It’s the go to social media platform for professional networkers, so if you’re trying to build your network and grow your business there’s a good chance at least part of your networking is taking place on LinkedIn. As with most social platforms, there are specific things you can do to increase the impact of your profile and posts, and in this article, we’re looking at how you can improve your networking game on the world’s largest dedicated professional network.
Why are you using LinkedIn?
Before you can make a plan to improve your performance on LinkedIn, you need to work out why you came. What are you hoping to get out of the time you spend on the platform? Try to be as specific as possible, and think about how you can measure your performance against your goal.
Do you want to expand your network, establish yourself as an industry expert, reach potential new clients or connect to other contractors? If you answered “all of the above” which is most important to you right now?
The answer to this question will tell you who you’re aiming to contact, which will affect what kind of posts will work best for you, and what kind of content you need to be posting.
Finish setting up your Profile
Your profile is where potential clients will look to find out about you and what you do, so make sure you’ve finished filling it in. Try to make this as accessible and easy to read as possible. Most contractors will need to reach people who are not expert in the same field, so it’s a good idea to keep your use of industry jargon to a minimum, and be as clear and concise as you can.
Your profile pictures
If possible, use a high quality, professional headshot for your profile picture, preferably 400x400px. We recommend you make it visible to everyone by changing its visibility to “public” in your profile’s visibility options. This makes it easier to be found, and more likely that you’ll be trusted, by people searching using search engines or other social media networks.
For your background picture, choose a good quality picture that represents you, your business or something you’re interested in or passionate about. The optimal size for a background picture is 1584x396px.
Your headline and summary
In your headline, you have 120 characters to describe what you do. Make sure you include the most relevant keywords that your intended audience are likely to search for.
The summary is where you can tell your story in more detail, including the use of images, videos, documents and links.
For both the headline and summary, it’s important to focus on information your audience is looking for. For example, when you’re talking about your skills and experience, focus on what you can do for them. When you mention your past successes, talk about the difference you made to your client’s business. You might also focus on your future goals, as a snapshot of what it might be like to work with you in the future, as opposed to detailing your past experience.
How often should you post?
As with most social media, you’ll get out of LinkedIn what you put into it. You can usefully post as often as you like, as long as you’re doing so intentionally, as part of a consistent plan. Below is a list of things you could do every day, week and month to improve your LinkedIn performance over time.
Daily:
Like two posts in your newsfeed
Leave a positive comment on someone’s post
Weekly:
Publish a personal post about your work and passion
Publish a post that talks about your business
Comment back to anyone who engages with your posts, and send a connection request to anyone who likes them and is a second or third connection.
Monthly:
Request ten new connections
Ask a client for a recommendation
Search an industry hashtag and share something that is relevant and resonates with you.
What should you post?
Writing your own content can be difficult at first, but it gets easier with practice. Here’s a quick, three stage suggestion for how you can structure the copy for your LinkedIn posts.
Say what the post is about
Outline the problem this post will solve
Reveal your solution to the problem
We’d also recommend you address the reader directly, keep your language relatable for your chosen audience, provide something for the reader to take away, share your personal experiences and always add an image or video. Focus on your audience – why are they reading your post? What do they want to know or see?
Content ideas
If you find yourself hunting around for content ideas, here are some places you might look:
Recent industry news articles
Articles and blogs by leaders in your sector
Relevant books or publications
Your clients’ websites and marketing materials
Social posts by other in your industry
And here are some prompts that might help you write your next killer post:
Share something that inspires you
Answer a question your clients often ask
Create a top ten list
Share the story of how you got where you are
Welcome a new employee to your team
Spotlight how a client uses your service
Talk about a common misconception in your industry
Share a throwback
Advise on what people should stop or start doing
Ask for input on a new idea or project
Other things to think about…
Here are some more tips to help you get more out of LinkedIn:
It’s not enough to post regularly yourself. Make sure you also engage with other posts from your network. This will increase your reach.
Try to respond to comments on your posts within one hour.
Every comment you receive will increase the reach of your post, but avoid commenting first as this will slow it down.
Comments will have more impact if they contain more than 12 words.
If your post needs editing, wait 10 minutes after posting.
Selfies deliver three times more engagement and up to twenty-five times more reach.
Comment to let LinkedIn know what kind of content to show you more of.
Use more than three and less than ten hashtags.
Only tag people you think will engage with your post.
If you have questions or if we can help in any way, please call our expert team on 01296 468483 or email info@orangegenie.com.