Favorite Friday LinkedIn Professional Headline Yours probably sucks

Favorite Friday LinkedIn Professional Headline Yours probably sucks This is from July 2010, on my LinkedIn blog.  It is a really short post about that uber-important branding statement next to your picture on your LinkedIn Profile. The post took a life of its own when people started asking for feedback on their headlines.  Fortunately, Peter Osborne jumped in to respond to people I finally had to close the comments before it became a full-time job! Heres the post click here to read the excellent comments: So many times I see LinkedIn Professional Headlines that … well, suck.Yours probably sucks (unless you got my LinkedIn book or my LinkedIn DVD, as I talk about this quite a bit in those). Here’s a quick test: (a) Does your LinkedIn Professional Headline have your TITLE? (b) Does your LinkedIn Professional Headline have the name of your company? If it has either of these you have a great chance of having a sucky professional headline. Why do I say this? The title doesn’t tell me a whole lot. If it’s a big title in a small company I’m not impressed. If it’s a regular title in a company or industry I’m not familiar with, I might not really know WHAT YOU DO. Beyond that, though, your title doesn’t tell me WIIFM (What’s In It For Me?). I don’t care that you are a CEO, or analyst, or any of that other stuff. If I SHOULD care, I can find that in the rest of your LinkedIn Profile, right? Use your Professional headline as a change to educate me on why I should care about you. Title/company doesn’t do it. With regard to the company, most companies I see out there have cute names… that mean nothing to me. They are not branded enough to tell me anything. Thus, putting the name of a no-name company in your headline does not help me understand your value proposition… IT ONLY TAKES UP SPACE. How’s your LinkedIn Professional Headline? Favorite Friday LinkedIn Professional Headline Yours probably sucks This is from July 2010, on my LinkedIn blog.  It is a really short post about that uber-important branding statement next to your picture on your LinkedIn Profile. The post took a life of its own when people started asking for feedback on their headlines.  Fortunately, Peter Osborne jumped in to respond to people I finally had to close the comments before it became a full-time job! Heres the post click here to read the excellent comments: So many times I see LinkedIn Professional Headlines that … well, suck.Yours probably sucks (unless you got my LinkedIn book or my LinkedIn DVD, as I talk about this quite a bit in those). Here’s a quick test: (a) Does your LinkedIn Professional Headline have your TITLE? (b) Does your LinkedIn Professional Headline have the name of your company? If it has either of these you have a great chance of having a sucky professional headline. Why do I say this? The title doesn’t tell me a whole lot. If it’s a big title in a small company I’m not impressed. If it’s a regular title in a company or industry I’m not familiar with, I might not really know WHAT YOU DO. Beyond that, though, your title doesn’t tell me WIIFM (What’s In It For Me?). I don’t care that you are a CEO, or analyst, or any of that other stuff. If I SHOULD care, I can find that in the rest of your LinkedIn Profile, right? Use your Professional headline as a change to educate me on why I should care about you. Title/company doesn’t do it. With regard to the company, most companies I see out there have cute names… that mean nothing to me. They are not branded enough to tell me anything. Thus, putting the name of a no-name company in your headline does not help me understand your value proposition… IT ONLY TAKES UP SPACE. How’s your LinkedIn Professional Headline?