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In search of LinkedIn headline marketing examples?
Admittedly, it’s easy to take up a formula for doing something right – in this case writing a LinkedIn headline.
What’s challenging is to put that formula into action without looking at some good examples first.
We’ve done the legwork for you and created this post on LinkedIn headline examples that over 30 social media and marketing experts shared with us. We’ve also covered what makes a good LinkedIn headline and how to write one properly.
On the whole, you’ll learn the following:
There are several LinkedIn headlines including a LinkedIn profile headline, LinkedIn post headline, and LinkedIn article headline.
Here’s how each one looks like:
A profile headline introduces you, telling what you do. But you aren’t limited to introducing yourself formally by sharing your work position. You can humanize your profile headline by sharing your interests and a conversational starter. More on this in the next section.
This headline is the starting line of a post you make on the network. Like any other headline, this one also serves the purpose of hooking in your audience. It has to be engaging enough to get and hold readers’ attention so they read your content further.
This headline feature on LinkedIn closely resembles a headline of any piece of content. The only difference is that it has to meet the expectations of folks over at LinkedIn. For instance, LinkedIn users love reading success stories or how you did something. So a headline focusing on that can work wonders in getting people to read your article.
The underlying purpose of each of the headlines on LinkedIn is the same: to entice the reader to engage with you.
For a LinkedIn profile headline, the aim is to encourage people to connect with you. For an article and LinkedIn post headline, the goal is to get people to read your content and engage with it (like or leave a comment).
Since the purpose of each LinkedIn headline is the same, you need to make sure your headlines contain:
Related: Social Media and SEO: 13 Ways They Work Together To Boost Your Visibility
Good headlines, no matter whether they are in your profile, posts or LinkedIn articles, should drive a lot of clicks if they are well-written.
According to Databox’s own Benchmark data, the median number of clicks on (Organic Clicks on the Content, the Company Name, or the Company Logo) for small to medium companies with < 250 employees is 88.
This benchmark was calculated from anonymized data from more than 700 companies. Do you want to benchmark your LinkedIn marketing performance, including impressions, followers, likes, comments, and more, against other companies like yours? Join the Benchmark Group for free.
*Important note: Databox Benchmark Groups show median values. The median is calculated by taking the “middle” value, the value for which half of the observations are larger and half are smaller. The average is calculated by adding up all of the individual values and dividing this total by the number of observations. While both are measures of central tendency, when there is a possibility of extreme values, the median is generally the better measure to use.
Viewing benchmark data can be enlightening, but seeing where your company’s efforts rank against those benchmarks can be game-changing.
Browse Databox’s open Benchmark Groups and join ones relevant to your business to get free and instant performance benchmarks.
Now that you know what you’re supposed to add to your LinkedIn headlines, let’s give you a simple breakdown of how to put all the ingredients together into a sensible headline.
1. Find the right keywords
Begin with surfing jobs in your industry in the LinkedIn search bar, using filters as you go. Each time you come across a good job description, look at who posted it and pick out the words they’ve used in their LinkedIn profile header.
Now, repeat this several times. In the end, you’ll get a list of keywords describing your job position. See which of the keywords are frequently repeated and you’ll get the keyword to use in your profile headline.
2. Work on a conversational starter
Write down a few words that describe you. For me, those would be a pizza-lover, an avid reader, a productivity enthusiast, and so on. Alternatively, ask people in your network to describe you.
Once done, you’ll have a list of your interests that can help stir conversations. For example, anyone interested in connecting with me could talk about books or a good piece they read since I’ve mentioned I’m an avid reader.
You can also get people talking to you by impressing them. Building something new? Use that in your 120-characters of LinkedIn profile headline. Achieved something great? Talk about it.
Another way to start a chat: tell people what you can help them with as Sarah Townsend does by saying: Helping you attract and convert the clients you want:
Source
One last trick to get people to connect with you: add a touch of humor like in this LinkedIn headline marketing example:
As for post and article headlines, connect and read content from other people in your industry. This will give you a sense of what gets people talking, helping you write headlines and content around these topics.
