Getting noticed on LinkedIn may seem intimidating. After all, there are over 735 million users, with over half considered active. However, only about one percent of monthly users bother sharing content every week. That means that you have a lot of opportunities to get some valuable attention.
Let’s go over a few methods you can start using today to expand your presence on the world’s largest business social network.
Optimize Your Profile with an Eye Toward the Future
If you’re looking for new opportunities, your profile should be targeted toward your goals, not what is currently happening. If you are looking for clients, make sure that your profile explains that and spells out what you do, for whom, how, and why.
Upload an Amazing Profile Picture and Background
On LinkedIn, your profile picture and your background are separate. Make sure what you upload looks good and is the right size per their guidelines. Your profile picture should be a good headshot that shows your honest face and lovely eyes.
Craft a Focused Headline and Summary
The first thing your audience sees after your picture is your headline and summary. Ensure that this is written in a way that attracts your ideal audience with few words.
Include Only Relevant Background Information
When you fill out everything offered for your profile on LinkedIn, remember that this is also content and should be thought of as such to attract your ideal audience. Don’t include things that don’t matter to them.
Upload Your Certifications, Degrees, and Education
Don’t forget to upload anything that makes you look more professional. Your skills, certifications, and other things like speaking engagements should be uploaded to share that with your audience.
Use Video Content More Than Other Formats
It might not stay that way forever, but right now, video is more popular as content than any other form. Use all types of content on your LinkedIn profile and feed, but try to make it more video focused for better results.
Create a Memorable and Personalized LinkedIn URL
On LinkedIn, you can personalize your URL. This makes it look better when you share it with people. Plus, it’s another opportunity to use a keyword or your name to become more memorable.
Ask the Right People for Recommendations
After your profile is complete, ask people for recommendations. For example, if you listed a job, invite people who can vouch for you on that job to give you a recommendation and endorse the skills you claim to possess.
Publish New Content Regularly
Try to publish something new on your feed each day, but no less than two to three times a week. Remember, most people are posting less than weekly on LinkedIn, and that means you’ll stand out more. But limit it to once a day, for now, so you don’t overwhelm people.
Mind Your Keywords
There are many places where you can include the right keywords that will attract your audience. It might be as simple as adding your city, skills, volunteer information, contact information, and every book you’ve published that is relevant to your goals.
If you want to find success using LinkedIn, follow these tips to make your profile stand out and then publish enough content to ensure that your profile is very active and full of relevance to those you’d like to network with. When you stand out as someone they want to know, someone who is real, who is transparent, and who is active on LinkedIn, you’ll find that you get a lot more out of it.
But, of course, this brings us to the most important question – how often should you post on LinkedIn?
How Often Should You Post on LinkedIn?
LinkedIn Is All About Business
Unlike Twitter and Facebook, LinkedIn is a lot more serious, and the people who are using it to network are serious businesspeople. Because of this, posting too often is not going to garner you as much attention as you might think. After all, you should be working most of the day, not posting to LinkedIn. And too many posts will only succeed in annoying your connections.
Become Focused on Quality
When you are focused on ensuring that you send updates that are relevant to your connections and will get results, posting regularly is not going to be as difficult as you think. But you need to be very conscious of your goals and the messages you’re sending your connections. Consider the relevancy of each message or post before you commit to it.
LinkedIn Rewards Consistency
You want to be consistent in how often you post as well as consistent in your messaging. This is going to get a lot more attention on LinkedIn than if you post several times a day (which you shouldn’t do). Share your most important blog posts and updates about what you are doing in your business. According to HubSpot.com, posting in the morning between 10:00 to 11:00 am is the most effective.
Share Only What’s Important
When you want to post on LinkedIn, consider the point of your message and ask yourself the following questions:
- Is this information relevant to my contacts on a business network?
- What is the reason I’m sharing it?
- What result do I expect when I post it?
- What actions do I want readers to take?
- Is this better shared on Facebook or Twitter?
Knowing this can help you put a call to action in the posting and determine if you should share that update or not.
Don’t Post Less Than Twice Weekly
If you don’t want to post every day, you don’t have to. According to LinkedIn experts, you should, at once, post once a day. Never post more than once a day.
The minimum that you should post on LinkedIn is twice a week. That will keep your audience informed and keep your account active and signed in, so you don’t miss important info and shares from your contacts.
Finally, it’s more important that you seek engagement on LinkedIn than just posting without any type of conversation or back and forth with your contacts. Therefore, join relevant groups to comment on as much as you want. Remember to look at your connections’ updates so that you can comment on their updates as well. Show that you’re involved and committed in the online community. Making engagement the most important part of using LinkedIn will lead to more valuable connections and get more results.
