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VOICE OVER MARKETING 3 Tips To Turn Your LinkedIn Profile From Boring To Boss - A Powerful Tool  By Tracy LindleyVoice Actor & LinkedIn Specialist
Quick question: What do you think are the top three tools for
marketing your voice over business? Answers may vary, but I'm going to guess you mentioned your demos,
your website - and maybe you'd have to think about what should go in the number
three slot. But if it were me, I'd say it would be your LinkedIn profile. That's right. Unassuming, quietly-hanging-out-in-the-corner
LinkedIn.
The most buttoned-up of all social media platforms.
But does it really have to be this way? POWERFUL MARKETING TOOL Think about it: If I were to Google your name right now +
voiceover, did you know your LinkedIn profile is almost guaranteed to come up
on Page 1?
That is, if you even have a LinkedIn profile.
Don't forget, your LinkedIn profile doesn't just function like
another social media platform- it's actually a (free!) powerful tool that can:
On the other hand, if your profile is incomplete or just a
copy/paste job from your resume, that can turn away those who are considering
working with you and cause you to miss out on potential opportunities.
HOW TO STAND OUT So what do you say? Ready to stand out in the world of voice
talent? Follow these 3 easy tips to get going! 1. Stick
to one LinkedIn profile
This is probably the top question I
receive from LinkedIn novices. Many people are holding down a day job when they
first get started in voice over, so they are often curious to know if it's ok to
have one LinkedIn profile for their full-time job, and a second profile for
their budding voice acting career. The short answer is no, LinkedIn's user agreement does not allow two personal
profiles. However, you can have more than one company page.
So, for example, you can be linked to
your company's LinkedIn company page for your 9-5 job, and also create your own
company page to connect yourself to your voic eover business. These will both
display in the Experience section of your profile and you can even choose which
shows up first.
But it's up to you to decide if you
even want to list your day job at all - and if you do, how to weave your two
passions together.
I recommend thinking about how your
current corporate job helps you be a better voice actor. For instance, I was an
auto claims adjuster for the first few years after I graduated college. This
experience helped me get strategic in how to plan my day, which helps me now in
my current autonomous lifestyle, and it also provided me with hands-on
knowledge of the automotive industry, which comes in handy when I'm voicing
training and commercials for projects in that industry.
The key is to let your past positions
help add flavor and expertise to your job as a voice actor. 2. Include
your contact information all over your profile One of the best ways to snag a new
client is by being easy to reach!
You can either create a custom
graphic as your background photo (this is the big photo in the back, not the
smaller round profile picture in the left corner), that includes your website
and email address using Canva or your favorite design program. Or, hire a
graphic designer to make it for you.
Adding your contact info to the
background photo itself means prospective clients don't even have to connect
with you to be able to get in touch.
It's a good idea to test out your
background photo graphic by viewing it on both desktop and your phone and
tablet to check for correct positioning and to ensure your contact info doesn't
get covered up by your profile photo.
You can also pop your contact info
into the bottom of your About section and Experience section, as well as the
area designated for contact info. 3. Write
your profile using first-person tense Another common mistake I see many
people making is copying their resume and using it as either their About or
Experience wording. Not only can this hurt your search engine optimization by
duplicating copy (a no-no to Google and other search engines), but it takes the
personal sparkle out of your profile when you write in third-person tense. One of the main goals in using
LinkedIn as a free networking tool is to give others a chance to get to know
you in a friendly, approachable, authentic, and human way.
We all want to do business with
people who we feel a connection with, right? Well, to do that, we need to look
for ways to develop a sense of familiarity and trust.
So do yourself a favor and look at
your profile copy from the lens of someone who's on this professional
networking platform with the intent of building business connections and sharing
referrals with others.
Use the About section to introduce
yourself. Tell a story, ask a question, draw the reader in, let them know why
YOU are different from all the other voice talent out there. Go ahead, have fun
with it!
Keep in mind, LinkedIn isn't the
stuffed shirt people think it is. Authenticity and showing up for who you are
is embraced in the workplace AND on LinkedIn. Let the true you shine out, and don't
be afraid to get out there and mingle in this amazing virtual networking room. I hope these tips get you excited about spicing up your LinkedIn
profile! I've found dozens of amazing clients through my free profile and
continue to build valuable relationships each week, and I know you can too!
PS: Feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn anytime! Always cheering for you. ---------------------- ABOUT TRACY Tracy Lindley is a full-time voice actor and creator of The VO Edge, a step-by-step course for voice actors on how to use the power of LinkedIn to market voice overs. Living in the Kansas City area, she regularly works with brands like Realtor.com, Amazon Pharmacy, Dollar Bank,
Hy-Vee, Facebook, Hewlett-Packard, Uber Eats, and many more.
She attributes much of her success to her marketing efforts
through her free LinkedIn account,and teaches other voice actors how to do the
same in The VO Edge online course. She is also the mother of four kids under 13 (who all do voice over, too!). When not in the studio, Tracy can be found
cheering loudly at her kids' basketball games or snuggling up with her two
cats, Eevee and Berserk. Email: tracy@tracylindley.com Web: www.TheVOEdge.com Web: www.TracyLindley.com |
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Great question.
I do think coaches belong on your LinkedIn profile under the Education section, but it's tricky knowing how to add them.
For instance, I trained with Edge Studio when I first started my VO career, so I have this listed. I've then added a note underneath stating that I receive ongoing coaching with other coaching NOT associated with Edge Studio. I'm not sure there's a right or wrong here, but I do think it's important to include this fact on your profile so clients know you value continuing your VO education to stay competitive.