3. Figure out the value you have to offer and how you can instill urgency
In the LinkedIn headline marketing examples above, you’d have seen what value they offer to their profile visitors. One teaches how to retain clients and another gives SEO advice.
Now that you’ve seen the examples, ask yourself: what value do I have to offer? If you’re working on a headline for a LinkedIn post or article, think: what value does this piece offer, and note it down in pointers so you can sum up the value punch in your headline.
For instilling a sense of urgency, go on to add power words such as ‘today,’ ‘right now,’ and get people to click immediately.
Putting your headline together
Now that you’ve all the elements for a catchy LinkedIn headline ready, piece them together. Remember to front-load the keyword(s) or keep them at the beginning of the headline so LinkedIn can pull out your content when searched for.
You can get a better idea of how to weave all this info into an engaging headline by looking at more LinkedIn headline marketing examples. Let’s look at them next.
Related: 30 Marketers Share Their Most Effective LinkedIn Marketing Strategies
Ready to sink your teeth in LinkedIn headline marketing examples? We’ve got 24 examples to show you, divided into three categories:
If you are in a hurry to see LinkedIn headline marketing examples from any of these sections, go ahead and click one to jump to the section.
For now, let’s start with:
Personal branding is one thing, an important thing, but so is helping your company grow. You may not have direct control over who follows you, but you can influence them with your posts, comments, and other kinds of engagement. To do that, you need to know who they are and what their interests are. You can align yourself with your LinkedIn company page followers by analyzing:
and more…
Now you can benefit from the experience of our LinkedIn experts, who have put together a great Databox template showing all the most important demographics for your LinkedIn company page. It’s simple to implement and start using as a standalone dashboard or in marketing reports, and best of all, it’s free!
You can easily set it up in just a few clicks – no coding required.
To set up this LinkedIn dashboard, follow these 3 simple steps:
Step 1: Get the template
Step 2: Connect your LinkedIn account with Databox.
Step 3: Watch your dashboard populate in seconds.
Terry McDougall of Terry B. McDougall Coaching suggests this headline works so well for two reasons:
National Positions’ Matt Erickson shares this article headline example as a catchy one. Erickson explains, “Many years ago when I was writing LinkedIn posts more regularly (blogs, articles, etc.), I ended up writing a piece with the title and headline reading something close to, ‘The Recruitment Bubble is About to Burst.’
This was a personal opinion piece about what I was seeing happening in the recruitment sector during that point in time (probably mid-2014). While most of my writing would get a handful of views, for some reason this one went mini-viral.
Within 24 hours it had a couple of thousand views and some not so enthusiastic comments. Looking back, while I wrote it for general consumption, it probably came off as an attack on the recruiting industry, which was not the intent.
And being that LinkedIn is perhaps the top prime real estate for recruiters or hunters there may have been some head-turning when some random person was calling out some key practices on the recruiters’ home turf…so to speak.
I think the engagement factor stemmed from the non-filtered headline, the ‘right now-ness’ of the title, and the honesty in what was said in the article – at least that is my opinion. My tone has changed in recent years so I have since removed the article from my profile.”
Related: 16 Ways To Measure Social Media Engagement Using Only Google Analytics
We have a ton of examples in this section. Let’s kick it off with:
Scot J Chrisman of THE MEDIA HOUSE quotes their headline as an example here. Chrisman writes, “As a business owner, I have been using different social media channels to promote our company, as well as to find for our future clients. As for me, LinkedIn is one of the most useful platforms because of the wide variety of options it offers.
One of the features that I really want is their space for headlines. Users can input as much introduction or advertisement so people can easily know who they are and what they offer.
The keywords he used were very personal yet promotional, that’s why it works well for me. Aside from letting the readers know his position, he was also able to share his award that can attract more people to do business with him.”
Chris Norris of SleepStandards.com thinks this headline works because: “The formatting is just right. It separates the different aspects using a pipeline character, ‘|’, creating a clear separation between the descriptions, but also makes it easy for search engines.
It’s descriptive but is short enough to fit on one line in searches. Since his name already includes his job title, the headline describes his career title. The second part highlights a main personal skill that is applicable to professional and personal aspects. The last part describes his passions and also opens avenues for connections who aren’t related to his initial field.”
