LinkedIn is one of the largest business-oriented platforms out there and provides several opportunities to people who want to grow their business and find work.
But growing a network on LinkedIn isn’t simple.
That’s exactly why we’re here.
Today, we’ll discuss 5 powerful ways to grow your LinkedIn profile.
Complete and Keyword Optimise Your Profile
This goes without saying that whichever social platform you use the first step is to complete your profile.
But most people don’t take this seriously and leave necessary information, rendering themselves untrustworthy.
LinkedIn is where you connect with potential business prospects or find relevant work based on your skills.
Hence, an incomplete profile delivers a negative message to the people considering connecting with you.
You must fill in all the information against the required fields. Here’re some tips to help you:
- Upload a professional-looking display picture.
- Don’t forget to add a background image that contrasts with your profile photo.
- Attach all your active certifications.
- Draft an attention-grabbing headline.
- Add your education and current contact details.
- Try to tell a story through the about section.
Now, what do I mean by keyword optimising your profile?
LinkedIn search results are based on keywords. Hence, including keywords in your profile increases your chances of showing up in the results page.
Plan Your Journey
Plan your entire journey before staring on the platform.
This’s important because most people get overwhelmed by the idea of acquiring lots of connections when they’re just starting out.
It’s a common occurring which you can avoid by proper planning.
A good practice is set short term, mid-term, and long-term realistic goals.
For example, your short-term goal could be to gain 20 connections in the first month, mid-term goal could be to expand your network to 200 connections in the next 5 months and long-term goal could include a target of 500 connections by next year that time.
This’ll help you simplify things and achieving each goal will give you the confidence to work harder for the next one.
You can use this strategy to plan your content, promotion campaigns, and marketing goals.
Publish Engaging Content
Engaging content means more connections.
Your content speaks volumes about you and your skills. When you publish quality content that helps your audience, they’ll be happy to engage with it.
Also, if people outside your network find your content valuable, they might invite you to add them to your connections list.
Let’s discuss how you can create quality content.
- Post videos directly to LinkedIn.
- Include at least one link in your posts.
- Use an image in everything you post.
- Publish articles on relevant topics.
- Share infographics.
- Always include a call-to-action in your posts.
Find the Best Connections
Connections are huge in LinkedIn.
In fact: keyword-optimised profiles with at least 500 connections rank higher in the search results.
The strength of your network depends on the number of relevant connections you have.
Let’s discuss some ways you can find quality connections.
- Use the LinkedIn search box to find people, jobs, groups and companies related to your keyword.
- Explore the “People you may know” section to find LinkedIn suggested profiles.
- LinkedIn displays all profiles who visit your profile. Hence, you can send them requests.
- Take advantage of your professional and personal contacts by connecting with them.
- Go through the connections list of your connections to find more relevant profiles.
Craft Your Letter
After finding a relevant profile, don’t just tap on the “connect” button because this’ll send a general message. And people scrolling through hundreds of requests may not notice your message.
To avoid this tap on their profile and click on the connect button, this’ll open a blank box where you can type in a personalised note. By doing this, your message will stand out from others and people reading it will appreciate your efforts. They might even accept your request.
Promote Your Profile
All that is left is to promote your profile. Here’re some ways you can do this.
- Add your profile URL in the bio section of your other social media handles.
- Include your account address in your email newsletters.
- Leverage your website traffic by adding the LinkedIn icon.
- Join relevant LinkedIn and Facebook groups to promote your profile.
Conclusion
Now, you know 6 powerful ways to grow your LinkedIn profile. You can use these tips to set realistic goals, create engaging content, find relevant connections and promote your profile.
