No matter the nature and size of your business, LinkedIn offers a wide range of opportunities to help it grow. LinkedIn is an amazing platform for entrepreneurs, businesses, and recruiters. It’s the best place to display your professionalism, authority, and drive targeted online traffic to your website. In this article, we’re going to teach you some valuable LinkedIn tips to help you get the most out of the social network.
Here are actionable steps on how to use LinkedIn effectively:
How to Create a Good LinkedIn Presence
- Setup a Complete LinkedIn Profile
Your profile page is basically your landing page. It’s the face of your personal brand on LinkedIn. Upon visiting your profile, people have to have a good idea of who you are, what you do, and what you’re interested in.
Ensure that you’re also setting the right location and adding your own important contact details. Start by adding your business email address for potential clients or hires to reach you. You should also add your phone number as a backup for clients who prefer calls.
Another important part of your LinkedIn page is your ‘About’ section. This should be written in the first person and should offer readers a glimpse of your goals as a professional. It should also say important quantifiable achievements in your career. It should never be a copy-paste of your CV — that’s just being lazy!
- Take Advantage of Marketing and Automation Tools
If you want to make the most out of LinkedIn, you also have to start tapping into the power of technology. The LinkedIn automation tool helps you make better use of the social platform.
Now, there are many different kinds of marketing tools available today. There are marketing tools that can be used to build brand awareness, post engaging content, create email lists, etc. All you need to do is find the right marketing tool for you. Examples of marketing tools that are good for LinkedIn are HootSuite, Buffer, Sales Navigator, and ELink Pro.
The same is the case for automation tools. Automation tools help you with prospecting, generating leads, and growing your LinkedIn account. If you’re busy and have no time to spend on LinkedIn, automation tools can help you. Examples of LinkedIn automation tools are Dripify and Octopus CRM.
- Optimize Your Page
Optimizing your LinkedIn profile helps your rank higher on searches. It also helps people who might want to follow or connect with you find you easier. Many people just put their job title on their profile page and that’s it. If you truly want to stand out, you have to optimize your page. Here are some LinkedIn tips for profile optimization:
- Choose a professional profile picture. It should be clear and have good image quality. Think of it as your calling card. It’s what you use when you introduce yourself to people and what will shape their first impressions of you. Try to choose a photo where you look approachable and friendly.
- Choose a good background photo. Your background photo is one of the first things people notice on your profile so make sure that it catches people’s attention. It should also reveal a bit more about your passions and interests as a professional.
- Use a smart profile headline that will stand out and resonate most with people in your industry including clients and recruiters!
- Create a good section in as few words as possible. Utilize important keywords to ensure accuracy and relevancy. Try to not use cliche adjectives and buzzwords such as ‘certified’, ‘specialized’, or ‘creative’. They’re overused on LinkedIn!
- Connect and Contact LinkedIn Users
If you want to build credibility, have an audience, and gain enough opportunity, you need to reach at least 500+ connections on your LinkedIn account. Of course, you also want your connections to be of high quality, and not just random people you see on the platform.
LinkedIn is the only place where ‘networking’ isn’t so frowned upon. In LinkedIn, it’s pretty acceptable to build relationships with strangers whom you only share your professional interests with. It isn’t necessarily people whom you feel comfortable talking to. It can be anyone you want to have a professional relationship with!
The important thing when sending connection requests is to personalize them.
To make the most out of your newsfeed, follow experts on LinkedIn. They will fill your feed with a variety of amazing content which you can then share with other people to add value to their careers.
- Give and Receive Endorsements
Endorsements are another important part of LinkedIn. They not only give you credibility, but they also help boost your profile views and visibility. If you want to get endorsed, you should also be willing to endorse people in your industry.
Aside from endorsements, you should also be proactive on LinkedIn. Try to like other people’s posts, comment on other people’s posts, and share content that resonates with you. If you are connected with your coworkers, boss, or past clients, try to ask for recommendations.
- Build Your LinkedIn Community
Community building on LinkedIn is so important today. In a world where contagious illnesses are keeping everyone isolated, online groups and discussions are amazing ways to engage and collaborate with people in your network. If you’ve amassed a good following on LinkedIn, you can create a strong sense of community with your followers on the social platform.
To maintain your community engagement, it’s essential to consistently engage on the platform. You can start by regularly liking, commenting, and sharing content from experts in your area of interest. You can also share your own work to showcase your talents and accomplishments.
Once you’ve built your community, you should try to be consistent with your posts. If you’re not regularly posting, your engagement will drop and your audience wouldn’t be able to see you as much. However, if you’ve been posting too much, that could also be flagged as spam.
- Take Advantage of LinkedIn Groups
LinkedIn Groups are amazing platforms to find and connect with like-minded people. Now that businesses understand the power of niche closed communities, they’re straying more and more from building huge public pages. LinkedIn groups are one example.
As of now, LinkedIn allows users to join up to 100 groups. Each group is a trusted place for professionals to discuss, help, and support each other. Groups are amazing places to find relevant connections, read articles, and find exciting information about your industry.
You can also learn a lot about job markets in these groups. So if you’re trying to hire a specific type of role, LinkedIn groups can give you vital information about where these people hang out, and what might interest them to join your company.
- Create a Content Strategy
LinkedIn content is mainly for building B2B relationships, but that doesn’t mean you have to create content only for other businesses. If you want to have a successful content strategy on LinkedIn you have to make content that adds value to your industry and to your audience.
Since LinkedIn is a platform for professionals, you can’t post stuff you would on Facebook or Twitter, or other social media networks. LinkedIn posts are normally about your profession and interesting news in your industry or particular field.
If you’re thinking about what type of content to put on your LinkedIn, a survey shows that video content performs better on LinkedIn than other content forms. Second to videos are images and visual content. The important thing here is to share content that reflects your expertise in your field.
Conclusion
Being one of the most important social networks for professionals, LinkedIn is undoubtedly an amazing platform to market your business. To succeed and achieve your goals on LinkedIn, you have to know how to use the platform effectively. I hope the tips above have given you ideas on how to make the most of the site.
