I like to think of LinkedIn as more than just an online resume — it’s a useful tool that can connect your personal brand to the professional world. If you feel like your presence on LinkedIn is falling flat, know that you’re not alone. It can be difficult for anyone to grow an audience, no matter the size of their businesses. If you’re looking to improve your LinkedIn presence or just get started on the right foot, you should focus on the following strategies:
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Clean up your profile
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Strategize your content
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Utilize your data
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Stand out with video
Clean Up Your Profile
The easiest way to enhance your LinkedIn presence is by having a solid, completed profile. Your content may be golden, but if your profile is unremarkable, or blank, users won’t follow you or want to read the posts you worked so hard to create. By including all the information you can on your profile, like strategic keywords and endorsements, users will feel your account is legitimate and professional, and you can even rank higher in LinkedIn search results!
Strategize Your Content
Growing your LinkedIn presence doesn’t mean posting twenty times per day about random topics — in order to actually improve your presence, you must create content that is:
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Relatable
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Relevant
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Personal
Relatable
When you’re targeting a specific audience, the first things you should research are their demographics, interests, and lifestyles. The content that a 20 year-old woman who likes puppies and pilates will relate to is most likely going to be vastly different than a 65 year old man who invests in real estate and likes to fish on the weekends. In order to create content that your target users will engage with, you have to incorporate information, stories, or humor they can relate to. Finding what’s relatable can take some trial and error, but it is the only surefire way to grow your audience.
Relevant
Staying in the know on topics that your audience cares about is crucial when it comes to curating content. If you’re targeting Gen Z and are posting about social media basics, that information is not relevant to them — they grew up on social media, and I promise you, they already know how Instagram works. Relevant topics that are always solid content ideas include:
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Recent discoveries
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Shifts in the industry
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New statistics
Personal
While LinkedIn can sometimes be perceived as strictly professional, it’s actually more beneficial to your brand if your content has a personal touch. Telling stories and sharing opinions is a great way for users to see that your brand is made up of and cares about real people, not just your product or sales.
A good rule to follow when posting this type of content is the “4-1-1” rule — for every self-selling post you share, you should follow it by sharing your own personal, relatable content, and then share four posts written by others that are relevant to your brand. Creating this wide range of content on your page will allow you to reach different audiences, be more shareable, and eventually grow your LinkedIn audience.
Utilize Your Data
To maximize your performance on LinkedIn, you need to utilize the data the platform provides you. LinkedIn’s analytics can help you figure out what you’re doing right and areas where you can improve. The data you can review includes:
By utilizing your data to identify your content’s strong and weak points, you can better tailor your posts to increase reach and engagement within your target audience.
Stand Out With Video
Video content is growing in popularity by the minute — not taking advantage of it to improve your LinkedIn presence would be a missed opportunity. Creating short-form videos of staff members promoting product/services, telling their story, or making industry-related jokes are all easy ways to utilize the power of video and stand out from your competitors. Just make sure to keep it short, simple, and on brand!
Let’s Talk
Whether you need a speaker for your next event or have questions about my books, I can provide you with the business expertise, life lessons, and real-world experience you’ve been looking for. Let’s talk about how I can help you reach your business goals!