Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Flipboard 3 With more than 250 million users worldwide, I think we can all agree that LinkedIn will continue to grow as a place where professionals go to connect, build relationships, and one of the many places they establish their personal/professional brand online. As a LinkedIn member since 2009, I have learned so much from those I have connected with, however I have also seen some trends that will continue to diminish the efforts of many. For those who truly embrace the platform and give it their full attention when using it, I commend you and keep doing what you are doing. To those that only give it marginal effort, I urge you to reconsider. Why? You are deteriorating your brand. If any of these 3 things remind you of your profile or LinkedIn actions, stop doing what you are doing and take corrective action because they make you look foolish! 1. Incomplete Profiles LinkedIn guides you through the completion of your profile. Do yourself a favor and complete each section. Anything less makes you look lazy or portrays the image that you don’t complete the projects you start. If you are just joining LinkedIn or have yet to join, make sure that when you start to build your profile that you devote enough time to complete it in one session. 2. Grammatical Errors We’ve all been guilty of this at one point or another. My tip is to read through your profile at least 1 or 2 times after each time you update your profile. This will minimize the risk of having grammatical errors in your profile. This is key for those of you who wish to put forth a professional image and show you have attention to detail. 3. Settling for the Default There are two areas in which far too many people settle for the “default.” This first is your Headline. When you update your current occupation, the default is to place your job title in your headline. I encourage you to replace your headline with something that reflects you, what you offer, or your ambitions. This should be something that draws attention to you and inspires people to take an in-depth look at your profile. The second default, and quite possibly my biggest “pet peeve” is the default connection invite. Settling for the default connection invite tells me “I’d like connect with you on LinkedIn.” What it really tells me is “You don’t care enough about me to put forth the effort to change this message.” I don’t know about you, but that doesn’t inspire me to want to connect with you at all. It makes me feel like I am just going to be another number in your network. The good news: These are all really simple things to fix. All it takes is a little more effort and you will be positioning yourself for success. Twitter Tweet Facebook Share Email This article was written for Business 2 Community by Kane Pepi.Learn how to publish your content on B2C Author: Kane Pepi <p>Kane Pepi is an experienced financial and cryptocurrency writer with over 2,000+ published articles, guides, and market insights in the public domain. Expert niche subjects include asset valuation and analysis, portfolio management, and the prevention of financial crime. Kane is particularly skilled in explaining complex financial topics in a user-friendly … View full profile ›More by this author:VoIP Basics: Everything Beginners Should Know!Bitcoin Investment, Trading & Mining: The Ultimate Guide for BeginnersIs This a Better Way to Set Your 2020 Goals and Resolutions?