How to Grow Your LinkedIn

During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, there’s been a dramatic increase in LinkedIn accounts made. As of 2021, there are over 722 million users worldwide. While more people means more competition, it can also provide an opportunity for more growth.

Networking is one of the best ways to promote yourself on LinkedIn. With more LinkedIn users, you have to find ways to engage with them. Branding yourself, networking, and engaging with your audience are some of the best ways to grow your LinkedIn.

Brand Yourself

Your first step should start with how you want to be portrayed on LinkedIn. The moment you signed up for LinkedIn, you also became a marketer. Recruiters don’t just read your resume; they read your posts too. They give you the chance to define who you are beyond your profile.

Here are some tips to branding yourself on LinkedIn:

• Add a close picture of yourself. Your face should take up at least 60% of the picture.
• Change your profile banner into something more personalized. Pictures of cities or skies don’t show who you are. Make it centered on what you do.
• Display certifications from LinkedIn or online courses. If you earned any achievements through online courses, make sure to promote them on your profile.
• Optimize your LinkedIn summary to a story. You want to prove that you’re a human by talking about yourself in the first person. Recruiters will get to know you more personally if you do this.
• Use buzzwords. Don’t overuse common buzzwords like ‘certified’ and ‘innovative.’ Look for common keywords recruiters use to search for people in your profession. Then, try to apply it to yourself.
• List relevant skills. LinkedIn gives you the option to add skills, and this is the easiest way to compile a list of what truly defines you. Recruiters do give this section a heavy look.

Networking

LinkedIn is a professional networking site above all else. This means that you have many chances to network with coworkers, bosses, or other professionals. Other than directly messaging professionals on LinkedIn, there are also alternative methods to network:

• Follow industry leaders. You can engage with the posts of industry professionals by commenting and making yourself visible to other like-minded people.
• Join LinkedIn groups. Like Facebook, there are professional groups on LinkedIn aimed at niche industries or hobbies. This gives you the opportunity to network with professionals in the same field as you.
• Make your own posts. Generating your own content will lead to increased visibility in the algorithm if you do it right.
• Request recommendations. By having personal testimonials, recruiters and other professionals who view your profile will likely reach out to connect.

Engaging Your Audience

After branding yourself and building a network, you’d want to focus your attention on making posts on LinkedIn. This helps to continue your branding and networking with other included benefits. Before making posts, you want to think about what type of content you want to create. Long-form? Short-form? Personal experiences? Sharing articles and posting thoughts?

You can make a mix of different posts to see what type of posts do well. After all, LinkedIn provides personal analytics on each post. Use this feature to figure out what works well with the type of audience you’re trying to target.

Here are some statistics about LinkedIn that can change the way you engage your audience:

• Roughly 57% of LinkedIn users are male.
• The best times to post are 7am to 9am and 5pm to 6pm.
• The average LinkedIn use time is 7 minutes and 17 seconds.
• 60% of LinkedIn users are between the ages of 25 through 34 years.
• 75% of LinkedIn users are outside the U.S., but most users are from the U.S. (176 million).

We hope that you apply these tips to your brand! Be creative and use these tips to grow your LinkedIn!

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