It is no secret at all that when it comes to making professional connections online, there is no better spot to get it done than LinkedIn. This platform is the premier place for entrepreneurs, employers and prospective employees to establish their presence and network with one another.
Like other social media platforms, your success can depend on how much you put into it. There are some rather simple strategies you can use to your advantage to try to get more eyes on your LinkedIn profile.
Why should you worry about more followers on LinkedIn instead of professional connections?
Easy. Some of those followers could end up translating into opportunities down the road, and an engaging and well-liked profile also helps you stand out in the crowd when employers are looking for someone suitable for their business on LinkedIn.
With all of this in mind, you should always keep the importance of marketing yourself well and getting yourself established and visible on the platform as a top priority.
Market Yourself the Professional Way
You can use some pretty familiar strategies to get yourself more of a following on LinkedIn. Some of these tips are concepts that can be re-used on just about any other social media platform, while others are unique to LinkedIn itself.
Think carefully about each of the following hints for success and think about how you can adapt them to your own unique situation. Your LinkedIn profile is (and should be) unique from everyone else on the site, so make sure you get some more eyes on it by keeping some of these steps in the forefront of your plans.
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Post to your LinkedIn page on a regular basis
Like other platforms, you shouldn’t neglect your LinkedIn page if you want it to be a factor in helping you grow your online presence. The more content you post, the more you will likely be discovered by users and the LinkedIn algorithm. Besides that, followers love consistent and engaging posts, so make sure you stay on top of posting content if you want to grow your presence on the site.
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Add your LinkedIn page address to your email signature
Email is still one of the most-used professional communication tools, so use that to your advantage! Attach a link to your LinkedIn profile to the signature line on your emails. This allows colleagues and other recipients who might use that information to easily find their way to your profile.
Who knows? One of your email recipients might end up being impressed with your content and decide to pass it on to someone they know, which could land you an opportunity later on down the line. You never know how things might play out.
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Add a LinkedIn “Follow” button on your business or personal website
One very simple way any working professional can let people know about their LinkedIn profile is simply to add a Follow button from the platform on your own personal or business website. This allows anyone who visits those sites know that you are available to connect with on LinkedIn.
This could help you find some connections you might not have thought about before, and who knows? Someone might be impressed with your website and reach out to you on LinkedIn in an attempt to discuss hiring you for your services.
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Optimize your LinkedIn page for good SEO
SEO isn’t just for your website – it can also come in handy to make sure people are seeing your LinkedIn profile. When you sign up to the platform for the first time, think about how you will present yourself on your page. How would you approach this for your website?
You should spend some time considering keywords relevant to your profession and ensure they are sprinkled throughout your profile to help search engines discover your page and present it in search results when someone searches for those relevant keywords.
You know how important and effective good SEO practices can be to easily be discovered online, so don’t forget to take those important methods and use them for your LinkedIn page as well. It might just help you find the connections you have been looking for.
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Use other social media platforms to your advantage
If you have a following on other social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or one of the several other platforms out there, take advantage of that following. Ask your followers to help you promote your LinkedIn page to the world.
A simple share can help get your page in front of potentially thousands of other eyes, so getting it shared and out into the world is paramount in ensuring you get more followers for your LinkedIn page.
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Take a close look at your competitors’ LinkedIn pages
Do you know of any successful competitors of yours who have found success on LinkedIn? If so, take a closer look at their personal profiles on the platform to get an idea of what they might be doing to garner more views and followers.
Do they seem to be taking a certain approach with SEO? How well do they engage with folks on their posts? All of these questions are important to figuring out how your competition might be finding their success.
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Use successful influencers to your advantage
Influencers online have gained quite the sway in the hearts of those who follow them, so if you have any connections with a social media influencer, think about taking advantage of that connection. Ask them if they can promote your LinkedIn page to their wide following, especially if your professional content is relevant in any way to the theme of the influencer’s page.
If you don’t know any influencers online personally, you could always take the other route to get yourself in front of an influencer’s audience – simply approach them and offer payment for some promotion.
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Engage with the people who comment on your content
This should come as a shock to absolutely no one on the internet, but when you engage with your audience, you are likely to find even more success. People love to have their favorite online figures interact with them on their favorite platforms, and LinkedIn is no different.
Pay close attention to the posts you make on the site, and read comments and reactions to it. If you have any comments, make sure you reply to them! Reaching out and engaging with the people who engage with your content will help show folks on the platform that you are responsive and engaging, and might help to grow your follower base on LinkedIn.
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Use LinkedIn’s “Follower Ad” option for advertising campaigns
There is a feature built right into LinkedIn that could help you gain very relevant followers if you choose to take advantage of it. Called Follower Ads, this allows you to target specific parameters set by you to find potential followers who might already be interested in the kinds of content you post on your LinkedIn profile.
Just set an advertising budget, adjust the campaign specifics, and you’re off to the races. If you have ever advertised on Facebook or Google, you will find the process to be much the same here.
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Don’t forget the hashtags
If you want to make sure your content gets discovered on LinkedIn, you want to make sure it can actually be found. Much like other social media platforms, many posts on LinkedIn are categorized by the hashtags that are relevant to the content of the post.
Look up hashtags relevant to your profession and use them on fitting occasions. You should try to use at least three relevant hashtags on each post. This can help you get discovered on LinkedIn much quicker and simpler, by people who are looking for the kind of content you post.
Helping You Make Connections
LinkedIn has grown over the years to establish itself as the leading professional networking site on the internet. Many working professionals do everything they can to get themselves seen on LinkedIn, whether they want to connect with like-minded people in their field or simply use their profile as a business card for potential employers to find and look at.
No matter how you plan to use your LinkedIn profile, making sure you have a good following on it will be able to be a huge help for you when the time comes. Take your professional success into your own hands and begin building your presence on LinkedIn. Hopefully, out of all of those new followers and engagement that you are working on every day, you will be able to find an opportunity that will suit you professionally or network with the perfect candidate for a job in your organization.
Whatever the case may be, you can find success on the platform by marketing yourself with some of the simple strategies outlined above. Good luck, and keep on building those connections as time goes on.
