Without LinkedIn, I’m not sure I would still be a freelancer today with my content business.
That’s the truth.
When I decided in January 2023 to use LinkedIn as a discovery platform for my business, it changed everything. Doors began to open in many ways, not just dollars deposited in my bank account (although that was a big plus!).
I began building relationships, which have continued to shape my path as an entrepreneur and freelancer. There’s no denying LinkedIn is a powerful platform.
The relationships I’ve built on LinkedIn have evolved into friendships, business opportunities, and unforeseen experiences like teaching college courses and public speaking. I owe so much to LinkedIn for helping me make this happen.
It’s helped me find job opportunities and achieve professional goals, but it’s also a place of connection. That’s what I love. Admittedly, during my 9-5 days, I should have been more active on the platform and built my personal brand.
But I’m doing it now and here to advocate for others to do it as well.
So, how do you get started and embrace all the positive benefits of being on this platform? Keep reading and get more details on ALL the LinkedIn tips. I’m here to show you how.
Table of Contents
- #1 Fostering a Positive LinkedIn Mindset
- #2 Create a Strong Personal LinkedIn Profile
- #3 Create Engaging Content True to Your Personal Brand
- #5 Grow Your Presence on LinkedIn
- You Can Leverage Your LinkedIn Network for Success
#1 Fostering a Positive LinkedIn Mindset
Before jumping into details about your LinkedIn profile, engaging, and growing your presence on the platform, I first have to address your mindset.
Because let’s get real for a minute.
It’s not natural for most of us to wake up, have a ton of ideas, and confidently publish content for all our professional peers to read.
You can feel judged.
Big time.
Maybe you even find yourself asking, “Who am I to talk about XYZ topic?” But you have thoughts, experiences, and insight to share.
Don’t doubt it.
I was in the same boat two years ago. But what made a difference was I just said, “Who cares.” I want to build my business more than I care about what people think. So, I started to do the following things.
#2 Create a Strong Personal LinkedIn Profile
The first course of action you need to take on LinkedIn is to create an effective LinkedIn profile page to showcase your skills and experience.
In my case, it meant revamping the corporate one I had from 15 years working in digital marketing at a CPG company and getting much clearer on the services I wanted to provide to clients – SEO writing.
Before you even begin to worry about posting or engaging, I strongly suggest you pause to evaluate your profile page to ensure it speaks clearly to the audience you want to help and what it is you do to help them.
With your profile you want to include a professional profile photo of yourself, an eye-catching and clear banner image at the top talking to what you do, and integrating copy that speaks to your audience throughout your headline and about section.
Overall, the sections to address should be the…
- Banner Image
- Headline Copy
- CTA Link under Headline
- Featured Section
- About Section
You may also have a company page you want to create if you have a separate brand name from your personal name. I’ve seen this with solopreneurs, non-profits, and large-size organizations.
I have considered creating a separate page on LinkedIn for my newsletter, The Organic Freelancer, as I look to promote it further and land sponsorships.
#3 Create Engaging Content True to Your Personal Brand
After you’ve updated your profile with what you do, who you help, and what sets you apart from others, it’s about actively building your network.
And at the root of this is taking action.
You can spend hours reading all kinds of advice, but what begins to make the difference here is putting in the work and time.
Action can look like a few different things.
Following Others
Following is the easiest action you can take without any pressure.
When you click that follow button on someone else’s profile, all that means to LinkedIn is, “Hey, I enjoy this person and want to see more of their content in my feed.”
It’s one of the most passive ways to start getting active on the platform. And who you follow is totally up to you.
I find myself following other experts in SEO and content marketing, current clients, past clients, friends, and potential clients I would like to work with in the future.
Sending Connection Requests
But when do you follow, and when do you connect? I talked about it in this issue of my newsletter, The Organic Freelancer.
The short answer is that it depends on your relationship goals.
Starting out on LinkedIn, I connected with a lot of people. I wasn’t very choosy. But today, I’m much more specific with who I want to connect with and not just follow.
Typically, I connect with you if…
- I enjoy your content and want to talk more in the DMs
- You’ve interacted with my content quite a bit
- You have expertise or experiences I want to learn more about that requires more of a back and forth dialogue.
Connections allow you to create relationships, which is the biggest benefit of LinkedIn.
