Putting a LinkedIn profile URL on a business card is becoming an increasingly common practice. LinkedIn has grown to become the world’s largest professional networking platform with over 810 million members worldwide as of February 2023. With so many professionals and companies represented on LinkedIn, including a link to your profile on your business card can be a simple yet powerful way to grow your network and get your personal brand in front of more potential connections.
In this article, we’ll explore the key questions around adding LinkedIn to business cards:
Should you include LinkedIn on business cards?
The short answer is: yes, it’s generally recommended to put your LinkedIn URL on your business card if you are active on the platform. Here are some of the main benefits of linking your business card to LinkedIn:
– Increased discoverability – Adding your LinkedIn profile to your card makes it easy for new connections to learn more about you and your work history.
– Expanded network reach – Every new business card recipient is a potential new connection. LinkedIn widens your network with each person that views and connects with your profile.
– Convenience factor – With the URL readily available, the other person doesn’t have to search for you on LinkedIn to connect.
– Professional endorsement – A custom LinkedIn URL looks more professional on a business card than a long, generic profile link.
– Leverage LinkedIn content – Your LinkedIn profile showcases relevant work samples, recommendations, projects, publications, and more that card recipients can view.
What’s the best way to include LinkedIn on a card?
Here are some tips on optimally formatting your LinkedIn URL on your business card:
– Use a customized public profile URL – Reduce your default LinkedIn profile URL to a simple, professional version with just your name or username. This is done in LinkedIn’s public profile settings.
– Place below your name and title – Putting the LinkedIn URL beneath your name and job title keeps the focus on your core credentials while making the link easily findable.
– Hyperlink the URL – Make sure the text is an active, clickable hyperlink so it’s simple for others to click through to your profile.
– Utilize a QR code – Add a QR code image beside your LinkedIn link so others can quickly scan and access your page. QR code generators like QR Code Generator allow you to convert any URL into a scannable code.
– Keep it consistent across cards – Use the same LinkedIn URL formatting on all your business cards for uniformity.
What are the disadvantages of LinkedIn on business cards?
There aren’t many drawbacks to incorporating LinkedIn on business cards, but some potential cons to consider include:
– Cluttered appearance – Too many URLs or QR codes can make a card look cluttered and detract from your key contact information.
– Quickly outdated – If you customize your LinkedIn URL and later change jobs, the old vanity URL might not make sense. Order cards in smaller batches if your profile is prone to frequent changes.
– Privacy concerns – Displaying your full name and photo URL lets people access your profile without connecting, which some may view as an invasion of privacy if overly utilized.
– Requires profile maintenance – You need to actively maintain a polished, updated LinkedIn profile for the URL to provide value and accurately represent you.
Overall the benefits seem to far outweigh any potential negatives, as long as you thoughtfully format the LinkedIn integration in a clean, succinct way.
Usage Statistics
How widely adopted is the practice of putting LinkedIn information on business cards? Here are some statistics on the prevalence:
Percentage who include LinkedIn on business cards
58% |
According to a 2021 survey by MOO, 58% of professionals print their LinkedIn URL on their business cards. This indicates it’s a fairly common practice adopted by over half of card holders.
LinkedIn users with customized public profile URLs
73 million |
As of 2021, LinkedIn reported 73 million members have set up customized public profile URLs for their accounts. Creating a custom URL makes it simpler to include a clean, professional link on a business card.
Share on LinkedIn who have added their LinkedIn URL to their business card
41% |
A poll conducted on LinkedIn in 2020 found that 41% of respondents included their LinkedIn URL on their business cards. This poll reached LinkedIn’s most active users who are more likely to utilize profile customization features.
People with over 500 connections who put LinkedIn on their card
67% |
According to LinkedIn’s 2020 survey, 67% of users with 500+ connections have their LinkedIn profile link printed on their business cards. Power networkers tend to more actively leverage customization like vanity URLs.
The data indicates that the majority of professionals on LinkedIn – especially those with large networks – are catching on to the benefits of linking business cards to their profiles.
Benefits for Individual Users
What are the specific advantages for individuals who put their LinkedIn URL on their business card?
Increased personal brand visibility
Adding LinkedIn to your cards amplifies awareness of your personal brand because your profile provides far more details and content than a card alone. Your brand identity and areas of expertise can be conveyed through your LinkedIn profile to anyone who connects via your card.
Expanded professional network
Business cards containing your LinkedIn link enable every recipient to seamlessly become a new connection with one click. This provides an easy networking boost to grow your group of connections.
Higher contact response rate
Studies show including LinkedIn on cards can increase response rates when contacting fellow users. The other person can quickly verify your profile and credentials on LinkedIn prior to responding.
Showcase of skills and accomplishments
Your LinkedIn profile highlights important credentials, knowledge, projects, honors, publications, and recommendations you want card recipients to know about.
