9: How to Write a LinkedIn About Section That Supports Your Narrative

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In the last episode of the podcast, that was Episode Eight, How to Communicate Your Narrative in Your LinkedIn Headline, I challenged you to revisit the Headline at the top of your LinkedIn profile.

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Would a reader who might potentially be interested in recruiting, hiring or promoting you understand where you're headed?

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Can they read your Headline and determine what you actually do, the context you do it in, and the impact or benefit of your work?

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If you haven't already, I'd encourage you to hit pause and go give that episode a listen.

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So let's say you've got that taken care of and you think your LinkedIn Headline answers those critical three questions for your reader.

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That's great.

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But you still might have a problem.

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How is your intended reader, and that could be an executive recruiter or a potential hiring manager, how is that person supposed to feel confident that what you've said in your Headline is actually true?

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After all, you're the one making the claims in the Headline, and you're not exactly an unbiased source.

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Stick around and we'll talk about how you can write your About section to help dispel any doubts your reader might have and keep them engaged.

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If you know a little about my background, you probably know that I was a consumer products, marketer in personal care and healthcare for about 10 years after getting my MBA at Wharton.

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I developed a lot of advertising.

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I guess you could call me "a marketer at heart." And I tend to think about LinkedIn profiles like I was taught to think about advertising, with a headline, a reason to believe, and some character standing in for brand imagery.

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Your LinkedIn profile is a marketing piece, after all.

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When I was in marketing at Neutrogena and we were advertising, let's say, Healthy Skin Anti-Wrinkle Cream, we might have made a bold claim in the headline.

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Something like "healthier, younger-looking skin in just two weeks." Now that's a pretty big claim.

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I wouldn't blame you if you're a little skeptical, so I'd need to elaborate a little about what that means and then I need to give you a reason to believe that it's true.

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So beyond showing you a beautifully-lit image of the product on a pristine white background, maybe with some water, all strongly associated with the brand, I might also provide some explanation or elaboration on the headline and a few reasons to believe that the claims in the headline are true.

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Maybe we'd go on to say that "in clinical studies conducted by a dermatologist, the people who used Healthy Skin Anti-Wrinkle Cream saw a 25% reduction in the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles and a 33% improvement in the evenness and tone of their skin." So there you go.

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That's the explanation of what it means to have healthier, younger-looking skin.

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And then we need a reason to believe.

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How is it possible that this product can deliver those results?

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For this example, let's say that the product's formula incorporates a first-ever slow release retinol delivery system with vitamins, A, C and E.

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And for good measure, let's include the fact that the product is the number one recommendation of dermatologists, just saying.

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So we've made a claim, we've elaborated on that claim and we've offered up a reason to believe the claim.

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All in a beautifully presented ad that reflects the unique brand character of Neutrogena.

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So let's do that for you, or the imaginary person we developed a Headline for an Episode Eight.

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That Headline, if memory serves me correctly, was "Introducing Cutting-Edge Advances in Consumer Tech That Drive Growth and Help People Live Healthier Lives." Just like in a print ad for Neutrogena, how do we make the reader feel more confident that what you've claimed in the Headline is actually true?

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Let's start in a first paragraph of the About section by elaborating on the Headline.

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You can only say so much in a LinkedIn Headline.

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The character limit is currently set at something like 220, I think.

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So you'll probably have made some choices and perhaps generalized a bit.

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If you go back to Episode Eight, we generalize out from" wearables" to "consumer tech." Maybe it's time to let your reader in on the secret.

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A little specificity is probably going to build confidence with your reader.

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We also talked about "growth" and"helping people live healthier lives." Let's build that out a bit and maybe add in some personal background for good measure.

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So in the first paragraph you could write...

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Ever since I signed up to be a track-and-field athlete in high school, I've been interested in how technology can help people improve athletic performance and generally improve overall health.

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And I've been fortunate enough in my professional life to work on cutting-edge advances and wearable technology that do just that.

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And these advances have been a key driver of growth in the category for the past 10 years.

