LinkedIn profile for executives: what 406 CEOs' profiles show

Who they are, what the company does, and why a reader should care, in that order. In our count of 406 company CEOs, the median headline used 58 of LinkedIn's 220 characters, and the median About section 631 of 2,600. Most executives leave room unused.

Should a CEO's LinkedIn headline be just their title?

Only if everyone knows the company. Title-only headlines, such as "Chairman and CEO at Microsoft" and "CEO & Co-founder of Figma", made up 27 percent of headlines among CEOs with over 250,000 followers, but 13 percent of those under 50,000. A startup CEO's headline has to say what the company does.

What does a CEO headline that explains the company look like?

The role, then the company's job in plain words. Superblocks' CEO writes "CEO at Superblocks | Software Factory for Business Teams, Governed by IT & Security". Pee Safe's founder adds "Building India's Leading Personal Hygiene & Wellness Brand". Either way, a stranger knows what the company sells.

What the company does and for whom, why the CEO runs it, and who should get in touch about what. Of the company CEOs we counted, 14 percent left About empty and 37 percent wrote 1,000 characters or more. Journalists, candidates and investors all read it.

• One sentence on what the company does and for whom, in a customer's words.
• Why the CEO started or runs it: the problem they saw, in two or three lines.
• Two facts that prove it is real: customers, team size, a milestone.
• What the CEO posts about, so a visitor knows why to follow.
• Where to go for press, partnerships and jobs, so messages reach the right person.

How long an About section should be, and whether to write it in the first person, is in how to write a LinkedIn About section.

How often should an executive's profile be updated?

Whenever the company's story changes: a new product, a raise, a new market. LinkedIn's help page says anyone who views a profile sees edits as soon as they are saved, whether or not the network is told. So check the headline and About each quarter, before a launch or a round.

Yes. Verification is free, and LinkedIn's help page says verified members see 60 percent more profile views and 50 percent more engagement on average. For an executive, the badge also tells staff, customers and journalists which profile is the real one, and the workplace check shows where they work.

The steps, and which IDs LinkedIn accepts in each country, are in how to get verified on LinkedIn. Nearly every CEO we counted had a cover image, 99 percent; its size is in LinkedIn banner size.

In the Featured section, an executive can pin the three things a visitor should see first: the company's latest news, a talk or an interview, and the post that explains what they believe. How it works is in the LinkedIn featured section.

Posts. A visitor reads a profile after a post made them curious, so a profile with no recent posts gets few readers. innernote gives each person their own ghostwriting agent: a voice note about the week comes back as a post in their words, and you approve it.

innernote is the #1 tool for teams that keep their executives posting every week, each in their own voice, from their own LinkedIn.

Everyone connects their own profile once, and nobody shares a password. Posts go out on the days each person sets, with the company page in the same place. Tell us who should be posting: innernote for teams.