LinkedIn Endorsements: How to Give and Get the Ones That Really Matter
LinkedIn has been a popular social media platform for professionals to connect and grow their personal brands.
One feature that LinkedIn offers is skill endorsements from your connections, colleagues, and recruiters.
Endorsements on Linkedin are linked to skills on your profile page so you can easily showcase the strengths in your professional experience.
In this blog post, we will discuss how endorsements can help you build your personal brand, increase visibility in LinkedIn search results, and attract more attention from recruiters and hiring managers!
What are Linkedin Endorsements?
LinkedIn's endorsement feature indicates someone's professional skills and industry knowledge.
On a profile, you'll see a list of skills with a number next to it - this indicates how many people have recommended or endorsed that person for the given skill.
Your connections will check out your profile and automatically endorse you for any of your listed skills by clicking the endorse button.
It's also a good idea to list your accomplishments and top skills on your Linkedin profile that are relevant to the item or service you provide.
You should list your main skills, whether it's blogging, investing, growth marketing, or anything else.
How to Endorse someone on Linkedin
Endorsing someone on LinkedIn is easy:
- Scroll to the Linkedin endorsements section of the profile for the person you’d like to endorse.
- Click the plus sign next to the specific skill you wish to endorse them for.
- Fill out the form that appears.
When should you endorse someone?
If you’ve worked with that person and think they’ve done a good job, then by all means you should endorse them.
And if that person is your colleague or team member, you can even tell them directly to endorse you back!
If you do this with all of your colleagues, you’ll quickly gain a ton of reciprocal Linkedin endorsements.
Bonus: How to get more skill endorsements
List your relevant skills
Determine which of your only skills and core competencies are most essential to your field and relevant to your current job goals.
List the critical skills in order of their importance, from most essential to least important. This is a guide for people to recognize their abilities.
Ask for endorsements
This is the most challenging approach of all: asking for skill endorsements on your LinkedIn profile.
You want people to notice your skills listed, but you don't want to come across as though you're seeking phony praise.
Instead of sending hundreds of generic "please endorse me" requests, make your appeals personal by noting any project you worked on with each person you contact.
Remind them of your contributions and request that they comment on the project in terms of skill endorsements.
Endorse your fellow professionals
Begin with the people you deal with daily, as these are the persons with whom you're most familiar and who are most likely to return the favor.
Endorse the skills you've witnessed them demonstrate in the workplace and they'll be sure to return the favor.
You can also try to promote the talents of those you met on key occasions or while working, such as clients, vendors, and contractors.
Linkedin Endorsement x Linkedin Recommendation
There's a difference between Linkedin endorsement and Linkedin recommendation.
On LinkedIn, you can get endorsements for specific top skills that a colleague or friend can attest to.
A LinkedIn recommendation is a short email from Linkedin users who know you and trust your skills, recommending you for a job or project based on their knowledge of you.
A Linkedin recommendation is similar to a testimonial in that it is more of a statement than a specific endorsement.
This kind of testimonial is more valuable since it requires time to produce a personalized statement about your services and explain why they recommend you.
Why endorsements are important for your Linkedin profile?
LinkedIn endorsements can be a huge benefit when it comes to doing new business, recruiting, or job hunting.
Endorsements on Linkedin make it more likely that your profile will be discovered through the search function.
Linkedin members who add 10+ skills are 20x more likely to have their profiles viewed!
This verification simply serves to put your profile in the best possible light. It also eliminates any uncertainty that someone viewing your profile has about your competence.
If someone has a lot of expertise endorsements, it's likely that they are trustworthy and so can you.
Your relevant skills, Linkedin endorsements, and recommendations all serve as social proof for your profile and experience.
Next Steps: How to Build Your Authority on Linkedin
Great! You've learned how to improve your profile by using Linkedin endorsements; the next step is to demonstrate that you're an industry expert to those who visit your Linkedin page. Or, that you are a reference for your network of contacts.
One of the most effective ways to build authority on Linkedin is to share content and get engagement.
If your post has a large number of likes and comments, it can get your visitor's attention.
The best way to automate and consistently have more engaging posts is to use a tool like Linkboost.
With Linkboost you can generate qualified engagement and increase up to 10x the usual reach of your publications on Linkedin.
Still not familiar with Linkboost?
Watch this introductory video to learn your first steps!
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