Stop Ignoring LinkedIn

LinkedIn is currently one of the most underrated platforms that exists today. Most people are under the assumption that LinkedIn is a job-search platform — they’ve created a profile years ago and haven’t touched it since, except to update job title or employer. 

But today, the platform can be used for so much more. 

To understand why LinkedIn can be so powerful, let’s talk about personal brand. 

Building a personal brand can benefit you, whether you’re an entrepreneur or a sales associate at a Fortune 500. A personal brand can help you start your own business, and change your life. A personal brand can decrease turnover rate, saving your company thousands of dollars. A personal brand can help you transition from a small company, to your dream job at a leading global enterprise. 

A personal brand isn’t just for influencers, entrepreneurs or CEO’s — a personal brand is for everyone. It’s arguably the biggest asset, or 'insurance policy,’ you can have today. A personal brand stays with you through every position, employer and industry.

Right now, LinkedIn is one of the best places to build a personal brand because of how easy it is to grow your audience and reach the right people. 

LinkedIn allows you to reach key decision makers among your target audience, either by directly connecting with this person, or creating content that this person is likely to seek and consume.

The platform is so underdeveloped that you don’t even need to be writing articles or posts to build up a presence. You can simply comment on other users’ posts with your insights/opinions and you’ll start seeing results.

With over 600 million users worldwide, LinkedIn is the largest professional network that exists today. While the platform was launched in 2003, it was not until late 2016, after Microsoft purchased the company, that the platform started to develop into a content ecosystem. 

As we near the end of 2019, LinkedIn is still growing — think of it as Facebook or Instagram five years ago. Which means, now is the best time to start creating content and becoming active on LinkedIn. 

Now is the best time to start experimenting with what works for you. 

Now is the best time build strong relationships with active users, which you’ll be able to leverage in the future when you launch a campaign, new product, switch jobs, or even start your own business. 

If you’re unsure how LinkedIn can work for you, here are a few examples;

About you: You’re an entrepreneur, just starting your own company, you sell vegan soaps. 

How LinkedIn can help: You begin sharing information about your journey as an entrepreneur and why you feel it is so important to be producing and consuming products that are vegan. You share a few posts per week, and comment on relevant articles or links other people are sharing. 

There is a conference being held in Berlin on sustainability and eco-friendly brands, the organizer has seen your content on LinkedIn and reaches out to you asking you to speak at the event. 

The PR and media at the conference cover you and your brand, driving thousands of customers to your website and ecommerce platform, boosting sales and giving you enough resources to take your business to the next level. 

About you: You’re an account executive at a SaaS company 

 How LinkedIn can help: You consistently share the most common problems you see your clients facing and share solutions — not necessarily directly related to your product, but solutions and resources that can help your target audience troubleshoot, or solve problems on their own. 

People begin to follow you and inquire about your services, you direct them to the company website, or set up a call together with your sales team. Soon, you’re bringing direct traffic from your personal LinkedIn to the company… this makes your boss pretty happy, and you get a promotion! 

About you: You’re the CFO at a Fortune 500 company 

How LinkedIn can help: You share ‘teachable’ moments throughout your career that have made you a better leader. Your posts are relatable, authentic and easy to consume. In addition to these anecdotes, you also share relevant reports and analysis of industry trends. Many of your posts are re-shared as inspirational or valued insights. Your company begins to see a boost in applicants, as well as drop in turnover rate within your department, saving your company hundreds of thousands in costs. 

Getting started

Even if I’ve convinced you that LinkedIn is no longer just a job-search platform, and that it can actually change your life in terms of position, salary, career, you’re probably still thinking of at least one, or many of these excuses; 

I don’t even know where to start 

I don’t have anything interesting to say 

I’m not an expert 

I don’t have time

If you don’t know where to start: 

You have to start somewhere!

What are you interested in or passionate about?

What problems do you encounter and how do you solve them? 

What are trends you have noticed in your industry? 

What is an interesting article you read and why? 

If you don’t think you have anything interesting to say: 

You’re not trying to speak to everyone — you’re trying to speak to the right people. 

I can guarantee each and every person has had an experience, solved a problem, overcome a challenge, had a dream that can bring value to at least one other person — and if it can bring value to at least one other person, it is worth sharing. 

Only when you start sharing your experience, and knowledge can you understand what your audience finds interesting and what they don’t! 

If you’re not an expert: 

You don’t need to be an expert to share your knowledge. 

Document your journey to becoming an expert, share what you learn, ask questions, share information, summarize research. Take other people with you on your journey. 

Don’t pretend to be an expert, be honest about what you know, and open about what you don’t. Clarify between your opinion, and fact. 

If you don’t have time: 

Break it up into small, manageable time slots at first. 

Take 10 minutes on Tuesday to find a relevant post and comment on it. 

Take 15 minutes on Wednesday to share three takeaways from an article you read. 

Take 10 minutes on Friday to connect with 3 people in your industry, write them a short message introducing yourself (this does NOT mean pitching your services/product). 

If you’re still not convinced, or are looking for more tips on how to use LinkedIn, here are a few great resources; 

Podcasts on building a personal brand: 

Jessica Zweig

Podcast on why you should use LinkedIn: 

Brittany Krystle 

People to follow on LinkedIn for tips on how & why to use the platform; 

Gary Vaynerchuk

Michaela Alexis 

I help brands and individuals build community & influence, generate leads, and drive business by creating content for today's most powerful social media channels. If this article sparked your curiosity check out my other articles or drop me a message to chat!

Why You Should Be Creating Content on LinkedIn