LinkedIn Profile Mini-Audit with Allison Jacobson Ep 105

Unlock the secrets to optimizing your LinkedIn profile and attract the clients you’ve always wanted! In this episode, we sit down with the incredible Alison Jacobson, also known as the midlife maverick, who shares her inspiring journey of empowering women in their second chapter of life. As a coach, author, podcast host, and CEO of the nonprofit First Candle, Alison offers invaluable insights into balancing multiple roles while maximizing LinkedIn for professional success. Connect with Alison: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alison-jacobson-midlifemaverick/

Get an insider's look at optimizing your LinkedIn profile as I offer Alison personalized tips including the following:

▪️  Zooming in on your professional Headshot Photo field, so your face is 50-60% of the circle

▪️ Creating a business page. How to: https://www.mellermarketing.com/blog/how-to-create-a-company-page-on-linkedin-free

▪️ Making your Header Image intentional, and perhaps focusing on both areas if you're working full-time while building your coaching business

▪️  Updating your ABOUT statement using my tried-and-true formula. Instructions: https://www.mellermarketing.com/blog/how-get-bigger-slice-linkedin-pie-awesome-statement-brenda-meller-

▪️ And more!

Want a LinkedIn profile mini-audit? If you're a coach / consultant / solopreneur, download these 15 LinkedIn Profile tips, and follow the instructions in the final email: https://www.mellermarketing.com/list

LinkedIn "Power Hours" (Single Session, x4, x12)
Each package includes: 

• LinkedIn consulting / coaching, personalized to your needs and focusing on your questions.
• Review of LinkedIn profile / company page to provide guidance / advice / recommendations

https://www.mellermarketing.com/powerhour 

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My name is Brenda Meller. I'm a LinkedIn coach, consultant, speaker, and author. My company is Meller Marketing and I help business professionals get a bigger slice of the LinkedIn pie.

Visit mellermarketing.com

Let's connect on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/brendameller
(click MORE to invite me to connect and mention you listened to my podcast)

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:49

Hey, this is Brenda Meller. I'm back again today with another LinkedIn Profile mini audit for coaches and consultants, and I'm joined today by Allison Jacobson. Allison, how are you doing today?

Speaker 2: 1:00

Great Thanks for doing this.

Speaker 1: 1:02

Oh, I'm super excited. It's going to be a great conversation here today. So, as we are getting the conversation started, why don't you tell us a bit about you, tell us your name, what do you do, who do you help, and bit about you what you know? Tell us your name, what do you do, who do you help and what do you help them with.

Speaker 2: 1:16

Sure, my name is Allison Jacobson. I'm known as the midlife maverick, so I work with women who are ready to become confident in their second chapter of their lives, reconnect with who they were before they took on the roles of mom and caregiver and partner and live courageously and confidently in a kick-ass way in midlife. So I do coaching, I have a podcast, midlife Mavericks. I am an author, I have a book, daily Inspirations for Midlife Women, and on the other side I am the CEO of a national nonprofit, first Candle, which addresses sudden, unexpected infant death. My son died in 1997. And what we do is really work with communities to educate them on safe sleep and breastfeeding. And we also provide bereavement support to families who've lost a baby from SIDS or stillbirth or miscarriage.

Speaker 1: 2:09

Wow, what a wonderful cause, and sounds like your coaching business is very fulfilling for you as well, so I'm delighted to be here with you, allison. So let me start by sharing my screen, and we're going to be looking at your profile together, and, as we are getting started, I always like to start with. Are there any specific questions that you have that you'd like me to address in the mini audit today, or are you just open to some general feedback?

Speaker 2: 2:38

Well, I'm certainly open to general feedback because I am a LinkedIn novice, but I really know how important it is to be there to connect with other groups and organizations. My challenge is this my personal page really is for my coaching and my speaking work and my podcast, whereas my business page is for First Candle, and I want to make sure that I am not cannibalizing either of them, but really reinforcing the other one.

Speaker 1: 3:00

Okay. So right off the bat, I'm going to give you a tip, which is you talked about. Your business page is for First Candle, and I'm going to scroll down to your experience section so you can see what I'm illustrating here. Next to First Candle, which is your current, your full-time employer, we see the logo, and if I were to click on that logo, it's going to pop me over to your company page, which is what you were just describing for you. Now you could actually create a company page for your coaching business as well, and it's actually fairly easy to do so, and it's free to do so as well.

Speaker 1: 3:31

All you'll need to do, allison, is go to the dropdown at the top of the screen where it says Home, my Network, jobs, et cetera.

