A LinkedIn showcase page is a dedicated page where you can highlight your top projects, skills, and achievements. It serves as an online portfolio to display your best work and accomplishments. Showcase pages have become an important part of personal branding on LinkedIn. In this article, we will explore what a LinkedIn showcase page typically contains, why it is important, and how to create an effective showcase page that stands out.
What is the purpose of a LinkedIn showcase page?
The main purposes of a LinkedIn showcase page are:
- Demonstrate your skills and areas of expertise
- Display your top projects and achievements
- Establish credibility and build authority
- Showcase your work to potential employers, clients, or partners
- Direct people to samples of your work
- Highlight media coverage, testimonials, or endorsements
- Expand your personal brand beyond your resume
In summary, a showcase page allows you to go beyond just listing your skills and experience. It’s a place to demonstrate real examples of your abilities through projects, media, testimonials, and other content. A strong showcase page helps you stand out and gives viewers more insight into what makes you unique as a professional.
What are the key elements of a LinkedIn showcase page?
While you can customize your showcase page, most include some or all of these key sections:
Featured section
The featured section appears prominently at the top of your page. This is prime real estate to highlight your most impressive accomplishments or projects. You can include images, videos, Slideshare presentations, or other multimedia content.
About section
A brief “about me” section or introduction helps viewers understand who you are and what you do. You can tailor this to your professional brand.
Projects section
The projects section shows off your top projects and accomplishments. This is where you can provide examples of your work, with images, videos, or files. You may want to organize projects by topic, skill area, or industry.
Skills section
Showcase your top skills and areas of expertise. Consider including logos of key technologies, certifications, or methodologies relevant to your field.
Recommendations section
Testimonials and recommendations from past employers, clients, or colleagues help build credibility. Quotes and written endorsements tend to work best.
Media section
If you have been published, interviewed by media outlets, invited to speak at events, or appeared in press coverage, showcase it here. Links, quotes, images/screenshots can be included.
Contact section
Let viewers know how to get in touch! Include links to your website, social profiles, email, or even a contact form.
Why is a strong LinkedIn showcase page valuable?
Here are some of the top benefits of investing time in your LinkedIn showcase page:
- Shows your achievements in one place – Rather than someone needing to piece together your experience from your profile, resume, website, etc., your showcase provides a curated view of your best work and skills.
- Provides social proof – Testimonials, recommendations, and endorsements from others help build credibility and trust.
- Positions you as an expert – By highlighting your skills and expertise through projects and content, you can demonstrate subject matter authority.
- Directs viewers to samples – You can include links, files, videos, and images to give tangible examples of your abilities.
- Personalizes your brand – A showcase page allows you to reveal more about your personality, work style, values, and approach.
- Engages passive viewers – People casually viewing your profile can become more engaged as they click through your showcase page content.
- Saves time – You can direct interested parties to your showcase page rather than assembling custom portfolios or proposals.
In short, a LinkedIn showcase provides valuable exposure and serves almost like an expanded online resume. It gives you a platform to demonstrate your best qualifications. For many professionals, it’s becoming an essential element of their personal brand and presence on LinkedIn.
How to create an impactful LinkedIn Showcase Page
Follow these best practices to develop a compelling, professional showcase page:
Choose a unifying theme or focus
While you can highlight a variety of skills and projects, having a unifying focus helps visitors instantly understand what you want to be known for. This could be an industry, job function, skill set, cause, or professional brand.
Lead with your best content
Put your most impressive and relevant achievements, samples, media, or testimonials in the prominent featured section. This content should align with your theme and quickly convey your capabilities.
Curate and organize strategically
Carefully choose which skills, projects, and recommendations to showcase – quality over quantity. Organize content logically into clear sections. Use headings and bullets to make scanning easy.
Optimize with keywords
Incorporate relevant keywords in headings and descriptions. This helps your page get found in LinkedIn search results.
Include rich media
Images, videos, presentations, PDFs, and other multimedia make your page more visually engaging. Use high-quality assets that convey your professionalism.
Showcase numbers and metrics
Quantify your achievements and impact with numbers – dollar amounts, percentages, number of projects completed, years of experience, etc. This helps convince viewers of your qualifications.
Get recommendations and endorsements
Social proof goes a long way. Proactively ask clients, colleagues, and senior coworkers for recommendations and skill endorsements.
Update regularly
Don’t just set up your page once and abandon it. Add new projects and achievements over time so viewers always see fresh content.
