LinkedIn profile: the 9 essential settings to know

A bad setting on LinkedIn can cost you dearly.
When you register, the settings are set to default. Not changing some of them can impact your activity and your visibility on the network, in addition to being counterproductive and unfavorable in your use.
Let’s take a look at the essential settings to know about LinkedIn …

1. Put your profile in public

Like on Facebook, LinkedIn allows you to share your information and updates privately, that is, only to members of your network; or in public, which allows you to have visibility even for people who are not part of your network or even LinkedIn. The advantage of putting your profile in public is that any Internet user can come across your profile, whether they are registered on LinkedIn or not. This gives you greater visibility. On the other hand, it also means that anyone, by typing your name in Google, can come across your profile. It’s up to you to know if this will be good for your career or not.

2. Do not broadcast all of its activities

When you make an update, a change of any kind on your profile, it automatically shares the information with your network in the form of notifications. If you don’t want your network to know about any changes to your profile, you can change this setting. To do so, go to “Preferences” and select the “Privacy” tab, click on the “Edit” option under “Share profile changes” and check “no”. I suggest you change this setting if you change your profile a lot, so as not to annoy your network. However, remember to make your updates public as soon as there is a major change in your professional career, such as a change of company or job.

3. Set up your profile for referencing

LinkedIn allows you to be referenced on the Google search engine. Indeed, unlike other social networks like Facebook, your LinkedIn profile is very well referenced. As it is not by default, you must modify this parameter and activate referencing. Being referenced on Google will give you greater visibility since anyone, by typing your name in Google or other search engines, will come across your LinkedIn profile.

4. Check the confidentiality of your news feed

If you go to a LinkedIn user’s profile, you will be able to consult their news feed: to find out about the updates made, the discussions they have started, the posts they have commented on or that they have beloved, etc. And this, whether it is in your contacts or not. To do this, make sure in the privacy settings, in “Privacy” click on “Privacy” then on “Block and hide” and finally on “Followers”, that the option ‘Everyone on LinkedIn is activated. This should be the default . If you do not want your activity feed to be made public, go to the privacy settings in the same way and select the option “Your connections”.

My recommendation: allow everyone to view this feed in order to increase your visibility and allow interactions .

5. Activate the visibility of your network

Over time, you have undoubtedly accumulated a lot of experiences and relationships. Relationships that appear on your LinkedIn profile for everyone to see. This is not a problem, on the contrary leaving this option enabled allows you to benefit from the “common relations” functionality, allows you to display who has validated your skills on the network. Functionality that remains useful for expanding and developing your professional network.

My recommendation: leave your network visible in order to have all the functionalities of active connections.

6. Increase the reach of your posts

LinkedIn’s algorithm will favor content according to the affinity established between the publisher and the members of his network. The more interactions you have with someone in your network, the more likely they are to see and interact with your content. It’s highly unlikely that someone you’ve never interacted with will see what you post. To increase interactions, and therefore the reach of your posts, you need to focus on quality content that is likely to interest your audience and be appreciated. To hack the reach of your posts , you can add emojis , they promote emotion and therefore engagement, in addition to being appreciated when they are not in excess. Also add media content like videos that promote engagement and interaction in a more meaningful way ( click here to find out how to post a native video on LinkedIn ). A final tip to increase the reach of your posts is to mention one or the other person in your posts. They will be immediately notified of your new publication.

7. Similar profiles

You can activate the feature that allows people who have viewed your profile to have suggestions of similar profiles. This feature is popular with recruiters, but you may find it less appealing. Indeed, LinkedIn may display your direct competitors as a recommendation based on the type of profile you have. It is counterproductive and unfavorable for your job search, for example. I advise you to disable this feature by default, urgently.

8. “Who visits your profile?” »

Unlike Facebook, on LinkedIn you have a feature that lets you know the identity of people who have visited your profile. This means that when you visit a person’s profile, they will be notified. You have the possibility of becoming anonymous on LinkedIn so that the person is no longer informed during a visit to their profile. The disadvantage is that in return, you will no longer have access to the functionality that allows you to know who has visited your profile. A good way to counter this is to take one of the premium offers on LinkedIn. This will allow you to become anonymous to others while keeping track of who has visited your profile.

My recommendation: do not remain anonymous to promote your visibility, an essential ingredient for your success. Rest assured by default you are visible on LinkedIn.

9. Secure access to your LinkedIn account

In order for your account to remain protected, it is essential to change passwords regularly and never to reuse one of your old passwords. Your password must be complicated and difficult to find, it is essential to avoid any risk of being hacked. To avoid hackers, I advise you not to accept an invitation to join your network of people who have surprising profiles or who use a language that you do not master (for example Russian), especially if they do not justify their request. . Examine each profile before accepting new relationships, but stay open anyway, you are on a social network.

In conclusion, neglecting the correct setting of your LinkedIn profile can be counterproductive for the development of your professional career. Depending on your type of profile and your ambitions, adjustments are necessary to increase your visibility and reduce the risk of direct competition.