Gwen Stefani brings her brand to LinkedIn
Singer joins social network and the business experts have just a few teensy tweaks
New album! New love! New career prospects?
Gwen Stefani opened a LinkedIn page last week, joining a select group of 500 “Influencers” that includes Richard Branson, Oprah Winfrey and Deepak Chopra. Followers of the all-star LinkedIn roster receive inspirational career advice from business-world wonders.
But is Stefani getting the most out of her social networking service? We asked L.A.-based music manager Ryan Singer (his roster includes singer Michael Bernard Fitzgerald), fashion publicist Christine Faulhaber and career consultant Lydia Laughlin to help Stefani improve her page so that she can conquer the competitive, rotating-chair world of the modern music industry. Your move, Aguilera!
Glamorous: 1969 to present Stefani’s Marilyn-esque headshot works for global superstars only. “Your photo on your LinkedIn should be marketing you for the direction you are looking to move in,” says Laughlin. “She can get away with this, but 99.9 per cent of us shouldn’t have a photo like this.”
I’m just a singer/songwriter/ coach/designer/entrepreneur Gwen of all trades, master of none? Faulhaber says Stefani’s multi-hyphenates could confuse potential employers. “Keeping your headline short and simple is the best way to attract future employers,” she says. “Are you really that good at everything?” She suggests an all-encompassing “artist” or “creator” instead.
Quality control Stefani’s handwritten profile header underscores her creative talents as a songwriter, but did she make that thing in MS Paint? “The grainy, lowres quality of the image takes away from the complete look of her profile,” says Faulhaber. Sorry, I’m not home right now We know from “Spiderwebs” that Stefani scre-e-e-e-ens her phone calls, but without even posting her Twitter handle here, how are prospective employees supposed to get in touch?
Singer suggests adding her socials as well as a contact for a team member. “It could be to her record label, it could be to her publicist, it could be to her agent.”
True story Her album is called This is What the Truth Feels Like and yet her Summary section (“Stefani has fronted the band No Doubt since she was 17 . . . ”) doesn’t read like it’s torn from the gut of Gwen.
“The cool thing about LinkedIn is it allows business people to have a personality,” says Singer. “I would change it to bullet points and make it personal.”
The keywords to success Stefani skims over her decades in music with only a cursory nod to her chart-toppers. Laughlin recom- mends expanding her “experience” entries to include more keywords. “The way that people are using LinkedIn on the back end is they are doing keyword searches. You want to repeat keywords throughout your profile, so she’s missed an opportunity there.”
Does school of rock count? “There’s a lack of an education section and in a comprehensive profile you want to have your education out there, your professional development out there,” says Laughlin.
Cause celeb LinkedIn is the one social channel where you should brag about the charity work you do. “On this platform, corporate responsibility and community involvement are important messages to share,” Faulhaber says.