Access to open networking opportunities
After connecting via your card, new contacts acquire the ability to endorse your skills, recommend you, and open doors to new connections. Expanding your network is invaluable.
Ability to drive traffic to content
You can share blog posts, SlideShare presentations, videos, and other content through your profile that card recipients can access. This content marketing exposes your expertise.
The advantages LinkedIn integration offers for personal branding, networking, qualifications showcasing, and content access are extremely beneficial for any professional.
Benefits for Companies
Adding LinkedIn URLs to business cards also offers advantages specifically for companies and organizations:
Increased brand awareness
Employees sharing company profile links on their cards boosts awareness of your brand to every new professional they meet.
Expanded talent pool
Your employees linking to their LinkedIn profiles enables interested card recipients to easily discover and connect with your company. This expands your pool of potential talent.
Showcase of company culture and values
The Workplace pages for your company on LinkedIn convey important information on your culture, values, community outreach initiatives, and employee satisfaction.
Exposure of products and services
Your company’s LinkedIn Showcase Pages highlight important details on products, services, projects, and customers that your brand wants to promote.
Credibility as top employer
Active employee profiles and company pages boost credibility by conveying your brand as an engaged, modern employer committed to networking best practices.
Any company today benefits immensely from ensuring its LinkedIn presence and employee profiles are leveraged to their full potential through business card integration.
Optimizing Your LinkedIn Profile
To maximize the power of including your LinkedIn URL on a card, here are some tips for optimizing your individual profile:
Craft an informative headline
Your headline below your name is valuable real estate. Summarize your value proposition and areas of expertise.
Expand your summary section
Fully use the space to detail your background, skills, accomplishments, goals, and what makes you unique.
Showcase relevant media
Upload images, videos, presentations, and documents that demonstrate your capabilities and credibility.
Highlight key skills
Be exhaustive in filling out your skills section so connections can endorse you for them.
Collect recommendations
Proactively request recommendations from managers, colleagues, clients to build social proof.
Stay active
Regularly post updates, comment on other posts, like content, and join groups to appear engaged.
Expand your connections
Continually network and connect with new professionals in your industry to widen your reach.
Optimizing all facets of your LinkedIn presence will help ensure anyone viewing your profile will come away impressed and informed.
Optimizing Your Company Profile
For companies, focus on these areas to maximize LinkedIn brand exposure from business cards:
Complete “About Us” sections
Provide thorough, detailed descriptions of your company across all profile tabs – About, Careers, Products & Services, Culture, etc.
Curate Showcase Pages
Develop Company and Showcase pages that highlight your important branded content around campaigns, product launches, initiatives, and more.
Encourage employee sharing
Incentivize employees to link to your Company Page and content when posting updates to expand reach.
Post regular updates
Have assigned admins consistently post company news, blog content, events, videos, and employee highlights.
Monitor analytics
Follow Company Page analytics on visitors, post engagement, clicks, follows and leads to refine strategy.
Engage followers
Respond to any comments, questions or feedback from followers to build community.
Acquire talent
Leverage LinkedIn Recruiter to source, connect with and recruit top talent prospects.
Companies investing in their LinkedIn presence will see major dividends from added brand visibility when integrating with business cards.
Should You Include LinkedIn on a Resume?
Beyond business cards, is it also smart to list your LinkedIn profile on your resume? Here are the pros and cons:
Pros
– Showcases online presence
– Highlights technology proficiency
– Provides easy access to additional info
– Allows verification of credentials
– Displays professional social media savvy
Cons
– Potential privacy concerns
– Clutter if also listing other social media
– Quickly outdated vanity URL if you change roles
– Adds length without contributing significant resume content
Overall, including a simple, clean LinkedIn URL on your resume does provide more benefits than drawbacks in most cases. Just be selective in how you incorporate it without impacting resume conciseness and clarity.
Conclusion
Adding your LinkedIn profile URL to your business cards and resume is becoming standard practice for professionals and companies today. With LinkedIn’s unrivaled reach, incorporating your profile link provides immense opportunities for expanded networks, increased discoverability, brand visibility, lead generation, and showcasing your capabilities.
The data shows a clear majority of LinkedIn users – especially those focused on actively developing their connections and brand – have adopted the practice on their business cards.
Optimizing your LinkedIn profile ensures anyone accessing it via your cards gains a comprehensive view of your skills, accomplishments, credentials, and professionalism. Companies also achieve amplified brand awareness and credibility from an optimized presence.
While there are minor disadvantages like privacy and frequently changing URLs to consider, the multitude of benefits make integrating LinkedIn on business cards an impactful networking best practice. Include a customized, hyperlinked URL prominently on your cards to leverage the immense power of LinkedIn’s platform.