In the social media world, Facebook and Twitter get a lot of time and attention. Both platforms have huge user bases and appeal to both businesses and consumers. However, LinkedIn is the go-to professional network for over 347 million members in over 200 countries worldwide.
When I originally started using LinkedIn it was generally more of a consumption model – meaning people looked at content but didn’t necessarily engage with that content. I know my personal habits were to post some things, update my profile as needed, and “just browse” what was going on with my connections. Over the past couple of years, LinkedIn has made significant changes to their user interface (UI) to encourage more content posting and engagement within the platform.
Here are three top tips to leverage LinkedIn’s feature to help expand your network.
- Go beyond the basic profile
LinkedIn has added ways for you to really shine and leverage the platform as an online portfolio. For anyone who produces online content, this is a boon for us. It gives us one place to consolidate our professional content. However, the new UI calls out Patents, Languages, Awards, Causes you support – and more. One of the most important aspects of social media is to be human – and your LinkedIn profile really gives you a chance to show your personality and your talents!
- Blog on LinkedIn
Last year, LinkedIn opened up the platform so all members could blog. When you publish on LinkedIn, it goes into their Pulse news feed and your connections are given a notification you have published. So how can you leverage this? One way I recommend is to share updates about what you are doing on a professional level. For example, if you are a blogger for your company, write a brief intro about that blog on LinkedIn and connect to your original blog article. Or, if you worked on a product that was just released, write a note about how exciting it was to be part of the development of the product and link to the official release or website. The one rule of thumb: don’t over do it. Be very selective in how you use this feature so you don’t end up over-notifying your connections causing them to tune out your updates.
- Be generous
Share content from others. Comment and like their posts and milestones. LinkedIn has re-designed the UI to make this easier – watch for it on your home page and make good use of it!
What’s your favorite feature or hot tip for using LinkedIn? Comment below and share it with us!
Brava, Tina. I feel that tip #3 is the one that is most overlooked. I really enjoy sharing other people’s content and have found that people will not only reciprocate with sharing your content but will take that extra step to engage with you more on LinkedIn if you do. It’s a win-win.
Agree Rehana! Be kind, be generous – it is a mantra I often use when discussing social media. It fits with the whole “be human” aspect and you are right – the more you give, the more you get. Thanks for commenting and sharing!
Great advice, Tina, I’ve been using the publishing feature in LinkedIn and my rank in LinkedIn has dramatically improved as a result. Also, if your publishing content directly to LinkedIn its preferable that the content has a bit more of a thought leadership slant verses buy now, learn more content.
I just endorsed you for “Gamification”!
Great Read Tina. Linkedin really has opened up a whole new world which is relevant in a business and professional sense rather than Facebook which is more of a social platform. I for one would rather know about emerging technologies and the latest trends and thought provoking articles from influencers of the like of John Chambers than say what my friend from school had for breakfast and if my third cousin is having a good time while vacationing -:)
Thank you Vivek! You address an important point: many people see LinkedIn as where they get their business news, Facebook is about social connections and family. I know I personally divide the two and then Twitter is a bit of “all of the above”. 🙂 Thanks for sharing your viewpoint.
Nice tips. I started blogging on LinkedIn this summer and was pleased with how easy it was (even easier to post than Cisco blogs). There are some good distribution options too if you post to a group.
Thanks for the comment Jennifer – it really is super easy to do. Which means that sooner or later it may become too popular and LinkedIn will modify it again. But, for now, I make use of it!
Great article Tina. Tip 2 is most helpful for me – I need to be more proactive in publishing on LinkedIn to take advantage of the business platform!
Emma – thank you for the comment! Yes, the blog feature on LinkedIn is something that not many people realize is open to them. I hope you have fun using it!
Great tips Emma and thanks for sharing