LinkedIn Just Did Your Digital Footprint A Huge Favor

Your LinkedIn profile is one of the first results that shows up when someone searches for you online. And it’s about to get even more visible.

If you stopped reading this post right now and Googled your own name, your LinkedIn profile is probably on the first page of results to display.

Whether you like it or not, people are “finding” you via LinkedIn!

How are you looking? Profile a little dusty?

(Be honest!)

You should give this some serious thought, because LinkedIn is adding in some new features and enhancements to the user experience, meaning your profile will be more visible than ever online.

Step 1 – Your “Public” Profile

If one of your professional goals is to generate leads and create new business on LinkedIn, you will want to take advantage of a recent update LinkedIn is made to its Terms of Service.

LinkedIn announced it is making your “public” profile (meaning the version of your LinkedIn profile EVERYONE sees, not just your 1st level connections), much more visible via “third party” online services like email clients (Microsoft Outlook, etc.) and other online channels.

So, if you haven’t already, you’ll want to make sure your profile is not only ready for prime time, but also available for everyone to see and discover it online.

Here’s how to make sure your profile is widely visible to everyone in the “public” online.

While logged into LinkedIn, click on “Your Account” and then “Privacy.” Next, scroll down to where you see “Data Privacy and Advertising” on the left-hand column.

You will see a header for “Profile Visibility Off LinkedIn” and under that a question asks “Should we show information from your profile to users of permitted services such as Outlook?” Then switch the setting to “Yes” or “No.”

(You can read LinkedIn’s explanation of what being more visible “Off” of LinkedIn looks like.)

Visibility is Key

If you want to sell your products or services through LinkedIn, this recent update is phenomenal news, because it makes it even easier for prospects to find you anywhere online, not just on the platform!

And, if you want to generate business from LinkedIn, why would you hide? This is a socialplatform, a social network for professionals, so you want to be “out there” professionally, letting anyone and everyone easily find you, learn about who you are and what you do.

If you need some help, I’ve created a step-by-step, fill-in-the-blank template on how to revamp your entire LinkedIn profile from the ground up.

Microsoft + LinkedIn = Big Business

Since Microsoft acquired LinkedIn back in 2016 for $ 26.2 billion, the two companies have promised to integrate as many of their products and services as possible.

“We’re excited about leveraging Microsoft technology and resources to offer more valuable features and services to you,” LinkedIn shared in their recent blog post about the changes to its terms of service.