Making the most of LinkedIn
The last few months, I’ve been hitting LinkedIn hard.
So I thought this week, I would share some strategies I’ve been using to get the most out of the social network for job seekers.
Make comments.
Find a group of people on LinkedIn who are in your industry who have big audiences. Follow them, then bookmark their new posts (Profile > Activity > Posts). Visit those 7-10 people every day, and get in the habit of making useful comments on their posts. This is one of the most powerful ways to increase your audience on LinkedIn.Post content.
Not sure what to post? Tim Denning has suggested that you make a timeline of your career, then fill it in with major events and stories you remember from your work life. That should give you tons of ideas for posts. You can also research what your “comment group” is posting about to get ideas for your own content. Post regularly - daily if possible.Search for jobs.
Use the search function for “[job title] jobs.” That will let you zero in on a lot of job listings and posts that you might not see otherwise. Don’t forget that you can save job listings to come back to later.Get information interviews.
When you connect with someone new, be sure to send them a message along with the connection request. Find some connection between you and them that already exists, even if it’s just “I am interested in getting into your industry.” When people respond, ask them for a short information interview over Zoom. This strategy has gotten me job interviews I would not have gotten otherwise.Make at least 500 connections.
The more connections you have, the more serious you appear on LinkedIn. If you have fewer than 500 connections, the system displays the number. More than 500, it just says “500+ connections.” Make it a goal to get over that 500 mark. It’s not only good for optics - it means more people will potentially see your content.Be consistent.
Like with everything online and off, consistency is the key. Showing up every day will be the best way to increase your audience, and therefore views on your profile and potential jobs. Try posting and commenting every weekday for a month, and see how your traffic increases.
In case you didn’t see it or need a refresher, there’s also a lot of good info in my previous piece about LinkedIn.
BONUS LINK: One way to increase views of your post on LinkedIn is to make the content into a carousel, which is basically a slideshow that people can click through. Carousels are visual and “sticky.” LinkedIn itself has a good primer on how to do this.
Onward and upward. See you all next week!