Download this article as a PDFLinkedIn is a juggernaut in the online networking world. What surprises most people is how long the Social Media platform has been running; it first came out in 2002 making it older than Facebook! The presence of this tool is evident in the number of users that log in every day, the latest figure from LinkedIn was that it has at least 808.4 million members across the globe (Global Digital Insights, 2022).
Seven Steps to LinkedIn Success
1) Network: Building and growing your network is key to success on LinkedIn. It opens doors, forms connections, and meets people that could lead to great future prospects.
2) Profile: Use keywords if you want to be found and make sure your profile really declares who you are and your values. Linkedin’s profile summary is a section often analysed by Google’s spiders. It is important to make your profile instantly recognisable.
3) Routine: Be active. Ideally, you should be looking to post 3 times a week to keep your network engaged with your content. This can include sharing articles and other relevant content to your page but instead of just sharing it, add your own commentary and put an item out to discuss.
4) Action: Asking for action is key to properly engage with your audience. Create content that makes the audience want to engage and not for likes.
5) Mentions: This is a great tool to use for getting a broader network. Use hashtags with any content you post but go one step further by utilising @mentions. This further strengthens the content and engagement of your profile and will lead to more exposure and ultimately more connections. This can be invaluable to some businesses when it comes to doing business.
6) Seek first to chat not to sell: Don’t start the interaction quickly to get a sale. Go in with the intention of creating an interaction. A topic of conversation might be found within their profile, where they studied etc. This gets the ball rolling in a more passive manor and allows a relationship to be built and truly understand the person, their role and current standing with business.
7) Educate Prospects: Use content you have posted to communicate with target clients, existing clients etc, you could use a blog or newsletter you have recently produced to gain their attention through email. This again just builds up that relationship because you are making a genuine effort to have a conversation with them and help them instead of just straight up seeking a sale.
Putting It Into Practice
These simple steps should get you well the way to LinkedIn success, of course every market and business is different, but on the whole, these tips should help you to branch out and grow that network. Networking is one of the most valuable tools a business can use, and LinkedIn allows networking on a Global Scale.
