Why Should You Spend Time On LinkedIn?
LinkedIn is the leading professional social network and has been around for over 20 years. It is used globally, available in 26 languages and was acquired by Microsoft in 2016, so its dominance is set to continue. There are over 1 billion users of LinkedIn around the world, with an increasing number of professionals investing in premium subscriptions or using it to create and publish their own content.
Beyond being a source of jobs, LinkedIn data shows that 4 out of 5 people on LinkedIn “drive business decisions”. Therefore, if you are wanting to reach decision makers in your market or raise the profile of your business it’s the right channel to be on.
Essential Strategies from LinkedIn Training Courses
If you spend a little time to properly set up your LinkedIn profile, maintaining it and building your network then shouldn’t take up too much more of your time. We recommend carrying out these top tips to get your profile working effectively for you:
- Update your profile photo so it’s recent and then think about adding or updating your cover image – ideally this will help to showcase who you are, illustrate the industry you work in and highlight any personal interests
- Use the profile headline to share your ‘elevator pitch’ rather than just listing your current job title – look at your peers or others you admire for ideas on how you could craft this
- Consider using keywords that will attract relevant connections – this will help you appear higher up any searches that people do
- Use the summary section to tell your story – this gives people a quick and clear understanding of you and your work
- Make sure you’ve added and displayed your name pronunciation and pronouns
- Use the skills section to showcase your areas of expertise and industry knowledge
- Request and give recommendations to add third party endorsement to your profile
- Share relevant content (consider what your network will be interested in!), at least once a week
- Engage with your network – add comments to status updates that others share
- Follow industry influencers, peers and organisations in your field – this is a good way to stay on top of news and views in your market
Elevate Your Profile With LinkedIn Training
These top tips for LinkedIn are a great start but if you want help to optimise your profile, plan content or conduct a LinkedIn peer review in your industry, we can help – get in touch to find out more about our LinkedIn training courses.