LinkedIn allows you to expand your network and share business information. While it is a social media network like Facebook, it really is for business networking. Save your pet photos and recipes for Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest.  To get the best results from LinkedIn, you need to use it the right way.  Here are a few tips:

1. Make sure that your profile is up to date and reflects your brand and your current role. Don’t cut and paste from your resume. While your resume is a good starting point to help create a robust profile, don’t shortchange yourself by stopping there. LinkedIn allows you to post articles you have written, media in which you or your company were featured, licenses or certifications, volunteer work and any endorsements that you gave to others and that others have given to you.  Don’t have any endorsements?  Give and you shall receive.  Reach out to people you know well in your network and endorse them for the good work that they do and ask them to do the same for you.

2. Post useful, industry-related content. It has been said that you can be one of two things: a source or a drain.  If you are a source, you post industry or business-themed content to share with others in your network.  If you are a drain, you will post items that merely boast about your accomplishments, without trying to start a back-and-forth conversation. There is nothing wrong with an occasional post that states that you started a new job, landed a new client or have a new role at work. This lets your network know what is going on with your career.  If all of your posts are self-promotional, you aren’t providing information that is useful to others and over time, people will ignore your posts or unfollow you.

3. Respond to questions and comments in an engaging way, not as a way to sell your goods or services to others. Responding to questions and comments shows that you are a real person, not a bot and it is another way to spotlight your expertise and provide information to others. Again, an occasional promotional post is fine, if it is relevant to the question or comment you are responding to. A good ratio to keep in mind is for every one promotional post, you should have five informational or educational posts.

4. Schedule your posts ahead of time. While posting often is good, your posts need to have purpose.  If you have trouble coming up with posts that have a purpose, then don’t post anything.  That is why it is good to use services like Hootsuite, since it allows you curate posts and schedule them for a later date.  You don’t have to use Hootsuite to curate posts.  If you find business articles that are good to share, you can save the links in a Word document or in your email’s draft folder.  You can post the link with an appropriate comment on a particular day.  Posting regularly shows that you are willing to share information that others can use. 

Sharing information on LinkedIn is a great way to grow your network, share your knowledge and expertise and engage in meaningful discussions with other like-minded professionals. Just be sure to keep your posts meaningful and informative as much as possible. If you need help setting or optimizing your LinkedIn profile or curating relevant content, please reach out to us. We are happy to help!