Whether you’re in business or have at any point been looking for a new job, chances are that you’ve heard of LinkedIn. While it’s not necessarily the social media platform of choice for leisure, LinkedIn offers some huge benefits to businesses and professionals alike, such as the ability to follow and connect with other industry specialists.
If you’re just getting started with LinkedIn, we’ve put together our top tips for getting off on the right foot.
1. Put time and thought into your profile
While LinkedIn is mainly for professionals, the platform is much more focussed on people and less on corporations, so your profile should be professional yet more informal and friendly than a traditional CV. Showcase your career history using a conversational but informative tone, and don’t forget to include a headshot as your profile picture so visitors can see the face behind the career.
Top Tip: Instead of your job title, use keywords from your job description within your headline so people easily come across you when searching for services.
2. Make use of personal and business profiles
If you’re using LinkedIn to promote your business, don’t forget to give your personal profile some attention too. LinkedIn is all about connecting with other professionals, so you’re more likely to gain traction and engagement through posting points of view or questions on your personal account.
3. Use LinkedIn Groups
Become part of relevant networks by joining groups relevant to your industry. This will not only give you access to industry insights and updates but will also make it more likely for your profile to be seen by other professionals within the group, therefore being seen by a more relevant audience.
Top Tip: LinkedIn categorises connections into three degrees: first, second & third. These degrees indicate how close you are to each profile, with first being the closest. Joining groups will create connections with others within the group, making you more likely to be seen by the right people.
4. Create engaging content
It can be easy to scroll through LinkedIn without engaging on posts or creating any content yourself, and while this might give you insight into what your connections or competitors are up to, it won’t help you create valuable new connections. To do this, you need to actively engage with new people and post regular content. Make the most of LinkedIn’s features to ask questions and get your view across by using polls, articles and more.
Put aside a half hour each day to spend time engaging and posting on LinkedIn, and you’ll be a pro in no time!
Looking for help growing your LinkedIn platforms? Get in touch to see how we can help.