LinkedIn is a powerful professional networking platform that allows you to connect with colleagues, clients, recruiters and more. With over 900 million users worldwide, LinkedIn is the go-to site for expanding your professional network and opportunities. One of the key ways to leverage LinkedIn is by sharing your profile with others, allowing them to view your background, skills and accomplishments. But how exactly do you go about sharing your LinkedIn profile?
Why You Should Share Your LinkedIn Profile
Here are some of the top reasons to share your LinkedIn profile:
- Job hunting – Share your profile with recruiters, hiring managers and companies you want to work for. This allows them to view your full work history, skills, recommendations and other details that could make you a strong candidate.
- Client prospecting – Send your profile to potential clients so they can vet you or your company. It builds trust and credibility.
- Professional references – Give your profile to colleagues who you want to list as a reference. It gives them easy access to your background.
- Collaborations – Share with fellow professionals who you may collaborate with on projects. It gives them insight into your capabilities.
- Business development – Send to vendors, partners, investors to establish and build relationships.
- Reconnecting – Share with old colleagues or classmates to reconnect and stay in touch.
The key benefit of sharing your LinkedIn profile is that it allows others to get a quick yet comprehensive overview of your professional capabilities, experience and brand. It can help spur job leads, client engagements, partnerships and other opportunities.
Ways to Share Your LinkedIn Profile Link
When you want to share your LinkedIn profile with someone, you have several options:
- Copy and paste your profile URL – You can copy the web address for your LinkedIn profile and paste it into an email or message for them to click on and access.
- Use the LinkedIn “Share Profile” link – LinkedIn provides a “Share Profile” option that gives you a pre-populated email template for easily sending your profile to others.
- Add URL to resume or email signature – Include the link to your LinkedIn profile in your resume or email signature so it’s readily available in communications.
- List on business cards – Print your LinkedIn URL on your business cards so people can easily find and connect with you.
- Post on websites – Add a LinkedIn icon or profile link to your professional website or blog to make it easy for visitors to connect.
- Share on social media – Post your LinkedIn profile link on platforms like Twitter or Facebook to broaden your reach.
The LinkedIn “Share Profile” option is often the easiest way to go since it gives you a pre-made email template with your profile included. But you can get creative and share your profile link however makes sense for your particular goals and audience.
Customize Your Profile Link (Vanity URL)
Beyond just sharing your generic profile link, you can also customize your LinkedIn URL with a unique vanity URL. This creates a cleaner, more professional looking web address with your name.
To get a vanity URL for your LinkedIn profile:
- Go to your LinkedIn profile
- Click “Edit public profile & URL” located under your profile photo and name
- Click “Edit” next to the URL section
- Type in the customized URL you want using your name and click “Save”
For example, instead of your URL being:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-smith-467520123/
You could customize it to be:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamessmith
This makes your profile look much cleaner and professional when you share it with others. You can include this customized vanity URL anywhere you normally share your profile – resumes, emails, business cards, websites and more.
Who Should You Share Your LinkedIn Profile With?
Here are some of the key people worth sharing your LinkedIn profile with for professional opportunities:
- Recruiters – Send directly to recruiters at companies you want to work at. Helps get you on their radar.
- Hiring managers – Share with the hiring manager for a role you’re interviewing for. Lets them dive deeper.
- Prospective clients – Give your profile to new leads to establish your credibility and expertise.
- Existing clients – Great for reinforcing why existing clients hired you and should continue working with you.
- Vendors or partners – Share your profile to strengthen business relationships.
- Alumni network – Connect with fellow alumni by sharing your profile.
- Speakers or teachers – Share your profile with speakers or instructors who you want to learn from.
- References – Let your references quickly access your profile and background details.
Essentially, anytime you want to share your professional capabilities and credibility with someone, sending your LinkedIn profile is a fast and effective way to accomplish that goal.