Examples of effective LinkedIn showcase pages
Looking at examples can provide inspiration for ways to structure your own page. Here are a few showcase pages with effective strategies:
John Smith
John Smith is a marketing director. His showcase page has a “featured” hero image of him speaking at a marketing conference, positioning him as an expert. His main sections are About, Projects, Skills, Recommendations, Media, and Contact. The Projects section organizes case studies by client vertical and includes impressives metrics. His Skills section incorporates logos of key platforms he has experience with. He has 7 recommendations, including from former clients. In his Media section, he links to published articles and podcast interviews.
Sarah Davis
Sarah Davis is a web designer. Her page uses a simple, clean layout with lots of white space and visuals of websites she’s designed. She leads with her best branding project in the featured section. Her Skills section uses color-coded boxes with logos for each web development skillset. She integrates metrics such as “Improved mobile speed by 50%”. She has a nicely designed Contact section with links to her website, resume, and scheduling Calendly link.
Raj Patel
Raj Patel is a software engineer. His showcase page has a contemporary, tech-friendly aesthetic. He features coding projects on Github, demonstrating actual development skills. He links to his Stack Overflow profile as proof of his programming knowledge. He includes recommenders from colleagues and managers at tech companies. The words “software engineer” appear prominently, reinforcing his professional brand. Contact info includes links to his LinkedIn, Twitter, and personal website.
Key Takeaways
Here are the key points to keep in mind when creating your LinkedIn showcase page:
- Pick a focus or theme to unify your page and make your brand clear
- Lead with your best, most relevant achievements in the featured section
- Thoughtfully curate and organize your content into clear sections
- Incorporate rich media like images, videos, and presentations
- Include metrics, data, and numbers to quantify accomplishments
- Get social proof through testimonials, endorsements, and recommendations
- Update your page regularly to keep content fresh and new
A LinkedIn showcase allows you to go beyond just listing skills and experience. It’s a place to bring your brand to life through demonstrating your projects, achievements, media coverage, recommendations, and more. Invest time in developing a compelling showcase page that tells your professional story and convinces audiences you are the right fit for job and partnership opportunities.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I create a LinkedIn showcase page?
To create a LinkedIn showcase page:
- Go to your LinkedIn profile
- Click on the “+” icon next to the “Experience” section
- Select “Create a Featured Page”
- Choose “Showcase Page” and click “Get started”
- Give your page a title and click “Create page”
- You can now add content to your page using the editor toolbar
- Click “Save” to publish your finished showcase page
Where does the LinkedIn showcase page appear?
Your LinkedIn showcase page will appear in the “Featured” section of your profile, underneath your photo, experience, education, etc. It will be displayed prominently to anyone viewing your profile.
How do I edit my LinkedIn showcase page?
To edit your showcase page, go to your profile and click on the “Featured” dropdown menu. Select your showcase page. This will open the page editor where you can modify, add, or remove content as needed. Don’t forget to click “Save” each time you make changes.
Can I have more than one showcase page?
Yes, LinkedIn allows you to create up to 7 showcase pages attached to your profile. You could have separate pages for different industries, job functions, skills, or types of projects you want to highlight.
What’s the best way to organize a LinkedIn showcase page?
Some common ways to organize your showcase content are by:
- Skills or competencies
- Industry or specialty
- Project type (design, development, writing, etc)
- Job level or titles
- Chronological order
Choose an organizing principle that best conveys your personal brand and professional expertise.
How long should a LinkedIn showcase page be?
There is no strict length requirement. Showcase pages tend to range from 500 – 1500+ words. Focus on quality over quantity. Make sure to include enough content to adequately showcase your capabilities, but don’t overload viewers with too much text or repetitive examples.
How often should I update my showcase page?
Plan to update your showcase page every 3-6 months. Add relevant new projects, testimonials, publications, volunteer work, media hits, and other achievements. Outdated content can give the impression that you are inactive or not progressing. Keep it fresh!
| Section | Best Practices |
|---|---|
| Featured | Highlight your best, most impressive achievements or projects here. |
| About | Briefly introduce yourself – focus on your professional brand. |
| Projects | Showcase your top projects with examples, metrics, and visuals. |
| Skills | List key skills, tools, and platforms. Include logos if relevant. |
| Recommendations | Include written testimonials, quotes, and endorsements. |
| Media | Link to media coverage, published articles, podcasts, interviews. |
| Contact | Provide links to your website, email, and other contact channels. |
Conclusion
A LinkedIn showcase page provides the opportunity to bring your professional brand to life. By thoughtfully presenting your skills, achievements, media coverage, recommendations, and projects, you can create an online portfolio that grabs attention. Visitors gain a multifaceted understanding of your capabilities that a resume alone doesn’t provide.
The most effective showcase pages follow principles like choosing a unifying theme, leading with your best content, incorporating rich media, quantifying accomplishments, and earning social proof through testimonials. With an optimized showcase page that you keep updated, you’ll be able to engage audiences and position yourself as an authority in your field.
