Do you use LinkedIn? If the answer is no then you’re in for a treat, and even if you do, maybe we can help you utilise it a little better for your own benefit, as a brand or an individual.
LinkedIn is used in different ways by different people but its primary use is for networking. Building a bank of connections who eventually might need your services, or you might need theirs, is the new version of going to business breakfasts and conferences, whilst awkwardly handing out your business cards.
Of course, there’s still plenty of room for the traditional approaches, but this way has been adopted significantly by the younger generations who no longer work like that.
Millennials and Gen Z generations are typically much more comfortable communicating online and social media platforms. This means as they reach a point where they wish to grow their career and build connections prior to leaving full-time education, they can easily build their online presence without the
Build your personal brand
Utilising LinkedIn to build your own personal brand can open up a plethora of avenues for establishing your position in an industry. Whether you work for a company, you’re a freelancer or a business owner, LinkedIn can be the place where you begin building your name in a sector.
Make it your own
LinkedIn offers you the ability to customise your online persona, whether this is through the imagery or language you choose to use or the content you post on your feed.
Furthermore, overly-posed profile pictures are no longer essential and with the capabilities of being able to take a more-than-half-decent photo of yourself, you’ll save yourself some money forking out for a pro-headshot.
Accessibility
I cannot be argued that LinkedIn makes the business world overall more accessible. You see, not that long ago, there was a specific kind of demographic who primarily were more likely to become management and would communicate with one another in private clubs or behind heavy doors in boardrooms.
Well, LinkedIn has broken down a few of these barriers and allows people from all backgrounds and demographics to learn from one another and boost their business visibility on a level playing field.
Learning and growth
If you’ve got something to say, LinkedIn provides you with a free platform to share with like-minded people. This is great for individuals who are looking to gather opinions and start a conversation, who otherwise would not have had the platform to do so.
With the addition of groups, individuals can more effectively learn and share, which can allow them to improve their business knowledge and obtain a form of mentorship, without it costing the world.
LinkedIn for Business
For businesses, the end goals are similar to personal LinkedIn users; growing a following and starting conversations to improve their brand trust. For companies, posting regular updates and thought leadership pieces to the LinkedIn community can improve their prospects of attracting new clients to work with their business.
Find employees
Through advertising and sponsored posts, businesses on LinkedIn can find their next top talent with relative ease. In the same way, we can target customers based on their interests and demographics, on LinkedIn we’re able to target people by geographical locations, job titles and skill sets to ensure we’re reaching the right people to make our job listing visible.
Understand your audience
Analytics are powerful things, and by using the data from your LinkedIn business profile you can understand which content works more effectively and at what times are the best times to communicate and post.
With 50% of B2B web traffic originating from social media accounts, publishing custom content which is tailored to your ideal customer persona can allow you to better grow relationships, build a reputation and encourage enquiries.
Inmail over email
Data from LinkedIn says that between 10 to 25% of InMail receives a response and compared to email, users receive considerably less InMail, resulting in a less saturated and bombarded inbox. This offers your business the opportunity to speak directly to those in your industry or to clients or customers who could use your services whilst affording a better chance of your message being opened compared to
LinkedIn in 2019
If you take nothing else away from this blog, here’s our top tips for using LinkedIn in 2019:
- Update everything regularly – There’s nothing more frustrating than other users contacting you about jobs which are no longer relevant because you haven’t updated your job title or skills or clients searching for your business when you’re no longer operating from that location.
- Post your own content – This goes without saying but posting your own blog posts and thoughts on LinkedIn is great for increasing engagement and sharing your knowledge to really get conversations going.
- Be unique – Developing your own tone of voice or even just a way of communicating with your followers which matches your brand, whether you’re friendly, informative, funny, cheeky or anything in between, this will ensure that you’re more memorable than your competitors.
- Get talking – When someone reaches out to you, even if you’re not interested or can’t offer them any help, it’s always best to reply politely. The same goes for if a recruiter cold-contacts you, it may be annoying for some, but they’re actually just trying to do a job and the best thing you can do is to politely decline or let them know you’re interested.
- It’s not Facebook – Over the past few years, we’ve seen multiple individuals called out for using the platform inappropriately and more like a dating site. Do not do this. We repeat, do not proposition people for dates or similar over LinkedIn. Would you do it at a business meeting? No? Then don’t do it on LinkedIn.
- Be genuine – Avoid the urge to be super salesy and just be you! No, this isn’t an afterschool special but yes, we truly do believe to get the best results you need to be genuine. No sales jargon or spamming, just good honest communication.