Tips for an Impactful LinkedIn Profile
To get the most out of sharing your LinkedIn profile, you want to make sure you have an impactful, up-to-date profile that puts your best foot forward. Here are some best practices:
- Have a professional headshot photo
- Include an engaging summary section highlighting your top skills and achievements
- Showcase your most relevant work experiences
- List your key skills
- Get recommendations and endorsements
- Showcase examples of your work via links or media
- Be active by posting content and engaging with your network
- Customize your profile URL using your full name
An optimized profile allows those viewing your profile to quickly get a full picture of your personal brand, qualifications and what you bring to the table as a professional.
Should You Customize the Message When Sharing Your Profile?
When reaching out to share your LinkedIn profile, you have the option to either use the standard LinkedIn email template as-is, or customize the message. Here are some pros and cons of customizing the message:
Pros of Customizing the Message
- Makes the outreach more personal and authentic
- Lets you explain who you are and why you want to connect
- Allows highlighting specifics that are most relevant to the recipient
- Opens the door for following up and continuing the conversation
Cons of Customizing the Message
- More effort upfront than just using the standard template
- Need to ensure the custom message is still professional
- Open rates may be lower depending on quality of subject line
Overall, personalizing the message takes more effort but can leave a stronger, long-lasting impression with the recipient. However, if you need to share your profile widely with dozens or hundreds of recipients, the standard template may be the more efficient route.
Adding Someone to Your LinkedIn Network When Sharing Your Profile
After sharing your LinkedIn profile, you can also take the next step and directly connect with the recipient by sending them an invite to join your LinkedIn network. There are a few ways to go about this:
- Mention the invitation to connect in your customized message when you initially share your profile. For example, “I’d also love to connect on LinkedIn if you’re open to it.”
- Wait for them to view your profile, then send a customized connection invitation referencing your prior shared profile. Such as “Hi [Name], I see you viewed my LinkedIn profile. I’d enjoy connecting on here as well.”
- If they already sent you an invitation, accept the invite and reference your prior profile share. “Thanks for connecting on LinkedIn. I appreciated you taking the time to view my profile.”
The direct connection takes your relationship to the next level. But be strategic about who you send those invites to in order to maintain meaningful connections.
Following Up After Sharing Your Profile
To further strengthen the impact of sharing your LinkedIn profile, it’s wise to follow up afterward with recipients who you want to establish an ongoing relationship with. Here are some examples of effective follow up communications:
- Send a thank you message for taking the time to view your profile and offer to provide any additional information.
- Ask to set up a 15-30 minute informational interview to learn more about their career path and industry insights.
- Suggest grabbing coffee or a virtual chat to discuss potential collaborations or ways to support each other.
- Share a recent article or piece of content that is relevant to their interests based on their profile.
- Mention you noticed they have experience or expertise in X, and you would love to connect them with someone in your network who is working in that area.
Following up shows you are proactive about building the relationship, not just passively sharing your LinkedIn profile. The recipient will appreciate you taking the initiative.
Measuring the Impact of Sharing Your Profile
It’s important to track metrics and gather feedback when sharing your LinkedIn profile so you can demonstrate the impact and optimize your approach over time. Here are some examples of what to measure:
- Profile views – Track how many profile views result from sharing your profile with specific recipients.
- New connections – Calculate how many 1st degree connections were added as a result of your outreach.
- Replies to your messages – Review response rate data to messages sent when you share your profile.
- Relationship progression – Document how many initial contacts ultimately turned into interviews, partnerships, clients, etc.
- Recipient feedback – Ask recipients for feedback on the value of connecting via your shared profile.
You can track profile views and new connections through native LinkedIn analytics. For the other metrics, you will likely need to track manually in a spreadsheet. Over time, you can optimize who and how you share your profile to improve results.
Conclusion
Sharing your LinkedIn profile provides an easy yet powerful way to establish and grow your professional network. By proactively sending your profile out to recruiters, potential partners, clients and others, you can increase your visibility and opportunities. Take the time to customize your profile so it puts your best foot forward when shared. And don’t forget to track metrics and follow up with recipients to get the most mileage out of the connections.