5 Things You Need to Know About LinkedIn

Lately I’ve been thinking about LinkedIn - in particular, its undervalued status in the world of social media. Sure, you might have set up a LinkedIn account years ago. You might have added relevant skills and experience, included your work and education info and copied a headshot to complete things.

But are you seriously considering the potential this platform offers? Here’s a few sobering facts:

• It’s the largest professional social network site in the world.

• Two new members signing up every second, according to AddThis.

• And it’s widely recognized as a bastion of professionalism among social networks.

There are plenty of reasons you should be seriously investing in your LinkedIn presence:

Increase your brand awareness

Like with any social media site, building your brand and increasing awareness of your services is key. And with LinkedIn growing at a truly dizzying rate, now is the perfect time to add your voice to the mix.

Connect with and acquire new clients

One-on-one, personal connections - when it comes to closing deals, nothing beats that kind of interaction. Connect directly with your current clients and find new ones through your network.

Promote events

Attract a wider audience to your next open house: publicizing your events online is essential to generating interest in your listings.

Engage with influencers

This one is obvious - influences carry social proof that you need to build trust among your audience. Engaging with them on LinkedIn can be an effective way to help establish credibility and name recognition.

Underestimating LinkedIn? You’re not alone. But recognizing the potential of this platform gives you a unique advantage to tap into this market.

So whether you’re just signing up or rethinking your strategy, here are some things you need to know about LinkedIn:

1. Optimize for Search Engines

Like any other platform, your goal here should be twofold: to increase your brand awareness and generate leads for your business. But to get there, you first need to take the necessary steps to increase your profile’s visibility, particularly in search engine results. This will ensure you’re reaching the right audience. HubSpot offers a couple of tips on getting this right:

• Take time to consider what keywords, phrases and search topics are most relevant to your business.

• Then, employ that wording in your profile’s description, bio and posts.

2. Timing is Everything

You can work tirelessly on your profile and spend hours scrutinizing online content for useful posts - but if you’re posting updates at the wrong times, you won’t maximize your visibility. And your message will get lost in the sheer volume of other posts. Try some A/B testing to determine what time of day is optimal for your audience. But, generally, Monday between 2 - 4 pm is most effective, according to AddThis.com.

3. Get Endorsed

Endorsements are one of the single-most important tools featured on LinkedIn: they offer social proof for the skills you’ve included on your profile. Here’s how it works: you list skills you have and your connections endorse you for them. It’s simple, but as HubSpot points out, absolutely essential to building credibility online.

• One of the most common ways to acquire endorsements is endorsing your connections first

4. The Right Content is Key

Struggling with what type of content to post? According to Buffer, the most in-demand content is industry insights: educational, informative posts that benefit them. This presents an opportunity for you to position yourself as an industry expert, offering your audience insightful, relevant content and branding yourself as a credible source of information.

5. Don’t Be Shy!

A professional network is no place to turn into a wallflower. Reaching out to connections - both old and new - will help energize your page. After all, the whole point is to grow your network - so be bold! According to CIO.com, here are some appropriate times to get in touch:

• Job changes

• Mentions in the news

• Work anniversaries

• Recent meetings

Have experience marketing yourself or your business on LinkedIn? Let me know in the comments below!

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