Making the most of your LinkedIn
Perhaps no social media channel is as popular in professional circles than LinkedIn. With more than 700 million users in more than 200 countries, its networking potential is unmatched – making it a crucial tool during this time of distanced engagement with industry peers and coworkers. However, LinkedIn is no longer just a platform for users to boast personal achievements and search for career opportunities. It’s now a must-have for businesses of all sizes, as it offers the opportunity to showcase employees, and their achievements, as well as your business and its culture. While you may have a personal and business LinkedIn profile, we’re willing to bet you’re not taking full advantage of all they have to offer. Here are a few ways to make the most of your LinkedIn:
Update and optimize your profile
Maybe you’re just starting out on LinkedIn, or you created an account a few years ago – no matter the circumstances, it’s a good idea to perform an internal audit on your business profile to ensure it’s up-to-date. Your profile offers the perfect opportunity to highlight your business’ offerings and achievements. Update your products and services offered and make sure your business description is SEO optimized. Add in and highlight any awards, recognitions or recent relevant news coverage. Just making a few changes and updates can help impact the visibility and professional status of your profile.
Pro tip: Update your banner image with any current campaign imagery, or information you’re currently using. Also, if you have a company milestone or announcement to showcase, you can pin the post to the top of your page feed.
Encourage employee engagement and showcase achievements
LinkedIn is the ideal social media channel for peer-to-peer social media interaction, making it a vital element to any brand’s social media strategy. Encouraging employee engagement with your posts will not only increase your content reach and engagements, but it also helps show your company culture. Being transparent on social media is becoming increasingly important as both customers and potential employees alike are making purchasing and career decisions based on company values and culture. Employees will be eager to promote company values they agree with.
Pro tip: LinkedIn has a “Notify Employees” feature, allowing you to notify those who have identified themselves as employees of your company on LinkedIn to be notified when you post. This is an easy way to encourage employee engagement and content sharing.
Participate in the conversation(s)
This is perhaps the most difficult element in maintaining any social media channel, especially on LinkedIn, but it is the most important. It’s not enough to simply create and post content, but you should be joining in on the larger industry related, or relevant, conversations happening. More so than Twitter and Facebook, LinkedIn is a hub of thought leadership articles and opportunities for collaboration. Don’t be afraid to join groups related to your industry or company culture, or to follow and share and engage with content from major players or influencers.
Pro tip: Content suggestions are a great way to narrow down the depth and breadth of content on LinkedIn to be more specific to your industry or areas of expertise/interest. This allows you to filter out what isn’t relevant and to engage with trending topics from the previous two weeks.
Like any social media channel, you’ll only see an ROI if you invest quality time and content into it. Fortunately, LinkedIn offers countless opportunities to connect, share and develop ideas amongst team members, industry professionals and community peers.