How has LinkedIn regained its popularity once more?
LinkedIn is seen as the resume platform for students and job seekers. LinkedIn has re-branded itself to appear more as a networking platform than a platform where you list your skills, experience, and accolades.
LinkedIn has positioned itself as a professional network through ads and other promotions rather than being a casual social networking website similar to Facebook or Twitter. Most of the audience (with a few exceptions) see LinkedIn as a professional space.
LinkedIn is more than a platform for finding a job. Yes, it does connect a job seeker to a recruiter but it is much more than that. Using LinkedIn you can also:
- Grow your following.
- Boost your influence.
- Generate more leads.
Based on my past experience, Facebook is a great platform to send traffic to your website. However, a lot of this traffic bounces. Twitter is also a platform that sends a good amount of traffic and there is some level of engagement for shared content.
LinkedIn by far has generated the most e-book downloads, and newsletter subscriptions. LinkedIn has outperformed all other social media platforms for micro-conversion events.
Although it may be a more expensive option for paid marketing as compared to other platforms, it is the place to be for B2B content marketers. The overall quality of a lead generated from LinkedIn is (in general) more than leads from other platforms.
Previously, when you logged in, to your LinkedIn account there were many spam messages in your inbox. However, recently, LinkedIn has improved. LinkedIn is a no non-sense platform. You will rarely find people fighting in the comments.
Instead, the comments on LinkedIn will have valuable insights. Content posted on LinkedIn is less likely to become controversial and it is a space to have genuine professional conversations. It is a lot more transparent. You develop your personal brand on the platform.
On Facebook, you can hide behind a profile picture. People do not use real photos or use cartoons. However, on LinkedIn, you know to a higher degree who you are interacting with.
Primary surfacing factors on LinkedIn
- The number of connections: When you post content on LinkedIn it is shown to your connections. The more the number of connections, the wider the reach of your content when shared on LinkedIn. You don’t want to open your inbox to spam but to some degree, having more connections definitely helps increase the reach of your content on LinkedIn.
- Engagement in content: How much time you spend on LinkedIn to engage in content posted by others on the platform, and how much others engage with the content you have shared on LinkedIn is a crucial factor. When you engage with content shared by others in your industry and when others from your industry interact with your content on LinkedIn the chances of your visibility in someone else’s timeline even if they are not your connection increase.
- Keywords: Include industry lingo in your title, experience, about, skills, and recommendations sections to improve the visibility of your profile. The LinkedIn search algorithm may not be as complex as Google however, it does match profiles based on keywords.
- Consistency: Publish new content approximately once a week on LinkedIn. Spend most of your time engaging with content from others on the platform. A genuine, professional comment on a post from someone in your industry is enough to get traction on your profile. If you are strapped for creating new content for LinkedIn start with commenting and engaging on other people’s profiles and set a goal to post fresh content once a week. Even if you have a few connections to start with, post content as it can grow exponentially.
10 Tips to optimize your LinkedIn profile
- Keep your headline short and specific.
- Include your main focus skill in your headline.
- Include a professional photo to encourage image clicks.
- Make it easy for people to learn more about you.
- Add an introduction video for profile visitors to establish a human connection.
- Fill out the experience section and include key skills/search terms to be more easily found.
- Be sure to regularly update your skills and endorsements sections.
- Include projects and volunteering experiences (if applicable).
- Showcase recommendations from clients and peers to boost the trust factor.
- Take LinkedIn skills assessment tests to showcase trust badges on your profile for your essential skills.