Insightful Tip: You get up to 30,0000 connections on LinkedIn. Quite a bit. And the benefit of connecting vs. following is that you also get access to that person’s network and who they’re connected with. This is incredibly helpful when you’re trying to build your network.
Commenting
Commenting is a hugely underrated connection strategy. The first thing I tell my clients who are hesitant to post is that it’s ok to delay posting. Instead, comment with intention.
You can boost your social media engagement with comments.
But you need to be thoughtful about what you say on others’ posts. Simply leaving an emoji or saying, “Love it,” isn’t going to cut it—not if you want to build a relationship.
When someone gives you a specific compliment about what you’re wearing or a recent accomplishment, you perk up right? So apply those same behaviors to how you comment on LinkedIn.
Reference what about the post you loved or explain why you agree with someone’s viewpoint. Give a little peek into your own experience by elaborating on why you identified with it so strongly.
Your specificity will stand out in the sea of “I agree” and “Great post.”
Posting
But say you’ve settled into LinkedIn, and you’re comfortable with following, connecting, and commenting.
Now it’s time to post!
Sure you could post about anything you want, but I urge you to be more strategic with your content. And to do that, I suggest taking a pause and addressing these three things…
#1 – Understand your goals.
What are you trying to accomplish?
Do you want to create awareness and build a following?
Do you want to encourage engagement and nourish an existing audience?
Do you want to convert more leads and increase sales?
Often, it’s a mix of all of these. But learning to prioritize what’s most important given your goals, helps streamline what you want the bulk of your content to address on LinkedIn.
#2 – Define your content pillars.
With your goals in mind, next comes understanding what you should talk about. In content marketing and SEO, we think of this as your content pillars. These are the main topics you want to cover based on your business and expertise.
Right now my content pillars are more focused around…
- web copywriting
- SEO
- blog writing
These are all focuses where I help my clients today.
Under your content pillars you want to write posts that essentially “de-mystify” what you do and give a peek into you expertise.
Think of it as lessons you can pass along to the person behind you.
#3 – Be intentional with a call-to-action (CTA).
This may be a tough pill to swallow, but likes and big followings don’t mean anything if you aren’t intentional about your CTA.
- It can be a question…
- Asking to subscribe to receive a free resource…
- Or calling out a way to reach you to discuss the opportunity of working together.
To connect with other members, you want to share content that speaks to your experience and expertise while giving a peek into who you are and your story.
Your content can be educational, inspirational, or entertaining (or all 3 in one post)!
The best posts tend to…
- Share a story
- Showcase your strong POV on a topic
- Educate others on a topic
LinkedIn audiences want to learn.
So add value with your posts and always be open to testing and experimenting to see what works.
Full Circle Engagement
When you’re commenting, posting, and striking up conversations in the DMs, I like to think of that as achieving full-circle engagement.
You’re putting your expertise out there, and you’re also noticeably paying attention to others who are sharing their wisdom and insights through posting.
#5 Grow Your Presence on LinkedIn
To grow your connections, following, and opportunities, you must consistently show up.
That’s the big secret.
From what I’ve found, it’s all about establishing a LinkedIn habit on a schedule that works for you.
I spend about an hour every day except for Sunday on LinkedIn. Sometimes it’s less if I’m not feeling it. And sometimes it’s longer if I’m enjoying the conversations and interaction.
In that hour, I comment, post, respond to comments, respond to DMs, and initiate conversations in the DMs. Occasionally, in the afternoon, I’ll revisit the platform for 15 minutes to respond to anything I may have missed and check out other posts from creators I enjoy.
Growing requires a constant pulse on connecting with others and finding your “FUN” factor.
If you’re unable to find something fun about showing up, your audience will feel it. They’ll feel it in the content you create or the comments you start leaving on posts. Not to mention, being on LinkedIn will turn more into work rather than enjoyment for you (which is no good).
You Can Leverage Your LinkedIn Network for Success
The relationships I’ve built on LinkedIn have allowed me to have the business opportunities I have today.
And a lot of that has been because I’ve prioritized showing up regularly, providing content that helps others, and doing it in a way where I expect nothing in return.
Before January 2023, I had no idea LinkedIn would be such a pivotal part of my business. Honestly, what’s happened as a result of meeting others has far exceeded my expectations.
I can’t recommend LinkedIn enough if you want to start building a business or online presence.
Don’t overthink it. Just start.
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