When’s the last time someone pronounced your name wrong?
It happens so often that LinkedIn rolled out a new feature to help people pronounce your name properly.
But, here’s the thing.
It doesn’t just prevent confusion.
It can also help with optimization.
In this guide, we’ll show you how to make LinkedIn pronounce your name when a visitor lands on your page and its implications on growth and LinkedIn optimization.
What is LinkedIn Name Pronunciation?
LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional social media network spanning members from all around the world.
This means a lot of names and a lot of confusion for users.
Now, getting name pronunciations wrong is normal in professional settings, but the norm has always been to find out how a name is pronounced before going about saying it.
LinkedIn soon decided that they had to do something about it.
To solve the issue, LinkedIn now allows you to record yourself saying your name the way it’s meant to be said so that people who visit your profile can play it back.
You know if a name on LinkedIn has a pronunciation feature when you see a speaker icon right next to it on top of a profile.
How to Add Pronunciation on LinkedIn
LinkedIn only allows you to add pronunciation to your name on its mobile app.
First, you want to head over to the LinkedIn app and click on your profile photo on the upper lefthand corner.
This will open a menu, go ahead and click on “View Profile”.
This will take you to your LinkedIn profile, now you want to click on the “pencil” icon so that you can edit your intro.
Once you’ve opened your “Edit Intro” menu, hit “ADD NAME PRONUNCIATION”.
This will open a submenu at the bottom.
You need to hold down the large record button so that it can start recording and once you’re done, let go.
The record button will show an animation indicating if it’s currently recording.
It will show you a preview of your recording, always make sure that you check out the preview so that you know if you have to do a double-take.
Once you’re satisfied click on “Apply”.
You can edit your voice recording by hitting the pencil icon next to “Your audio recording” in the “Edit intro” menu.
You can either remove the pronunciation of your name or rerecord yourself.
And, it’s that simple.
You can probably record your own LinkedIn name pronunciation in about a minute or two.
Quick Tips to Get it Right
Here are a couple of things to keep in mind before you record:
- You have a ten-second limit to your audio recording, as long as your just say your first and last name, this is plenty of time for you to use.
- Make sure that you sound friendly, people form opinions based on the sounds that they hear. If you have a naturally deep voice that fine as long as you don’t take a serious tone.
- Record your name indoors in a relatively quiet environment, you want prospects to hear your name clearly.
- Don’t start talking after you hold down the record button on LinkedIn, pause for about half a second first. This ensures that people who click on your audio have time to prep before they hear your name. Follow the same rule when you end it.
- Always check out your recording afterwards, you can record a bunch of times, this lets you get the best audio clip.
- Ask a colleague of yours to listen to your name’s pronunciation, your voice will always sound awkward to you, so it helps if a third-party helps you out.
- It might be tempting to stealthily add a CTA or say some marketing copy instead of just saying your name. Whatever you do, don’t. This makes the feature a little spammy, it will put off potential prospects since you come off as desperate, and LinkedIn might not look too kindly on it.
And, lastly…
- This might seem like an odd tip, but always make sure that you smile while you’re saying your name. This is a common technqiue in cold-calling. You can change the inflection of your voice subsconsciously when you’re smiling, so if you want to come of us non-intimidating in the voice clip, make sure you smile while talking.
If you follow these tips you should be golden!
The Benefits of Adding LinkedIn Name Pronunciation
The biggest benefit of making LinkedIn pronounce your name is it fosters professional communication.
Nobody likes their name being mispronounced, although a lot will understand if you don’t pronounce their name right, it still helps if you eliminate that possibility altogether.
By adding the pronunciation of your name on LinkedIn, you are also telling people on LinkedIn that you value inclusivity.
Since you are willing to let them listen to the correct pronunciation of your name, you’re also probably willing to learn theirs.
This makes you less intimidating and it highlights your commitment to making real connections.
Here’s another thing.
It helps you personalize your profile.
If you don’t have a profile video, this is the first time they are going to hear your voice.
Find out how you can create LinkedIn cover story videos that convert!
They are going to form judgments.
So, you’re going to have to make a good first impression.
Lastly, it’s a signal of profile completion. By spending less than 2 minutes with this particular LinkedIn optimization, you can ensure that you’ve covered all your bases.
Complete profiles are not just a sign that someone pays attention to detail, but also of your commitment to improving your presence on the network.
Takeaways
The LinkedIn pronounce feature is one of the most underutilized sections of LinkedIn, but it’s an essential one to achieve a fully optimized profile.
What we like the most about it is that it offers people a preview of who you are, even if you don’t have a LinkedIn cover story video.
On LinkedIn, people piece together who you are with the little things that you give them.
By adding the pronunciation of your name, it gives them an idea of your personality, it tells them indirectly that you want to know the pronunciation of their names, and you get to connect with them using audio.
It might seem like such a lowly feature, but it serves its unique purpose in the grand scheme of things.
At BAMF, we believe that every little thing helps.
And, this little feature can add a little bit more to your LinkedIn optimization!