Many people don’t curate their LinkedIn account – keeping their profile, image and connections up to date. It’s easy to forget about because there isn’t typically much that it does for you. Most think of it as their emergency preparedness kit – break glass when necessary. But they forget that LinkedIn is the world’s view into them and their company.
LinkedIn is the place where people go to see who they are about to be working with. If you think that clients read the bios that come with your proposal, you’re wrong. They go to that person’s LinkedIn page and get a sense about them there. Why read the boilerplate, specially edited version when you can get the real thing? If your profile is 4 years old, that potential client may not be looking upon the bio of a seasoned professional who has done this type of work for years. They may instead see a half-hearted attempt at a resume.
In the past, LinkedIn was your digital resume and that’s how people thought about it. Now, it’s much, much more. It’s the world’s view into not just you, but into your company and your division of that company. It says what they do and how they work.
Not having a complete LinkedIn page is now the same as a business not having a website. It doesn’t reflect well.