Speaker 1: 3:38

Follow that over to the For Business icon and when you click on that, it looks like a little waffle at the top. When you click on that, you'll scroll down to the bottom and click on Create a Company Page and follow the instructions here. You'll click on the word company and then just fill out the information in here. One really important item is to upload your logo, so you will have to have a logo for your coaching business in there and then, once you get that page set up I'm going to go back to your profile here then you'll need to go into your experience section. You'll have a little pencil icon in the upper right-hand corner and then click on the pencil icon next to your coaching business and just modify the company name so that it gets linked to your company page. That way you can have two company pages that are for current employers, for your first candle business as well as for your coaching business.

Speaker 2: 4:24

How does that sound? That's great. I didn't realize you could have two company pages. That's huge.

Speaker 1: 4:30

Absolutely, and I've even seen people and I do this myself. My business is Mellor Marketing. That is my coaching and consulting business. I've created another page for my podcast, which is called Enthusiastically Self-Employed. I've created another page for my book, which is called Social Media Pie, and I've seen other people that will also link to nonprofit boards that they serve on and other organizations in here as well. So you can actually have multiple organizations listed in your experience section, even if they are current.

Speaker 1: 5:01

The thing to keep in mind is the priority how you want them to appear from a visibility perspective. So when I see first candle in the first position in your experience section, my assumption is that's her day job, that's what pays the bills, right, and I see the second position is the speaker, podcast host. Okay, so that's more of second priority or more of a side hustle type of a thing that we're looking for there, and I've seen other organizations if they do, or people, they'll put board affiliations and things like that and that might be third, fourth and fifth priority. But there's still current roles in there as well and you can certainly change the order around in there. Related to that Allison at the top of your profile, I noticed that in this white area over the right-hand side there's not anything that's visible on here and I'm going to just pull up my profile so you can see what it is that I'm referring to here. What I'd like to see is both your current employer and also education. That's listed here and I can't show it from your profile, so I'm going to show it from mine here, but in the white area right, and the way that you would enable those to show those on your profile is you'd click on this gray pencil icon at the top. Once the edit intro pop-up box appears, you'll want to scroll down and where it says current position, you'll want to select show current company.

Speaker 1: 6:20

In my intro Now you can only show one in the top header card, so you have to think about from an optics perspective. Is it better to show first candle or your coaching business? I think probably first candle, because that's your full job, is probably what I would show for you. And then similar in education. If you've completed or, you know, even done any education at any level community college, bachelor's degree, master's degree or coaching certification programs all of those will appear in the education dropdown and then you'll want to choose the one that you want to appear in your top header card up there and then click on the box that says show school in my intro. Part of the reason I think this is important, as it relates to helping you with your coaching business, is when I don't see education. I think. Is this person hiding something? Have they never completed any education in there? And some people have completed coaching, certifications and they've gone, you know, doctoral degrees and things like that. So it might be something we're showcasing. Any questions on that? So far? No, that's great. Okay, all right.

Speaker 1: 7:23

Next thing is at the top of your profile. We have two very visual sections and I like to always focus in on on both of these. We have your headshot photo and then we've got your banner image and it's in the background headshot photo, and then we've got your banner image and it's in the background Headshot photo. What I would recommend that you do you've got a really great looking headshot photo in there, but it's too far back. So what I would recommend is that you really focus on your face, from the top of your face to the bottom of your chin. That should be about 50 to 60% of the circle.

Speaker 1: 7:49

I'm going to bounce back to mine just so you can see what I'm looking for here. Really, what we're looking for is just a little bit of your neckline on there, but the thing to keep in mind is, when you're more zoomed in, as I'm illustrating here you look more important, you look more approachable, you look more personable. We can see your face, whereas when you're further back you feel a little bit more distant. Does that make sense? Makes total sense. And also it's important because most people are not looking at your profile, allison, from this view. They're seeing your headshot coming up when you're posting on LinkedIn, when you're commenting, when you're coming up in search results, so you're a little bit further back in there anyway. So that can make a good, strong first impression for you.

Speaker 2: 8:26

That's great to know. Oh my God, Great tips.

Speaker 1: 8:29

All right, yeah, absolutely. Now that you see it, you can't unsee it Right, exactly All right. So next tip I want to show for you or talk about is your header image, which is that rectangular block that sits behind your headshot photo. Once heard somebody call it like your headboard on your bed. I'm like this kind of is like your headboard because your face is laying against it. So I want you to think about that space and using that like a billboard for your business.

