6 Steps to Improve Your LinkedIn Profile
I received a wonderful question for Spencer S. Lawson, which was also followed up with the same question by Shelly Shenoy!
“How do I use LinkedIn as an actor?”
The quick answer? Use it like any social network!
Why You need to rethink LinkedIn? 👀
LinkedIn is by far the most underutilized social platforms for creatives. I know the stereotype is that LinkedIn is for boring white-collar business professionals. Wrong.
LinkedIn is for everyone!
Legit creative professionals (producers, writers, directors, casting directors, talent reps, creatives) are using LinkedIn for their personal brands and business. Why shouldn't you?!
Reason No. 1:
LinkedIn ranks very high on search engine results.
If you haven't yet created a professional website, chances are that someone using Google will stumble upon your LinkedIn profile.
Reason No. 2: LinkedIn is aggressive with notifications!
Whether through emails, alerts, or pop-up notifications within the platform, LinkedIn is good at letting you and your connections know of activity. In some ways, this gives you more visibility with an update than you may have elsewhere.
Ready to take your LinkedIn
to the next level?
Here are some six steps to leverage LinkedIn like the healthy CEO you’re becoming!
Step one: create a profile. 📇
Just like other platforms, you want to design the first impression. Here’s what I recommend—and this goes for ALL networks, not just LinkedIn.
PROFILE PICTURE: a headshot used as your main ID.
COVER PHOTO: something horizontal that tells your story.
WEBSITE LINK*
*This is when I’ll break off and say that your job on LinkedIn is to get people off of it! You want them to visit your website where the focus is entirely on you and you’ve created the best presentation. For this purpose, I recommend you give them exit ramps. Click images below to expand.
ADD WEBSITE TO HEADLINE
ADD WEBSITE TO “FEATURED” SECTION
ADD WEBSITE TO “ABOUT” SECTION
ADD WEBSITE LINKS INSIDE RÉSUMÉ
Step two: highlight your work. 🧾
You can choose how to design your résumé. Depending on where you are in your career, you have two options:
GROUPING SIMILAR CREDITS
Choose your unions or reps and list things like “Actor at Actors’ Equity Association” or “Talent with WMA.” In the description, you can share something like “Selected credits include X,Y, Z.”
I like this if you’re an industry veteran because minimalism conveys premium or high-end branding. You have nothing to prove—they can ask for a full résumé or CV if they want it.
LISTING INDIVIDUAL CREDITS
The benefit of listing each credit starts with the push notifications: “Shelly started a new job at Cartoon Network! Say congrats?”
You can do this for a few years, but if you do it for decades, it can read a little obnoxious—like you’ve got something to prove. Just like your 8x10 printed résumé, do some periodic pruning and prioritizing!
This often brings up a question that Wendye Clarendon posed inside our Changemaker Community:
“Do you have one profile for you as an artist, and one for survival work?”
CREATE ONE PROFILE + HIGHLIGHT YOUR BEST WORK!
Your creative work makes you stand out in the corporate world: you are an empath and will think outside the box!
Your corporate work makes you stand out in the creative world: you have the credibility and trust of long-term employment.
See if you can shape the credits to lead with the type of work you want to attract more of: but don’t be afraid to showcase that you’re a multi-hyphenate. It should be celebrated!
FUN FACT
You can export your LinkedIn résumé to a PDF if needed for job applications.
Step three: add media storytelling to credits. 🤩
One of my social media strategies is, “Show, don't tell.” Whenever possible, include a photo, video, or link so your audience can experience or learn more.
LinkedIn allows you to embed media under credits. Therefore, give your audience a rich experience! Perhaps you add on interviews, press, official websites, trailers, etc.
Step four: connect with existing network. 🔗
The ninja trick of social media is to use it for networking just as much as marketing. I teach more inside Smartists—and I hope you’ll join us!
I know a NYC Manager and Producer who used LinkedIn during the pandemic to secure major meetings at Netflix and Peacock for new projects.
Expand your network by starting with your existing circle. You’ll start to see Industry VIP as suggested contacts... and they’ll start seeing you, too!
Aim to get to two degrees of separation from Kevin Bacon!
Step five: share your updates! 📰
LinkedIn is aggressive with their notifications. Let that work in your favor! They will celebrate your work anniversaries: such as “Spencer is celebrating five years at AEA! Say congrats?”
Sometimes, LinkedIn will even alert your network when you’ve posted something. Especially if you tend to be shy on social media, don’t be afraid to post a photo, video, or link here, too.
Remember: this is where the “business” side of arts professionals are spending time. Let them know what you’re working on!
Step six: get recommendations on your work!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ testimonials
We trust what other people say and do—especially if they've shared it publicly on the Internet, and there’s a crowd all saying the same thing.
While massive social followings can influence casting decisions, the reasoning highlights the power of word of mouth!
See if you can tune up your LinkedIn profile with some recommendations—especially from well known and trusted industry professionals.
You might start by giving a recommendation to someone you’ve worked with in the past. They’ll likely say thank you, and then you can ask them if they’d return the favor.
Otherwise, I’d suggest a message something like this…
Script for Recommendations
“Hey ___! Hope you’re doing well. I’m working on improving my LinkedIn profile for future jobs and wondered if you could write 1-3 sentences here about your experience of us working together? Happy to return the favor.
