24 LinkedIn Hacks for 2017

Andy Foote recently posed a question:

Calling all LinkedIn Grand Maesters! = What are your fave LinkedIn HACKS for 2017? What tricks/work-arounds do you use regularly today?

I had nothing to offer but jumped into the discussion openly admitting the same and tagging along hoping to garner some insights. Andy graciously accepted me into the long and growing “peloton” of his followers. For me, the insight and comments have been invaluable. To pay it forward, I have curated this summary with a few additions I discovered while researching.

The link to Andy’s original post is in the first comment.

1. Like and comment on a conversation just be kept informed of progress. This article is the outcome of that for me!
2. To find out who is following you on LinkedIn, click the 3 dots at top right of any post in your homepage feed (Like this one!), click "improve feed", then click on the number followers near the top left of the page.
3. On your personal account (not company page) Putting any links from your posts in the comments will boost the posts visibility. LinkedIn penalises you if they're in the body (as they'll be potentially taking users off their site), so leave them as the first comment instead. Your post will get shown to a smaller audience, compared to the same posts with no links. LinkedIn's algorithm has a big preference for text-based posts, which is why a lot of posts you see go viral on LinkedIn are stories written with compelling copy.
4. Split test your posts. Select a few “hacks” and try the post with them and without them. You will be able to get a sense of the impact of the hack.
5. One of the latest algorithm hacks seems to be putting out a request for recommendations in a particular field. They are not asking for introductions... they are posting to the effect of " I am looking for someone who can manage my social media, can any of my connections recommend anyone?" This then leads to people commenting and tagging others who then comment and this activity spreads the post, increases views and affects the algorithm. The response can be huge for the post author, some getting around 27,000 views. They then follow up with a post about their services in the hope that the previous request post has triggered the algorithm to give them extended reach with the follow up post. A bit of a click bait approach to advantage the posting account and increase their reach for future posts. “As a side note, I have never seen any of these posters replying to comments let alone get in touch with those recommended! A bit of a one-way street and an abuse of the spirit of LinkedIn in my opinion.”
6. If you want to be taggable in comments when you're not connected with the author/others you must be a paid LinkedIn member.
7. Anytime you have what seems to be a feature missing or odd date from LinkedIn, clean your browser cache. Full caches can clog up LinkedIn
8. If you use InMail, I have started flat out asking at the end of an InMail message for any response even a canned one . My response rate went up 30% and the quality of my responses got better.
9. If you don't have InMail, the free group message hack is still out there. Use it to send free messages to fellow group members... Find someone you want to connect with, check and see what groups they are in, if you share a group in common, then you can message that person directly without being connected to them ; Go to a group you share with someone. Click the number of members in the group, a search filed will pop up. Enter the person's name and envelope will show beside the name. Cluck on the envelop and send a message. Repeat up to 15 x a month.
10. Mention / tag some of your contacts in your status updates to beat the algorithm and get more views. Be careful, it could be a double edged sword – “was just chatting with a LinkedIn trainer pal and she's getting spammed by tagging, content that doesn't interest her and isn't relevant.” Mind you tag with caution and different people.
11. Automate profile visits but follow up with personalized message. There are several tools available for this.
12. Export your connections on LinkedIn and then import the email addresses into Facebook to create a Facebook Audience or list . This audience is made up of the people who used the same email address when creating their LinkedIn and Facebook account. “Normally I get around a 50% match when doing this.” Now you can promote my content to my connections on Facebook where they are most definitely spending much more time then on LinkedIn.
13. It's not just 2017 ... Engage more than you post ... Conversations make the best content ??
14. You are reading an author and you quickly want to know the reach he/she is getting. Paste: https://www.dhirubhai.net/today/author/LI PROFILE/ where "LI PROFILE" is replaced by the author's LinkedIn profile. This will instantly take you to the page which shows all the articles that the author has written.
15. You are viewing a profile & you want to know how active the person has been on LinkedIn & you don't see the any articles/posts. Paste "recent-activity" in the profiles url, right after the last /. This will take you instantly to the: articles, posts, and all activities tabs.
16. You are researching some keywords & you want to find similar ones. Go to https://www.dhirubhai.net/directory/topics/ and search on topics. (Only the hyperlinks for topic name work, right now. The others have been eliminated.) LinkedIn has created a world of information here, especially on certain topics, which you might useful, people, articles and other skill tags. See for example this: https://www.dhirubhai.net/topic/franchise-sales Especially revealing are skills with are attached to courses.
17. My favourite new LinkedIn feature is #hashtags in Posts and Comments. A great way to follow threads and topics, and use in the Search bar. #LinkedIn #LinkedInTip #hashtag I also used #linkedinhacks
18. Post a long article, followed by a short post without a link (this is critical) and as soon as your short post gets 500 views, insert the link to your long post. After 500 views the short post goes for a ride on its own and takes the long post with it. Almost like a tugboat pulling a large ship into the sea. Take advantage of this tip and ride the Linkedin Ocean.I shared this tip on Linkedin yesterday and its got 11K reads so far, including 120 reads from Linkedin employees, so I am not sure if this loophole will last longer, so take advantage of it while it lasts
19. Stop using linkedin and free up the time to connect in person... staring at a smartphone screen does not make you a better person nor connector – yes I know, hardly a linked in hack but quite good advice if you don’t do much of the personal one on one’s!
20. You can add anyone on linked in through mobile searching on your app, with the "+" sign, while on a desktop you have to know their email address or choose some way of how you know them. “In my opinion, this is a mistake on LinkedIn's part but it's also a hidden gem I've found to help make connections for future job opportunities.” granted you know what to say to the right people after connecting, and always be closing = ABC be brief and to the point.
21. Edit your professional headline on mobile for extra characters. On desktop you'll be restricted to 120 characters, but if you edit it on the mobile app, you'll get an extra 100 characters!
22. Use a unique hashtag, so when people click on it, they solely find your posts!
23. A very useful feature is the export from https://www.dhirubhai.net/psettings/member-data - lets you have an list of your contacts and their email addresses, copy of your inmail and so forth.
24. Send free messages in three simple steps

•  Step #1 Find the Right Groups
• Step #2 Use “Search Groups” to Find Your Prospects
• Step #3 Message Your Prospects (For FREE!)

i.   Here you can click the message icon next to their profile in the search or

ii.  Find where your target contact has posted or commented in the group and use the three buttons to the right hand side to “Reply Privately”

And here is the link to the original post output from Andy: https://www.linkedinsights.com/18-enormously-useful-linkedin-hacks-2017/

?