8 items you must do otherwise on Linkedin in 2021

So appear, I really don’t have to have to notify you that Linkedin is an important portion of your experienced profile these days, do I? And, in a globe that proceeds (for now) to carry out enterprise remotely, Linkedin by requirement is a enormous section of the networking means you have proper now. The opportunity to connect with 20 million contacts in the Uk and numerous extra over and above, 24/7 (if you want!) … what is actually not to like! If you are starting out in utilizing Linkedin or have fixed to massively up your match this 12 months then I have you lined, I’ve already composed an epic post that tells you ALL you have to have to know to get started off and share information properly, test that out very first – I’ve kept updating it about time with new contemplating and to include thoughts men and women have asked and other guidelines

This post is for you persons who have by now engaged really very well on Linkedin. It’s continually modifying and below are 8 things I assume you ought to do otherwise this calendar year:

1. Share far more document (pdf) posts. I am undoubtedly heading to try and do this much more. The stats are distinct now: the algo acquired bored of images several years in the past, back links have hardly ever been appreciated and textual content-only posts no for a longer time score the best sights. Doc posts do. To achieve the premier achieve with your posts, publish good excellent doc posts. The very best structure is using some thing like PowerPoint, just a few slides will do. Docs will need to be visually interesting and not textual content-hefty. Don’t forget that they are likely to be seen on a cellular system. This is just not to say the other kinds should be avoided – everything has it is area and you can expect to certainly want to share links in some cases, but to use Linkedin perfectly you will need to concentration on what will get engagement and for now that is Files. Below is final year’s investigation that backs this up, but always try to remember there are no absolute guidelines when it comes to Linkedin.

2. Publish videos. Videos of you declaring stuff just like you would say it in man or woman. These can be genuinely refreshing and operate truly perfectly. Two tips: continue to keep them limited (< 1min), and try and add captions. Many people can’t listen to a video if they are in an office, travelling or don’t have headphones. These can be daunting to record and seem like a huge effort but often one or two takes is all it needs, the idea isn't to be perfect - in fact far from it. Something human and flawed is often much more relateable then picture-perfect manufactured corporate guff.

3. Encourage engagement on your posts and engage on others. You need your posts to get likes and especially comments within the first 24 hours of publishing in order for them to be seen. As a reminder, the Linkedin feed is algortihmic! Your posts do not automatically go out to all your connections, far from it. Most posts will die with just a small number of views. The algorithm will test your posts with a small “focus group” first, and if it gets good traction in terms of likes and comments it’ll go wide. Having a small network of colleagues who are willing to engage on your posts and send them the post once it is uploaded via the link, this really helps. But commenting is worth 2x a like, so get in the habit of commenting on your colleagues’ (and others) posts and perhaps they will comment on yours in return. Some Linkedin experts suggest a rule of thumb of making 3-5 comments for every post you put out yourself, many users get nowhere near that. It doesn’t have to be the most insightful comment ever, but like many things if you get in the habit of commenting you will start coming up with neat comments much more quickly. Oh and I do hope that no-one reading this is still pushing the “share” button, if you are, don’t. It’s the kiss of death to a post (as I desribe in my longer how-to piece on Linkedin). By far the better way to support a post is to comment.

4. Be more REAL, less promo. Yeah, we get it, part of the idea of Linkedin is to promote your firm and what you’re doing. But be smart about it, in today’s noisy. over-marketed world this can often be too obvious and will usually just get completely ignored. The number of posts I see that effectively say “here’s a link to a massive report, please read!” always surprises me, it’s a misunderstanding of how Linkedin works to think there is much value in this (engagement is what matters). These posts are more often than not a waste of time. Pick something interesting out to highlight, start a discussion or take a view. Work life has suddenly got a hell of a lot more “real” in the last year so this is a great opportunity to think about how you can change the tone and tenor of what you post on Linkedin. Weed out the waffle and corporate guff. Tell a story (for more tips on writing and telling stories I’ve got another post on that here). I’ve seen many people successfully change their tone to bcome more real over the last year. Try to mix in “value-add” posts – where you are telling people something useful or asking a good question – with personal posts with “check this out” promotional posts so you aren’t just constantly trying to push stuff out to an audience. Don’t rely on asking your audience to follow a link: deliver something valuable and interesting in the post itself ( do the work for them – what’s the key takeaway, the killer chart, or something that surprised you). Consider sharing things that are debateable – “could be argued either way” rather than just your most strident opinions as the former are usually a better forum for more productive engagement.

5. Use your Featured section on your profile. This is a great little way to keep your profile fresh. You can “feature” recent posts, articles or links that then get shown on your profile (see below) add a few of your popular posts and shuffle them every couple of weeks.

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6. Re-draft your “about” section. Ah, few things in life insprire as much fear, procrastination and handwringing as what to write in the Linkedin “about”. I get it, it IS hard. It’s existential – how can you possibly capture in a few words the fullness of your career, life and value-add to the world! Once this is finally written it’s usually saved away and never re-visited. But you should revisit this wording, I find the way we describe ourselves and the way we see our role and choose to describe it change over time, sometimes quite a lot. You might be an investment consultant but choose to describe yourself as “bringing my clients the best investment strategies” or “cutting through the noise” or “helping my clients make better decisions”. I typically find we all start out with far too much corporate guff in our descriptions, and over time we can take this out and ask the question – no what do I REALLY do. This is especially relevant right now given the more “human” face of work life coming to the fore in a remote work world. This gives a great opportunity to reset these outdated descriptions. Why not have your profile better reflecting how you are showing up these days rather than some description you wrote years ago or copy-pasted from a colleague?

7. Use publications within your experience section. I must admit I only discovered this recently. But there’s another cool new thing on your profile where you can add little tiles within each experience section of your profile with publications you’ve written (could be thought leadership pieces, documents, or even blogs). A pic of mine below if you’re not sure what this is.

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8. Refresh your bio pic! That thing called a tie … have you seen one of those recently?? How about a suit ? No, me neither. Personally I find the suited / booted professional images just grate these days given the remote work environment has made everything more informal. Let your profile pic reflect that! Ditch the stiff corporate mugshot and replace it with something more representative of your current professional profile. Make it look decent though – not hard at a all with a bit of effort (lighting, positioning etc). Portrait mode on new iphones can take more than good enough quality photos for this purpose. Why not have your Linkedin profile more accurately represent how you are showing up professionaly these days (remember, it’s YOUR profile, not your firm’s).

Well, I wanted to keep this short so I didn’t even get onto stories, that’s one for later. That’s it! Let me know your thoughts, questions, and anything you plan to do differently on Linkedin this year in the comments below (if you liked this post, like & comment, don’t bother sharing).