It's not too late to start.

As an engineer, surveyor, geomaticien, or any qualified profile, your knowledge and experience are valuable assets. But why should you share it online? And how can you do it effectively? In this article, I'll give good reasons to share what you master online, the best ways to do it, and some top tips for sharing content on LinkedIn. While this article is helpful for everyone, I've made it, especially for those in the geomatics field. Since there's not much content out there for geomatics, it's a great chance for professionals in this area to share and stand out.

"None of us is as smart as all of us." - Ken Blanchard

I. Why share online?

There are many reasons to make yourself visible online, whether it's for money, personal growth, creating memories, or inspiring others. Before I summarize the main reasons to convince you to be active online, especially on LinkedIn, let me share my own story. When I first joined LinkedIn, I didn't want to be just a consumer, scrolling through to read about other people's work and experiences. But I always hesitated for a lot of wrong reasons. It wasn't until 2021, when I faced death up close, that I thought, "If I go, everything goes with me. What value will I have added to the world?" Like me, there are many people, perhaps even the majority, who keep their knowledge to themselves. It's like a unique book that gets burned, a keepsake destroyed in vain. That's when I decided to share more on LinkedIn, and I invite you to do the same.

Whether your goal is to make money or not (like me), you'll at least find satisfaction and contribute to our collective memory. So that's my story. If you're still not convinced, here are some more reasons:

1. Building a Collective Mind: By sharing your experiences, you contribute to the collective knowledge of your field. Your successes and failures can serve as valuable lessons for your peers, helping them progress in their careers.
2. Guiding Novices: Beginner engineers need insightful guidance. Your shared experiences can steer them through the intricacies of their professional journey, accelerating their growth and strengthening their sense of community.
3. Monetizing Your Skills: Your specific skills can be monetized. Whether by creating online courses or sharing content on social media, you can transform your expertise into a sustainable income source.
4. Establishing yourself as a thought leader: Sharing high-quality, informative, and engaging content on LinkedIn positions you as an expert in your field. This can lead to increased visibility, credibility, and trust among your peers, potential clients, and employers.
5. Building a strong network: When you share content on LinkedIn, you are not only sharing information, but you are also starting conversations. By engaging with others who comment on or share your posts, you can build strong relationships with people who share your interests and goals. In short, you're building a high-quality network. Your network is your net worth.
6. Increasing brand awareness: Sharing content on LinkedIn is a great way to get your brand in front of a wider audience. When you post regularly, your connections will start to see your name and logo more often, which can help to increase brand awareness.
7. Improving your writing and communication skills: The more you write, the better you become at it. By sharing content on LinkedIn, you are forcing yourself to write clear, concise, and engaging copy. This can help you to improve your writing skills in general, which can be beneficial in both your personal and professional life.
8. Creating a Digital Portfolio: Sharing content online, especially on platforms like LinkedIn, can serve as a digital portfolio. This can be beneficial when seeking new opportunities or collaborations.

In short, sharing content on LinkedIn is important because it can help you achieve a variety of personal and professional goals. By sharing high-quality content on a regular basis, you can make money, establish yourself as a thought leader, build a strong network, generate leads, increase brand awareness, stay up-to-date on industry trends, attract new job opportunities, contribute to your company's social media presence, improve your writing and communication skills, learn from others, and give back to the community.

II. What to share?

You probably have a lot to share, like your experiences, your educational journey, your struggles, your knowledge, or even your daily life. The problem with highly qualified profiles is that they often think they don't know enough about a subject to talk about. That's not true. The you from six months ago will always have something to learn from the you of today. If you have no idea what to share, let me tell you that the post you're reading right now is an example of a topic you could create. But to give you some quick ideas, here are a few types of content that are commonly created on LinkedIn:

• Write Articles or Blogs: Share your thoughts and ideas about your area of expertise.
• Create Videos: Explain technical concepts or provide advice through informative videos.
• Record Podcasts: Discuss your journey and experiences to establish an authentic connection with your audience.
• Develop Online Courses: Share your knowledge with other engineers through structured and interactive courses.

III. My best practices when sharing online.

A disappointed user is much worse than one who just wasn't interested.

1. Ensure accuracy: Before posting, double-check your facts and figures. Misinformation can harm your credibility and mislead your audience.
2. Be mindful of copyright: If you're referencing data, studies, or quoting someone, always give credit. This not only validates your content but also respects the original creators.
3. Use Visuals: A picture is worth a thousand words. Incorporate relevant images, infographics, or diagrams to make your content more engaging and to break up long text.
4. Maintain Consistency: If you're sharing regularly, try to maintain a consistent tone, style, and posting schedule. This helps in building a loyal audience.

Concretely.

I dream of a LinkedIn feed where the first 10 posts are all about geomatics, which is why I'm willing to help you (in my free time, of course). So, to get started today, don't aim to post every day, but do aim to post regularly. From my experience, the days when you'll get the most interaction are workdays, mainly Tuesdays and Thursdays. I generally try to write my article ideas over the weekend and schedule them for Tuesday morning, like the article you're reading right now. Below, I've written some tips for you on how to get more interaction if that's your goal:

Usually, you'll start your post with a hook so that the reader clicks on "read more." So, it's better to start your post with:

• Show proof of work (I read/analyzed/signed/created…)
• Emphasize the benefit (“how to achieve X…”)
• Emphasize the pain point ("…without having to Y.")
• Suggest originality ("underrated", “ignored”, “underappreciated”, “lesser known”)
• Add just a little controversy ("most people do X and are wrong")

Then, in the body of the article, try to use short sentences and create a story to ensure smooth reading:

• Shorten your sentences
• Space out your copy/skip lines
• Use “you” instead of “I" ("how you can" > “how I achieved”)

If your goal is clear, you'll need to include a call to action at the end of the post, for example, asking the reader to:

• Follow you
• Turn on notifications for your next posts (quite trendy amongst large LinkedIn accounts)
• Like or reply to the post
• Visit your profile

Inspiration.

So finally, I invite you to fill out the form if you're interested in teaching and monetizing your knowledge, or if you just want to start contributing to the collective work, or even make money by posting.

I'll leave you with one of my best inspirations on this social network, someone I've only recently started following.

Matt Barker article about his life-changing LinkedIn story