LinkedIn is a social network that helps businesses and professionals connect with each other, share thoughts and ideas, build relationships, and even recruit talent. The first piece of information people see when they click on your profile is your profile name, image and headline. Your LinkedIn headline should be personalized and tell visitors what you do and how you can benefit or help them. In this section, we’ll cover examples of successful LinkedIn headlines, as well as best practices for creating one for your LinkedIn profile.

Helping “X” do “Y” so “Z”

Create a killer LinkedIn headline that summarizes your skills, ambitions and experiences in a couple of sentences. This headline is what people see when they search for you on LinkedIn and includes the section that appears underneath your name in LinkedIn search results. You have 120 characters to include information that will help you stand out from others by highlighting who you are and what you expect to get out of LinkedIn. This is your chance to make a lasting first impression, whether you are looking for job opportunities or seeking to attract strategic connections.

To make writing your headline easier, here’s a simple formula:

• X represents your ideal prospect;
• Y represents your ideal outcome;
• Z represents the service you offer.

Using a formula like the one above will help you to convey exactly what you do, who’s it for and why it’s different — all in a concise manner. It also makes your customers the focus of your profile, showing a sort of professional selflessness that reflects positively on your attitude when dealing with new prospects. This “helping” language is a good option for consultants and advisors.

Flaunt Your Value-Add

Whether a visitor to your profile is a hiring manager or a prospective client, they want to know how doing business with you can benefit them. With over 87 million people visiting LinkedIn profiles each day: you have one chance to make a great first impression, so use every opportunity to stand out. So, consider spending a sentence or phrase demonstrating your value-add for those you work with. This works for anybody, as it’s always useful to demonstrate the value that you bring to those who work with you.

Highlight Your Unique Selling Proposition

If you’re a freelancer, a business owner, or an entrepreneur, it’s important to give prospective clients an idea of your business’s unique selling proposition (USP). In other words, what makes yours different from everyone else’s? We’ve outlined how you can write a USP that gets you noticed and turns prospects into happy customers. Spend a sentence explaining what sets your business apart and how it can make a difference for your clients. Here’s your chance to share a little about the shift that made your company what it is today, or some of the highlights from the past year. This section is best used for businesses, companies, or teams looking to create a public-facing brand.

Use Relevant Adjectives for Detail & Intrigue

Using rich adjectives that add detail and intrigue to your qualifications and titles can produce a more eye-catching headline. It makes your headline more interesting, and the adjectives you use can add context to the job that you perform. This allows you to brag about yourself and can be used to spice up any headline.

Show the Variety of Your Service Offering

Another potential value-add for page visitors is the variety of services you provide. If your headline includes a wide array of skills related to my industry, you can cast a wide net for new business.

Demonstrate Authority With Social Proof

If you’re looking to attract new business or recruiters with your expertise or prestige, include some examples of your authority on your industry in your LinkedIn headline. We’re experts at crafting LinkedIn profile summaries that sell you and your skills. This can include awards, recognition in the media, high-level positions you’ve held in the industry, or specific data behind your accomplishments such as high annual sales numbers. This works best for anyone who could benefit from demonstrating their influence within their industry.

Include Keywords to Improve Searchability

Search is a core part of the LinkedIn experience, helping users discover others, companies, and jobs. Our machine learning team uses the power of data to give our 600+ million members personalized relevance in their searches. Search works by discovering the most relevant profiles and content using evidence, which includes everything from job titles to connections to skills (and more!). When a hiring manager searches for profiles, LinkedIn’s algorithm uses keywords to bring them the best possible profiles. Take some time to think about keywords that a hiring manager or prospective customer may search to find somebody in your industry, and include a few of them in your headline and “About” section.

Summarize Your Mission

It can be helpful to promote your personal mission in your headline and give visitors to your page an idea of your career goals. This provides context for your career experience and provides a better understanding of your motivation. Use this strategy to help visitors get to know you by reading your headline, and they may become more invested in you as a business partner or potential employee.

Include Positive Social Activism

If you or your business partakes in some form of philanthropy or social activism, include it in your LinkedIn headline. This will let your profile visitors know about the positive impact you or your business is having. You will build a professional image and attract new clients or jobs that match your values.

Add Some Flair With Symbols or Emojis

To make your resume less simple, pay attention to the aesthetic of the headline. However, if you want to use emojis in your headline, make sure they are used with purpose. Because using the icon arbitrarily can cause discomfort to the visitor and its counterproductive. Some common purposes of emojis in headline are to break up information or to wrap up headlines in an eye-catching and subtle way.

Keep It Simple

If you are just starting a new career or field and you do not have too much experience or outstanding achievements, simply list the job title and the company you are working for. Such a short subject line can still convey enough information about your industry and your current position.

Hopefully, by now, you have a clear picture of what makes a good LinkedIn headline. Yes, you can use different LinkedIn headline generators, but no platform beats human creativity and wittiness so far! Follow the simple Linked Booster instructions above and you might just brainstorm your perfect LinkedIn headline in far less time than you’ve imagined.