The Top 5 LinkedIn Features You Should Focus On In 2021 For Success!

LinkedIn was established in 2003 as a platform where you could house your resume and network with work colleagues online. It may not be as big as other social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter but it has shown consistent growth over the years. With the additional enhancements that have been made it has evolved into excellent career and business networking resource

Here are some of the best LinkedIn features that you should be using right now:

LinkedIn Headline

The headline serves the same purpose as the headline of any ordinary advertisement, to grab the attention of the reader. If you don’t set a headline your job title will be used as a default. This won’t really make your profile stand out now will it? Take time to craft a headline that is short, punchy, and enticing enough for people to want to click ‘read more’ to find out more about you.

Make the headline about the skills you have or the services you offer and how they will be a benefit to the reader. Tell people what you are able to do for them. Be sure to use keywords in your headline so that your listing shows up in the search results. This can make writing the 120-character headline a bit of a challenge but with a little bit of time, effort, and some inspiration from other people’s headlines you’re sure to come up with something that captures the essence of what you do.

This post on the LinkedIn blog “How to Turn Your LinkedIn Headline from Blah to Memorable” has some great tips.

LinkedIn Groups

Generally, people spend most of their time sending requests and responding to requests for connections. You will find that spending time finding relevant groups and engaging in them will be time well spent. Groups are a powerful and under-utilised LinkedIn feature.

You can use groups to share information with tens of thousands of people. In an infographic prepared by Brandon Gaille it shows that most LinkedIn members have less that 500 1st-level connections which means that they can only reach a few hundred people when posting to their network. In Craig Smith’s “By the Numbers: 100 Amazing LinkedIn Statistics,” it shows that people belong to an average of 7 groups but can belong to up to 50. This means that groups are an under-utilised resource and people can use them far more effectively and reach thousands more people.

Groups are also great places to form work or industry connections online, connect with like-minded individuals, and influencers in your area of expertise. They’re an excellent tool for building your network. It’s like having access to a whole lot of professional associations without geographic or economic boundaries. You can use them to find staff, suppliers, partners and prospective clients.

The key to getting groups to work for you is putting in the time and effort to engage, listen, contribute, learn, and nurture relationships.

LinkedIn Multimedia

You can integrate images, video and documents into your profiles. This is another one of LinkedIn features that statistics show is underused. In this day and age an image, and more so a video, elicits far more response than words.

Visuals impact us cognitively by expanding communication levels and thus improving comprehension. Emotionally, our imaginations are stimulated by visuals which, again, improves comprehension and understanding. By putting images and videos into your summary and experiences section on LinkedIn you will liven up your profile and are more likely to catch someone’s eye. The fact that there aren’t many people using this feature is an added benefit because it’ll mean that you’ll definitely stand out from the crowd.

When sharing posts and updates, always include a stand-out image or video explaining your post content. LinkedIn Live video is now being used by tens of thousands of people worldwide so if you are going to use this feature - make sure you have something authentic, educational and helpful to say!

LinkedIn Endorsements

The visual representation of LinkedIn endorsements is tremendous and definitely have an impact on viewers perceptions. Luckily, this LinkedIn feature allows you control over which skills people can endorse you for. Be sure to choose skills relevant to your current or desired career path instead of looking like a jack of all trades. Delete any endorsements that don’t suit your current needs.

Giving endorsements is an excellent way to build relationships and acknowledge your peers. LinkedIn often sends out messages suggesting you give an endorsement and you should be careful of randomly following up on the suggestion just for the sake of doing so. You should never give an endorsement if you don’t really know what level of expertise the person has in a particular skill. When you do give an endorsement make sure it’s timely and personal. This has far more value, will nurture relationships. Giving a ‘false’ endorsement could also backfire on your perceived integrity being questioned or, worse still, someone hiring another person who isn’t actually that skilled because you have endorsed them.

Your basic rule of thumb for LinkedIn endorsements is to make sure they are genuine.

LinkedIn Headshot

Globally more and more people are working together without ever meeting in the flesh. People are increasingly being recruited online, working in teams online, and getting to know one another online. Your headshot is the picture that they will see of you most and being a visual it will, as mentioned previously, have an impact on their perception of you. So, it is really worthwhile to make sure you have a professional and engaging photo of yourself.

You should make sure that 80% of the photograph is your face. People want to see you. A full-length image is too small to actually see your face. Don’t wear sunglasses. Think about your headshot being the first image people will see of you and remember what they say about how much first impressions count. Face forward or look to the left so that when you upload the pic you will either be looking at the people or into the page.

These are five of the LinkedIn features you should be using right now. They apply to both your personal profile and your business page. And, because so few people do utilise these features, you’ll find a marked increase in the interest in you and your business by simply paying attention to these five things. 

Scott Jones is the CEO of 123 Internet Group, a full service digital marketing agency with a head office in Milton Keynes and further locations in Northampton and London we support a national audience with web design and development, search engine marketing, social media management, hosting and email services.

For more information about our services or advice on how to improve your online marketing activities please reach out and connect with us via our website or our social media channels.