Lovedevani’s Michelle Devani puts this example on the table. Devani elaborates, “This headline worked well because it includes descriptions of his skills and expertise.
Also, he started with a statement, ‘I connect you with the World’s Greatest Minds.’ that will really attract the reader to get engaged. This will give the reader the feeling of connectedness to the world’s great leader. Moreover, the keywords used were helpful since these helped in LinkedIn searches.”
Chris Muktar from WikiJob.co.uk shares this along with other LinkedIn headline marketing examples: “LinkedIn’s #1 copywriter (probably)” and “I write pretty words & sell things for a living.”
Here’s why they work according to Muktar “I think they worked well because [the first two headlines] definitely are playful and instantly put a smile on anyone who’s reading it. As for 3) [the last headline], it is brutally honest and straightforward while also highlighting the writer’s ability to weave not just words but ‘pretty’ words!
Related: How to Use LinkedIn for Marketing: 19 Tried and True Tips
Zen Media’s Joli Bennett thinks this headline is a great example as it speaks volumes about the poster’s passion. “I love Wolfram’s headline because it expresses his passion for human health, art, and activism. You get a sense of who he is,” comments Bennett.
This headline works because: “It shortly summarizes what I do in my business and is much more extensive than just a job title,” notes Dorota Pawlak.
“A simple job title is too limiting and doesn’t inform my customers how I can help them as a translator, localizer, conference speaker, online course creator, writer, business consultant, and much more. All these roles boil down to one core message that I present in my headline.
This headline helped me stand out from the crowd and grabbed the attention of my customers, potential customers, and collaborators. Many of them were intrigued by the headline and wanted to find out more to see what it really means. That’s how we started many interesting conversations that often led to a fruitful collaboration.”
Kevin Miller shares this example from a LinkedIn user, Brent Morrell. Miller opines, “I like that it focuses on clarity. It leaves cleverness alone and simply focuses on giving people an accurate description.”
Here is another example from LinkedIn user, Kimberly Butler: Recruiting Manager @ Boulevard Recruiting| 🦄 Unicorn Hunter | Diversity Champion
Mlller adds, “I like this headline because it’s an eye-catching form of communication that is helpful in every line of work. It’s descriptive and gives more information. She even used an emoji, which I thought was a fun addition. It adds some personality, which is great! Just remember to keep it professional!”
“This was the LinkedIn headline for a journalist at a media outlet,” notes Jennifer Roquemore from Resume Writing Services.
Another LinkedIn headline that Roquemore applauds; “’Digital Marketing Specialist, Content Writer, and possibly your future colleague.’”
Why? Because Roquemore says, “I thought this was an amazing headline from a job seeker that starts out as formal and bland, but then adds a slight twist at the end that is both humorous and friendly.”
Another share-worthy profile headline is “‘Hiring Manager | Career Match-Maker | Unicorn Hunter’”
“This headline from a recruiter is particularly effective because it brings up what it means to be a truly great recruiter, Making the perfect hire is all about finding that special someone or ‘unicorn’ who’s a perfect match for the job position,” Roquemore comments.
Who Is Blogging’s Hugo Guerreiro says, “in my opinion, he shows you that he has a good sense of humor (something you need on sales) and good at what he does. When I read that headline, I ended up reading his entire profile, and that’s the point of an excellent headline.”
“It works well because there are so many job-seekers out there who are applying to hundreds of roles and getting rejected and want to find out WHY this is the case. He also has a lot of followers on LinkedIn (500K+), so it shows that his methods are effective,” outlines Wonsulting’s Jonathan Javier
“Using only your current position as a headline may not be very effective, as there could be more people with the same title. In order to be noticeable, the headline needs to make you stand out. The key is to write a combination of what you do, who for, and how.
That is why I’ve chosen this example in particular,” shares Martin Seeley from MattressNextDay.
“He let us know what his area of expertise is. Not only that, we learn about the way he is doing a business and in what ways he could help us. He made a stand for the impact he has. This approach is also helpful if you are unemployed, as you are drawing your attention to your skills and value,” continues Seeley.
Nikola Roza of Nikola Roza- SEO for the Poor and Determined shares their own LI headline.
