Having your business and your team on LinkedIn can be so powerful.
LinkedIn is a great free marketing tool recommended by my marketing consultancy, that allows you to be social with your professional network. By now, we understand that ‘people buy from people’ – so this is the social media platform to harness every opportunity. Despite its power as a platform and number of users, many people fail to get the most out of their account. Therefore, learning about how to optimise your profile and page, as well as how to keep your content engaging, informative and relevant to your professional connections is crucial.
Whether you share news stories, comment on blogs and opinion pieces, recommend job opportunities or give kudos to who you work with, in this blog we’ll aim to tell you everything you need to know about using LinkedIn as a business tool.
Optimising your personal brand
1. Your LinkedIn profile is the foundation for your personal branding – your profile photo is your calling card on LinkedIn so ensure it's professional and shows an up-to-date image of your face (not a full-length image of your outfit and preferably not a selfie!)
2. Complete your relevant skills section on your profile – scroll through the list of skills and identify those that are relevant to you. Doing so helps to validate the description in your headline and summary and provides a platform for others to endorse you. Think about keywords and the terms that help you to be seen as an expert in your field.
3. Stay active on your feed. Sharing content with your network allows people to see your point of view, what you’re interested in, and allows your connections to see how you add value to their feed.
Build your network
Once you have built up your network of clients, contacts and partners, you want to consider how you can connect with them or build a better relationship with them. As well as staying active and engaging, I recommend you avoid these 3 things:
1. Don’t be a LinkedIn crawler. Don’t be that person who just scrolls through their feed and aimlessly browse without liking anything. Instead, I suggest every time you go on LinkedIn, take a few moments to like a few recent posts in your newsfeed. Whenever you are liking a post, you’re also showing your connection some appreciation so perhaps consider celebrating or supporting the post with the different LinkedIn reactions!
2. Don’t treat your likes like gold. Unlike gold, likes are free. Our rule of thumb is, if the post I read provided me with even the smallest bit of value or made me smile, I give it a like! But it’s important to be purposeful about this—don’t just go around liking any and all posts. Stay authentic to your own interests and goals as these posts are shared with your audience. You want to add value to them too!
3. Did you know you are 50% more likely to be accepted if you connect with a ‘note’ – this note or message can be anything from why you want to connect, how you know them, or what your business is about.
Consistency is your friend!
Consistency is another essential part to LinkedIn as results don’t happen overnight. You must be patient with social media as growth and building relationships can take time. You shouldn’t really expect your first couple of posts to have many engagements or provide any leads; the brand recognition will come with time, so don’t give up when you don’t see instant results. I have found with clients at Youbee Media, regular and engaging posts are almost always going to be more effective and will achieve better results than a couple of posts here and there. You will learn who is more engaged with your business and who takes a back seat when you post. However, if you share a post personally from your company page to your profile – your network will respond warmly to this.
Join LinkedIn Groups
LinkedIn groups are another great way to make connections with people who are in or interested in or share your industry. A group will act as a hub for you and other members to share content, collaborate, grow your contact list, and boost recognition.
When you join a group, take the time to familiarise yourself with the content people are sharing, and types of questions that are being asked. Putting out relevant content is a great way to take full advantage of the group – sharing content that other group members may be interested in increases your chance of really ‘connecting’ with them instead of just the virtual connect button.
By sharing your expertise, participating in conversations, and being a reliable source of information within the group, you will have the opportunity to build valuable relationships to help you and your business generate more leads.
New features in 2021
Over the past year many users are turning to LinkedIn as a place to find daily interaction with work colleagues and their network.
LinkedIn has recently introduced a feature that allows users to add a 30 second introduction video to feature in a personal profile permitting connections to have an insight into who you are, and what you’re about.
Another feature LinkedIn have added are stories - a feature that many other social media platforms already use. Aiming to compete with the other platforms, stories is a mobile-only feature that allows users to connect with others in a more personal way. Many users are missing the interaction of the office as they continue to work remotely, and stories is a way to regain those more relaxed conversations.
In summary
To be on LinkedIn, you need to be prepared to be in it for the long game. All social media channels are about building brand awareness, inbound marketing messages and must have an element of emotion. Don’t shy away from sharing your story and being ‘human’, but also remember that this isn’t Facebook! Your professional network doesn’t want to see what you had for lunch or hear a rant about the train being late. Showcase your team, shout about how proud you are to work within a great business and connect people who could also form a great network.
These simple tips can really increase engagement and recognition for your brand, while helping with your social media management - so give these a try and see what results you can produce.
Need more support with social media management? Youbee Media can help, and Becky’s workshops offer hands-on consultancy advice to go further.
Connect with Youbee Becky
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