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So you see what we've done here?

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We've addressed every key element of the Headline we wrote for you or for the imaginary person in Episode Eight.

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And we've thrown in a little backstory for color and texture.

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And we did it just three sentences that I felt pretty comfortable reading out loud.

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That's always a good test.

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Always read what you write about yourself out loud.

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If it feels natural, that's a good sign.

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In a second paragraph, your task is going to be to give your reader a reason to believe, or maybe two or three reasons to believe.

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So what am I talking about here?

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I think you should make light reference to work you've actually done.

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Work that you're going to describe in a little more detail when you write your LinkedIn Experience entries, and ultimately your resume.

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So in just a few sentences, let's say approximately three to five, reference work you've actually done that supports the claims you've made in your Headline.

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Let's assume you've worked at Apple on the Apple Watch.

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I don't want you to tell me the whole story of your work on the Watch.

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There'll be time for that later.

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But just give the broad brush strokes.

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Give me a sense of what you did and why it mattered.

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It could potentially go something like this...

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Working on the Apple Watch, I led a cross-functional team that sourced technologically-advanced components on tight timelines.

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We were able to launch first-to-market functionality that enabled high performance athletes and average consumers to track three key health and performance indicators not found in competitive products.

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So the trick here is to provide the outline of a story but resist providing the detail that will turn it into a full resume bullet or even an interview answer.

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Notice that I didn't provide any numbers or too many specifics.

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I just painted a picture of launching or introducing new technology at a place people probably recognize to improve people's health and athletic performance.

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Write two or maybe three of those and you'll have a compelling second paragraph that gives your reader a couple or a few reasons to believe the claims you've made in your Headline are true.

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And those high-level stories you tell may also be convincing enough that your reader scrolls down the page to read your Experience entries, or maybe even flag you for a search or a recruiting process.

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The third paragraph is an opportunity to clinch the deal if you haven't already.

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Let's add a personal touch to round you out as a full person.

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You may remember that I started the first paragraph off with a personal detail, the fact that you were in track-and-field in high school.

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That was to help show that your connection to wearables and improving health and performance isn't something that you just chose out of the blue.

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It's personally meaningful and has been for a while.

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When I work with clients, it's almost always the case that their work has something to do with an interest that appeared fairly early in their lives and persisted into their professional careers.

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If you have something like that in your background, talk about it.

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The authenticity of your personal narrative will resonate with your reader.

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So for your third paragraph, let's talk about your focus on health and performance outside of work.

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Maybe you don't run cross country competitively anymore, but maybe you do run in a local club and donate your time to a local non-profit whose mission is to teach kids about the lifelong benefits of exercise.

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Lots of people I work with have stories like that and are involved in their communities that way.

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So your last paragraph could start something like this...

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While I don't run competitive cross country races anymore, I rarely miss weekend runs with my local group.

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We support each other's performance and health goals and sometimes follow them up with an occasional cheat at our favorite bakery.

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You do like a good pecan sticky bun, after all.

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And maybe as a last sentence you say...

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I think it's important to develop good fitness and health habits at an early age.

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So I lead workshops for high school aged kids about making use of technology to pursue lifelong fitness.

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Nice.

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You've offered a limited view into your personal interests and potentially made yourself more relatable to your reader who might admire your dedication to the cause, which just happens to be relevant to your professional life.

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And as a final step, double-check to make sure that you've included important keywords and phrases that your reader might be looking for or searching for and you're all set.

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Now, this is just an example that I've made up for this podcast, but it could be pretty close to the About section of quite a few people that I've worked with over the years.

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So how does your About section stack up?

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Does it help your reader better understand the claims you're making in your Headline?

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Do you make light reference to actual work you've done to give your reader a reason to believe those claims?

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And do you incorporate just a bit of the personal in what you've written to help present yourself as a whole person with an integrated work-life narrative?

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If not give it a shot.

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And if you're running into trouble, consider signing up for a Career Strategy Session at careernarratives.com/strategy.

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We can work on your personal narrative together and help advance your career.