a skeleton of a profile? That’s not how you want to present yourself to the business community.

LinkedIn has firmly established itself as the network for business professionals. Companies are searching for candidates to fill important positions. Potential clients are reviewing company and personal profiles when they’re researching consulting firms.

Create a Video

In the past year, LinkedIn added a feature that enables you to upload videos, presentations (LinkedIn owns SlideShare) and documents to enrich your profile. Not many members have taken advantage of this opportunity to showcase themselves in a video. Visual content can be added from your computer’s hard drive or the web.

Here is a screen shot of two videos in my LinkedIn Profile. When you click on a video in a profile it will open up to a full screen.

You can upload videos you already have or create one specifically for LinkedIn. We provide media and presentation training so it made sense to showcase our skills in “About the Newman Group.” Our presentation and media programs are discussed in the other two videos in my profile.

Visitors are not likely to spend an hour watching a video of your keynote presentation at an industry conference. So keep the videos short. Give them a taste of who you are and what you do so they are encouraged to contact you to learn more. It’s best to keep your video under five minutes.

What Can You Say?

You can add as many videos as you want. Depending on your business, consider these kinds of videos.

• Business summary. Bring your profile to life by communicating the key messages about your business that are in your written summary. Now visitors can see and hear the person in the profile.
• Product demonstration. Make demo videos showing visitors the benefits of your products and exactly how they work.
• Testimonials. Ask a couple of your most satisfied clients to record a testimonial for you. It will give them more exposure, too.
• Lead generation. Invite other members to connect with you. Capture leads by asking visitors to download a slide presentation, a white paper, ebook or webinar.
• Showcase your portfolio. If you’re a visual artist or interior designer, take your visitors on a tour of your portfolio or the homes you’ve decorated.
• Educate. Establish yourself as an authority by educating your visitors about trends in your industry and as a subject-matter expert in your niche.

This business network isn’t the place to include your home videos. LinkedIn is a professional network, so you want your videos to be highly polished. Consider getting presentation training if you’re making an original video with you as the principal speaker.

As with any presentation, wear appropriate business attire. Practice your presentation. Do you want to come across as someone who could be helpful to them in business? Or, is your primary purpose to educate? That will help you to decide on your key messages and tone for your presentation.

How to Upload Your Video

LinkedIn makes it easy to upload your videos. Follow these easy steps:

• Click on the Edit box next to “Complete Your Profile”
• In Background move your cursor to the right and click on the little square box with the + sign. You may have to fiddle with it a little but then you’ll see a popup message, “Click to add a video, image, document, or presentation…”
• Follow the directions to upload a file or link
• The videos will appear under your Background
• Go back to the top of your profile and click on Done Editing

If you’ve added a video to your LinkedIn profile, drop us a note in the comment box below so that our readers can go take a look. Who knows? They might like what they see and ask you to become part of their professional network.