Speaker 1: 8:52

So think about if you're driving along the highway, you know what's that one message that you want to use to promote your business. Now, I know you're doing both first candle as well as your coaching business. You'll have to pick one or the other. I typically would say don't use a photo of you in that banner section, because we already have your headshot photo. We're already seeing that in there. What I would like to see instead is, if you do want to use a photo of you show you speaking up on stage, or maybe you with a microphone in front of you, if it's a podcast host or something like that but if the top priority for your personal profile is to showcase First Candle, perhaps there might be a header image library that's been created for the organization, or you can suggest it to the person who's helping you with marketing.

Speaker 1: 9:38

Create some different header images that are promoting fundraising events or upcoming galas or things like that from your profile. Alternatively, I see that you're located in New York City metropolitan area, so you could just do a city skyline of the New York skyline in there, and I think that would work both with supporting First Candle as well as supporting your coaching business. It's more of a, it's a geography element, so it's a clue as to where in the world you are located, but it doesn't speak to either organization, and that might be better for you to think about. What's you know? If you think about transferable skills, things that we use in both roles, what are common denominators of both businesses?

Speaker 2: 10:19

Well, so it's interesting to say that one of the challenges I've always had is I have photos of me speaking, but the dimensions for the LinkedIn I can't get it, unless it's like I'm really small to your point. But what you made me think about is, rather than a New York City scape, both of both of what I do is empowering women, and sometimes it's younger women, sometimes it's midlife women. So thinking maybe of some photo that really illustrates powerful women, strong women.

Speaker 1: 10:48

Yeah, absolutely. And are you familiar with canvacom? Oh, yeah, okay. So what I would do if I were you and you said the dimensions are sometimes hard to get. If you go into canvacom let me see if it'll load quickly for me here and you type in, once it loads up on the top here in the search bar in Canva, type in LinkedIncom header, and they actually have templates that are available in the exact size, which is 1584 by 396. So you can use any of the templates. But then you could certainly search for images of women, and it could be images of women you know, child to elderly and you know different things like that. But I think that would be great because that's that's a common denominator with both of those businesses in there. Okay, all right, good, so far, so good, great, all right, good.

Speaker 1: 11:38

Another thing I noticed in your headline you have speaker slash, podcast host slash, ceo of first candle. Now, this was a technique that I heard a while back and again, like once, I tell it to you you can't unsee it. What I would recommend is that any word in your headline if it has a space, it has a bracket or a pipe symbol or something. You have to have a space before and after, because right now, if I were to be searching for keywords, the only keywords that are going to come up from your headline are of first and candle. Up from your headline are of first and candle because hosts slash CEO LinkedIn. My understanding is LinkedIn doesn't read the word host and it doesn't read the word CEO because it's host slash CEO. It's all one word.

Speaker 1: 12:23

And same thing with speaker slash podcast. It's not reading speaker or podcast. So the easy fix is just doing a space before and after the slash mark. And I want you to keep in mind, allison, that your headline follows you around on LinkedIn. I'm going to go down to your post activity section to show you what I'm referring to here. So when you post on LinkedIn, we see your headshot photo, we see your name and we see a portion of your headline. Yeah, you get 220 characters in total for your headline.

Speaker 1: 12:54

Now, I'm an opportunistic marketer so I always advise people it's okay to go longer on your headline, but do keep in mind that usually the first 40 to 60 characters are what are going to be seen when you post. And then, if I click on comments, you know, when you comment on posts on LinkedIn as well, see if it loads up here. And it's okay to go a little bit longer, knowing that if you use something that is intriguing and relevant to your ideal target audience, you're more likely to get them to click. To come back to your profile. So right now and I'll give you this additional feedback speaker, podcast host, ceo. I know what a speaker is, but I want to know what you speak about. So what's that topic? I know that you're a podcast host, but I'd love to see the name of your show or the category of what your podcast is.

Speaker 1: 13:41

Ceo of First Candle. I know that you're a CEO. I'm not familiar with First Candle, but a lot of people know what CEO that role is and you're probably approached by a lot of salespeople, I'm guessing. Is that fair to say yeah, because of the CEO job title? So what I might suggest instead is thinking about, as you describe your business and as you describe the work that you're doing, what are the words and phrases that you use to help to reach your ideal target audience? And in the beginning of the call we were talking about you know we've got the two businesses on here and we're talking about what are the common denominators between both? Could you say helping women from childhood to retirement?

