20 Tips to Set Up a Virtual Assistant LinkedIn Profile

You can do various things with your LinkedIn profile to help you boost your Virtual Assistant business and build your brand. According to LinkedIn’s Sales and Marketing Solutions EMEA Blog, getting your LinkedIn profile working harder for you doesn’t have to take up hours of your time. So, we took the time and summarized what the experts at LinkedIn have to say. Here is how to set up your Virtual Assistant LinkedIn Profile.

Virtual Assistant LinkedIn Profile

Choose the Right Profile Picture

Make sure the picture is recent, looks like you, and that your face takes up around 60% of it (long-distance shots don’t stand out). Wear what you would like to wear to work as a Virtual Assistant, and smile with your eyes! Make your Virtual Assistant LinkedIn profile picture reflect who you are!

Add a Background Photo 

This second visual element at the top of your profile page grabs people’s attention, sets the context, and shows a little more about what matters to you.  

Make Your Headline More Than a Job Title  

No rule says the description at the top of your profile page has to be only a job title. Use the headline field to explain how you see your role as a Virtual Assistant, why you do what you do, and what makes you tick. 

Turn Your Summary into Your Story 

Don’t use it to list your skills or the job titles you’ve had. Try to bring to life why those skills matter – and the difference they can make to your coworkers. Don’t be afraid to invest some time, try a few drafts, and run your summary past people you know. Your summary is your most personal piece of content marketing – and it’s worth the effort. 

Declare War on Buzzwords 

Buzzwords are used so often in LinkedIn headlines and summaries that they become almost entirely meaningless. Regular rankings of the most over-used buzzwords include terms like ‘specialized,’ ‘leadership,’ ‘focused,’ ‘strategic,’ ‘experienced,’ ‘passionate,’ ‘expert,’ ‘creative,’ ‘innovative,’ and ‘certified.’ You need to demonstrate them as well – both in the way you describe yourself and how you use LinkedIn profile features to showcase yourself as a Virtual Assistant. Do not overuse these works in your Virtual Assistant LinkedIn profile.

Grow Your Network 

Syncing your profile with your Virtual Assistant email address book enables LinkedIn to suggest people for your network. It’s incredible how effective this can be at surfacing relevant people for you to reach out to – and no connection requests are sent without your permission so that you can vet all of the potential connections. 

List Your Relevant Skills 

Scroll through the list of skills and identify those appropriate to you. It can help to substantiate the description in your Headline and Summary and provides a platform for others to endorse you. A long list of skills that don’t speak to who you are and what you do can start to feel unmanageable. 

Spotlight the Services You Offer 

Your Virtual Assistant LinkedIn profile needs to spotlight your services. This new feature helps consultants, freelancers, and those working for smaller businesses showcase the range of services. Filling out the Services section of your profile can boost your visibility in search results. 

Spread the “Endorsement Love” 

Go through your network and identify connections you feel genuinely deserve an endorsement from you – that’s often the trigger for people to return the favour. Don’t be afraid to reach out with a polite message asking for endorsement for a few critical skills. Relevance matters. Reach out to people whose endorsement you’d value. 

Manage Your Endorsements Proactively 

Once endorsements start to come in, you might find that they skew the emphasis of your LinkedIn profile in ways that don’t reflect who you are. Be proactive in managing the list of your endorsements using the edit features in the Skills section of your profile – you can choose which to show and which to hide. 

Take a Skills Assessment 

A skills assessment is an online test that enables you to demonstrate your skills and display a Verified Skills badge on your profile. Data shows that candidates with verified skills are around 30% more likely to be hired for the roles they apply for – and displaying proof of your abilities strengthens your brand more generally as well. Displaying your skills assessments results is entirely voluntary, and you can retake the tests as often as you like before showing that you’ve passed. 

Request Recommendations 

Endorsements give people viewing your profile a quick, visual sense of your value. Recommendations take things a step further. They are personal testimonials written to illustrate the experience of working with you. There’s a handy drop-down menu in the Recommendations section of your profile that makes it easy to reach out to specific contacts and request recommendations. Take the time to think about who you would most value a recommendation from – and personalize your request. It’s worth the extra effort. 

Showcase Your Passion For Learning as a Virtual Assistant

You add a course certificate from within the Learning History section of your LinkedIn Learning account – where you can also send updates about your learning to your network if you choose. 

Share Media & Marketing Collateral 

Sharing case studies, white papers, and other brand content helps to show what the company you work for is all about – and helps people understand what makes you tick. 

Get Credit for Your Thought Leadership 

Have you helped to write an eBook or a White Paper? Or write a post on your company’s blog? The Publications section links your profile to these assets. 

Share Relevant Content from Virtual Assistant LinkedIn Profile

Sharing relevant content about Virtual Assistants with your network is one of the most accessible forms of doing this. You can make a start by keeping a close eye on your LinkedIn feed and sharing content that you find genuinely interesting. 

Add Comments 

A comment that can express that viewpoint starts to establish your opinion and thought-leadership. It’s also more likely to draw additional comments, which then raise your profile across LinkedIn. Your Virtual Assistant LinkedIn profile should be reflected in posts that are relevant to you and your services. 

Follow Relevant Influencers for Virtual Assistants

Following relevant influencers on LinkedIn helps put a range of exciting content in your feed, which you can then share with others when you think it adds value. It also helps to give context to your LinkedIn profile, demonstrating your passion for what you do. 

Become an Employee Advocate 

LinkedIn Elevate is a platform for helping businesses to launch and manage employee advocacy programs – and it generates some fascinating insights on the impact that employee sharing has for those doing the sharing. If your company uses Elevate, it’s a great way to take a more active role in getting your brand content out there. If it’s not, then it’s still worth reaching out to colleagues and asking who’s producing content that would be worth sharing on LinkedIn.  

Publish Long-Form Content  

Publishing long-form posts on your Virtual Assistant LinkedIn profile is the natural next step to take. A great starting point is to monitor the response that you get to your comments and shares. Are there particular subjects and points of view that seem to resonate with your network? Are there comments that you have shared which you feel you could expand on in a post?  

Evolving your thought-leadership in this way keeps it honest – and keeps you plugged into the issues your connections are discussing. Be ready for your long-form posts to start new conversations too. Keep an eye on the comments and be prepared to respond. 
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