7 Ways to Take Advantage of your LinkedIn Banner

LinkedIn has become a marketing must-have for B2B and B2C salespeople. But despite the massive opportunity that the LinkedIn platform presents, very few businesses and influencers are using it judiciously. Even fewer are aware of the massive advertising opportunity that the LinkedIn banner presents.

The LinkedIn banner is a big horizontal space behind your profile photo. When someone visits your LinkedIn page, it's the first thing they see. Most people never realize that the background banner is a chance to market their skills, business, or cause. The LinkedIn banner can be customized according to your needs. Here’s how to unleash its potential using these seven creative ideas:

Showcase Your Portfolio

To make an immediate impact on visitors, create a background that highlights your certifications and work experience. It's easy to create such a banner using banner templates. For instance, you can use Stagger Design Templates, which offer plenty of inspirational designs and illustrations from the world's best designers.

Create Brand Awareness

Creative brands are using the LinkedIn banner to generate awareness of their brand. For instance, Hootsuite, Sprout Social, and Hubspot use the LinkedIn banner to streamline the header with the colors of their respective logos. Besides using the brand colors, these companies seek to engage their audience by including a tagline promoting the company's mission, vision, and value proposition. You can do the same by displaying a particular product or service that complements your brand. You can also encourage the audience to engage with a direct Call-to-Action on the banner. 

Highlight Your Location

A simple banner image of your city can work wonders for job seekers and business owners. If you're looking for a job, the cityscape background tells recruiters that you're passionate about the city and you will likely stay there in the future. If you're a business owner, you can showcase your location or highlight multiple business locations to attract locals. If your business is off the beaten path, add a screenshot of your business on Google Maps. 

Promote a Cause  

You might have a cause or a non-profit organization you support. Promoting these non-profits on your LinkedIn banner is a great way to show your support and encourage others to get involved. 

Draw Attention To Reviews

In the book Growth Hacking by Raymond Fong and Chad Riddersen, they go into great detail about the modalities of persuasion. One point they hammer into the reader is trust-building. A customer quote or review is an immediate trust builder. Not only does a good quote position your brand in a positive light, but it also adds social proof, or what phycologists call social influence. We tend to mimic the actions of others, especially if we look up to them, so try to use a quote or testimonial by a brand or person with influence. This is an excellent LinkedIn banner strategy for both brands and individuals, like contractors and salespeople. If you've hundreds of reviews, pick one or two wisely and showcase them on the banner. It also makes perfect sense to display customer review scores from multiple websites. For instance, freelancers can display star ratings from Fiverr, UpWork, and Freelancer.com.

Use a Photo Of Your Workspace

A picture is worth a thousand words. If you're organized, let everyone appreciate your organizational skills by displaying a photo of your workspace. This is your way of telling potential recruiters about you, your style, and your work ethics even before a job interview. In many cases, it is an ideal statement if you're new in a field and have little to offer.

Demonstrate Your Achievements

For speakers, marketers, executives, and entrepreneurs, the LinkedIn banner can serve to display their lifestyle and passion. If you're an active speaker or you've spoken to a large audience, display the image on the banner. It will give others a glimpse of your talent. If you've written a book or a research paper, you can highlight your achievements by integrating it in the background photo. If you love the outdoors, put a picture of you scaling mountains. Anything that either demonstrates your skills or is relevant to your industry is a good fit for a LinkedIn banner.

In Summary

There is no doubt that a LinkedIn banner gives you endless creative ways to stamp your authority. Think of it as a prime real estate on LinkedIn page that’s hidden in plain sight. Tweaking it to your advantage will certainly put you in the driver's seat. 

Creating an attractive banner doesn't require any special digital marketing skills. You can use LinkedIn Banner Design Templates to do it for you in a jiffy. Use Stagger Design Templates or to start impressing LinkedIn members. Get started today!