“It works because it’s very practical while also infused with humor. SEO is a fuzzy concept to most people and to them it really looks like magic. It’s wandless because there’s really no wand involved, and mouse cursor isn’t really wand-like in appearance,” adds Roza. “Finally, as mentioned, it’s practical because it explains to the reader that I make rankings improve through the magic of white hat SEO.”
Mindi Rosser Marketing LLC’s Mindi Rosser commends this headline as it “gets all the right keywords into the headline and tells people exactly what you do, whom you help, how you help them, and the results you generate.”
Elena Ghinita of Linkedist brings up this headline as their favorite profile headline on LinkedIn for its keyword optimization. “It works because is keyword optimized. In this case, when someone is searching for LinkedIn Workshops, this profile will come up,” says Ghinita.
Finally, we’ve LinkedIn headline marketing examples related to posts on the network.
“A post asking for reactions based on your job status during the COVID-19 pandemic has been sweeping LinkedIn,” notes Accredited Debt Relief’s Anna Caldwell.
“Here are a few examples of the post. The posts share an image of unknown origin and post copy that asks followers to interact with the post. 22k Reactions. [And another post with] 5k Reactions.”
Caldwell shares, “The post is simple in format and allows users to engage it with very little effort (one click to respond.) The post focuses on each individual’s personal experience, whether positive or negative.
If you have a job or recently got a new job, it invokes gratitude and hope. On the other hand, people who are still unemployed and searching feel validated seeing that others are also going through what they are during this time.”
“I wrote the above when I shared a link to a webinar talk called The Importance Of Humor Right Now,” Mark Armstrong of Mark Armstrong Illustration highlights.
“Mr. Fishburne writes and draws Marketoonist, a multi-panel cartoon about marketing— so he has a lot of name recognition in the LinkedIn community.
I posted the link 6 days ago, and, at the moment, it has over 6400 views— easily the most for any of my LinkedIn posts. I posted the link because I’m a big fan of humor. I’m an illustrator and I’m always making the case for humor in marketing: I think it humanizes a brand. It’s not about being funny— it’s about putting people at ease. Mr. Fishburne’s fame is definitely driving the post’s success.
I’m happy for two reasons: 1) he’s helping me make the case for humor, and 2) over 6400 people have seen my name and tagline at the top of the post,” Armstrong points out.
“This post on LinkedIn had three times as many impressions as one of ‘normal’ posts,” tells Fennemore’s Brian Catlett.
“This was a way to highlight one of our associate attorneys and show a different side to the stereotypical attorney. In this post, we put a spotlight on the lessons that she learned to attain her successful career in the legal profession.”
Lynell Ross from Test Prep Insight shares this post headline example. The reason it worked?
“The post generates interest because it not only solves a problem for teachers and administrators, but it also speaks to the human aspect of what is happening at a unique time in history.
People need to make a decision where to send their kids to school, and why they should choose a particular school. Simon Sinek is so popular, with over 3,560,030 followers, because he changes the conversation about leadership and values.
This post has had 117,897 views because Sinek expresses how schools can improve the culture and climate in their schools by knowing their values. He tells people in business and in the academic world alike to ‘find the why of your school, and hire your teachers and staff based on what you believe and what you stand for.’ Sinek tells us that in order to change the culture of a school or business, you have to know your why. He teaches that once a person or organization knows why what they are doing is meaningful, they will be engaged, inspired and fulfilled.”
“The staying power of Seinfeld is incredible 22 years after the last episode aired on NBC,” points out David Haar. “People love to reminisce about the show and what the show created was truly lightning in a bottle as far as comedic television goes!”
This brings us to the end of our expert-sourced LinkedIn headline marketing examples. Pair these with the info on how to write captivating LinkedIn headlines and I’m hoping you’re all fired up to write/refresh your headlines on LinkedIn, aren’t you? Use marketing reporting software like Databox to track engagement on your personal or company’s LinkedIn profile and watch how you grow your presence on several social platforms, in one spot.
Masooma is a freelance writer for SaaS and a lover to-do lists. When she's not writing, she usually has her head buried in a business book or fantasy novel.
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