Speaker 1: 14:24

I'm just making it up Like could you say something there that is speaking to those individuals, and I want you to pay attention, as I'm giving you this advice, about your headline. A headline's a really important field, both from an SEO perspective the keywords and phrases will bring people to your profile but also as you're navigating around LinkedIn, as you're posting, as you're commenting, your headline can be used to get people to click to come back to your profile, but it's gotta be intriguing and interesting to them.

Speaker 2: 14:58

Does that make sense?

Speaker 1: 14:59

Yeah, so that goes in lieu of speaker, podcast host, ceo of First Candle it's the title Perfect, that makes a lot of sense. Yeah, and I'll just suggest look at some of your competitors, other people who are coaches and speakers, et cetera, and just you know, you look at mine as a reference. I don't just have speaker, coach, author, podcast, you know, I I start with helping you unlock the power of linkedin to get a bigger slice of the linkedin pie.

Speaker 1: 15:18

So I'm starting with that, like if you are needing help on linkedin, that's going to intrigue you is my goal, right then once you click over to my profile then you're going to read the rest of it, guiding solopreneurs, job seekers and teams on LinkedIn strategy. Then I have my keywords podcaster, author, rescue dog mom in here. I think I even took the word speaker out of here because I got a little bit too long, and that's okay to change it too. It's another good point. You don't have to just set your headline once and keep it on there forever Sometimes. What I would recommend is, as a coach, if I'm offering a coaching program and it launches June 5th, I might add that into my headline. So I'm using that as a bit of marketing and promotion for my business as well. Got it Okay, all right, and I'm going to do a once over on your profile, see if anything else is jumping at me. The about statement, I think, is something you could certainly expand upon, allison, and I'm going to send you a link to my blog, which is the about formula recommendation that I would have. In total, you can do 2,600 characters in here, so you can certainly go much longer in here. The about statement if you have a long about statement, the only portion that we'll see are the first four lines. I'm going to go to my profile to show this technique with you, so you can see the first four lines and then you have to click on see more. So my recommendation for you is that you're speaking to your ideal target audience who do you help? What do you help them with? And then ending that first paragraph with some type of a call to action when can they go to learn more about booking you or working with you? It could either be a website which is passive, lets them research, or it can be an email address which lets them contact you directly if they're ready to move forward, and then after that, it could be a free giveaway that I have Absolutely yeah, something in there, and then after that, click on see more, and then you can see the rest of the formula in place.

Speaker 1: 17:14

So first paragraph is what do you do? Who do you help? How can people get ahold of you? Second paragraph is a description of your business. Third paragraph might be a little bit of the backstory. You know what did you do prior to doing this. Or, in your case, you might have a paragraph that talks about First Candle and your affiliation with that organization, and then maybe you have a bulleted list of products and services that you offer.

Speaker 1: 17:37

And get creative on here, expand on this. But you know it's 2,600 characters, this is 2,594. And you can see how in here I've made it. It's not long paragraphs of copy, it's skimmable. You kind of look for things that are jumping at you, catching your attention. I'm using emojis for bullets in here. So get creative with this. And for you, if you're using this to both support your role at First Candle as well as your coaching business, I think your first four lines need to encompass both, and then maybe the second paragraph is First Candle is so a description of the First Candle organization, and then the third paragraph is a description of your coaching business, and then the fourth paragraph is a little bit of that backstory. And why are you doing both now?

Speaker 2: 18:24

Now right on my business. Should I link, or do you link, this to your business page on LinkedIn, or no?

Speaker 1: 18:33

Yeah, so right now you are linked to the first candle page because you've added it into your experience section. So for you, what I would recommend is, after you create a business page for your coaching business, you'll have to go back into your experience section and edit that to get it linked to here, so yes, absolutely, you should have that in here as well. Okay, okay, all right, I'm going to stop here. Any final questions before we wrap up for today this is amazing.

Speaker 2: 18:58

No, thank you, it's. It's small things that make all the difference.

Speaker 1: 19:02

Absolutely Well. I'm looking forward to watching your progress here and do feel free to Allison if you have any questions. As you're working through these recommendations, feel free to reach out to me. Sound good.

Speaker 2: 19:11

Thanks so much.

Speaker 1: 19:12

All right, wonderful. And for those that are watching, I just want to remind you whether you're listening to this on the podcast or you're watching this on YouTube. This is a LinkedIn profile mini audit that I offer to you Complimentary, if you sign up for my 15 LinkedIn profile tips for coaches and consultants. Just watch those emails that you get from me, and the last email that you have will receive you'll include a link where you can book a 15 minute session with me. With that said, this is Brenda Miller. I look forward to seeing you on LinkedIn. Have a wonderful day.