Continuing our series on how to get noticed on LinkedIn, we go beyond the profile and into the news feed. Your profile page looks great from top to bottom. You’ve got a good looking head shot, you’ve got a memorable headline, you’ve even got all sorts of media built into your summary and experience. Now it’s time to make some noise.
And the best way to do that is to engage in some content marketing. You’re building your professional brand here, so you need to get your name, face, and voice in front of more recruiters and employers. Remember that LinkedIn is a search engine and it relies on algorithms to display results. You’re already playing the SEO game by using keywords to ensure search engine optimization. Now it’s time to play the numbers game. The more active you are, the more times you show up in other people’s feeds. And you don’t want to do that by changing your profile pic or one line in your summary every week.
You do it with content marketing, but let’s start with content curating. What am I talking about here? I’m talking about engaging in an activity you probably do every single day on that other social network…you know, the f-word. If you’re like most people, you probably spend about 45 minutes per day browsing your Facebook feed. Some of you even more than that. I’m looking at you, Ashley.
But besides looking at pictures of cute, little Pugs and Corgis and taking the latest BuzzFeed quiz, you probably spend a fair amount of time building your personal brand. Maybe you don’t call it that, but that’s what you’re doing. You’re letting the whole world know exactly who you are. When you see something that interests you, you instinctively “like it.” If you feel you have something to say, you comment on it, and if you’re really passionate, you share it with others.
So what if you took just 15 minutes of your day to do the same thing building your professional brand. Carve out just a little time each day to promote yourself to recruiters and employers. Let them know what interests you, what motivates you, what drives you to be your best. Believe it or not, it’s pretty easy to do. Just read a few articles and posts directly from your news feed. When you find one you really like, click or tap that thumb and like it or “react” to it with a handclap, lightbulb, etc. If you have the nerve or the ambition, go ahead and make a comment. If you do make a comment, it’s a great way to initiate a connection request. And finally, you can share the content directly into your feed with your own comment introducing that post. That is content curation. And it’s an easy activity that gets your voice heard in your network and your network’s network.
The important thing is that you join the conversation in some way. Like, comment, or share; it’s all good. The more you interact with the items in your feed, the more you’ll get noticed. Now, once you’ve got a few dozen likes and comments under your belt, you can move on to bolder communication tactics. I’m talking about writing your first post. This is a big step, and it’s not for everyone. But if you feel you have the writing chops and you’ve got something to say, click that “Start a post” button and tell the world what’s on your mind. That kind of action will really get people’s attention. And if you are really feeling it today, go ahead and click that “Write an article” button. Writing your own article shows initiative and competence well beyond the average, or even above average, LinkedIn user. Writing original material is one of the surest ways to get noticed and remembered.
Next time, we will consider the importance of gathering recommendations from colleagues.
Until then, just remember, if you want to be heard, you must join the conversation.
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