LinkedIn recently reached a huge milestone––one billion users worldwide. If you’ve noticed LinkedIn is getting a lot more traction recently, you’re not alone. As many users have moved away from other platforms such as X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook, they are gravitating more toward LinkedIn. But there’s more to LinkedIn than just having a profile. And LinkedIn has been adding and changing platform features at a rapid pace. If you haven’t paid much attention to LinkedIn recently, now might be a good time to take another look at how you can maximize this increasingly important platform.
If you write articles or blog posts, present CLE programs, draft client alerts, do presentations for clients or create video or graphics to promote your firm or your practice, you are a content creator. And all that content can be repurposed to help you reach your target audience on LinkedIn.
If you are a regular content creator, you may consider switching your Profile to LinkedIn’s Creator Mode, which puts the focus on the content you create and increases its visibility. LinkedIn recognizes that users who want to consume your content may not know you personally or be able to connect with you immediately, so turning on Creator Mode will change the default button on your Profile from Connect to Follow. (Connect will still be an available option under the More tab on your Profile.) And instead of displaying the number of connections you have, LinkedIn will display the number of followers.
Creator Mode also changes the way your Profile is displayed to other LinkedIn users to showcase the content that you create. Underneath your introduction card, which contains your photo, headline, and other basic information, in Creator Mode, LinkedIn will display the Activity and Featured sections of your Profile before your About section, which would typically appear directly underneath the introduction card.
In Creator Mode, you can add a link in your introduction card to help drive traffic to your external blog, website, event, or a chosen landing page, and you can add hashtags to your About section so visitors to your profile can easily follow the topics you create content about. Your Activity section will also no longer show reactions, comments, or other activities by default on your Profile, keeping the focus on your posts. (Your other activity will still be available to view if users click to see all your activity.)
Creator Mode and some of the other tools mentioned below are only available to LinkedIn users who meet specific criteria. To turn on Creator Mode, you must be in good standing with LinkedIn, have more than 150 followers and/or connections and have recently shared some original content on LinkedIn.
Another tool for content creators is LinkedIn Live, which allows you to broadcast live video content on your LinkedIn Profile, Page, or Event. If you are eligible for LinkedIn Live, when you create a LinkedIn Event, LinkedIn Live will appear as an option under the format for your Event. You can use a third-party broadcast tool such as Vimeo or StreamYard to stream your video by connecting it to LinkedIn or use a custom (RTMP) stream for more advanced broadcasters.
All LinkedIn Live events are public and will be recorded. After a stream is complete, it will remain on your LinkedIn feed as a “previously recorded live” video. According to LinkedIn, going live results in 24 times more comments and 7 times more reactions than posting a pre-recorded video.
If you’re camera shy, LinkedIn Audio Events may be a more attractive option. LinkedIn Audio Events are live audio broadcasts that can be posted from your Profile or from eligible Pages. They are public and interactive, which means that any LinkedIn member can ask questions or interact with you during the event. Unlike LinkedIn Live, Audio Events are not recorded and cannot be replayed later.
Prefer writing to speaking? LinkedIn’s Publisher platform and Newsletter features may be more your style. Clicking on “Write an article” from the post box at the top of your LinkedIn home page brings you to LinkedIn’s Publisher tool. The tool works like any other word processor, but you can also write your article using another tool and then paste it into Publisher. Adding a header image, using subheads and bullets or lists can help make your article more attractive and easier to read. You can also add other images, links, snippets or embed content (such as a YouTube video) into your articles.
Once your article is published, it can be seen on your Profile under your Activity. Your article will have its own unique URL, making it easy to promote throughout LinkedIn, and if your profile is set to public, your articles will be searchable both on and off LinkedIn. Because LinkedIn is such a large platform, your articles may have more reach on LinkedIn than they do on your own website.
If you’ve written an article for your own website or for another publication, you might consider summarizing the main points of the article or posting the beginning of the article on LinkedIn and adding a “read more” link to the article to drive traffic to the original article on your website.
If you write frequently and consistently, LinkedIn Newsletters can help you get even more traction from your articles. Newsletters allow you to publish a newsletter through LinkedIn, invite your followers or connections to subscribe, and send notifications to subscribers when you publish a new newsletter. If Newsletters are available to you, when you click “Write an article” on your homepage, you’ll see an option to create a newsletter in the publishing tool.
The best way to use LinkedIn is not to think of it as a promotional platform, but as a networking platform to connect with your target audience and engage with them so that they get to know who you are and what you do. The better your LinkedIn followers and connections know you, the more likely it is that they will come to you when they have a need, whether that need is for an answer to a question in your area of practice, a speaker in your area, a comment on a news story or for a referral.
Networking is an integral part of building your practice, but it is a two-way street. To get the most value out of LinkedIn, you have to give value in return. How are you showing up for your network on LinkedIn?
If you aren’t a content creator, there are other ways you can give value––for example, by sharing and promoting other people and their content on LinkedIn, or by making introductions. When you visit a second-level connection’s profile on LinkedIn and click to see who your mutual connections are, LinkedIn will now suggest that you ask one of those mutual connections for an introduction to the person whose profile you’re viewing. Consider not only these suggestions, but also what other introductions you can make in your network.
You can also grow your network and demonstrate your value to your LinkedIn connections and followers by sharing comments and joining in conversations. Share your own insights, thoughts or experiences about the topic of a post in the comments. Ask a question of the person who created the original post. Add value to the post by providing another resource.
Commenting helps start conversation and helps your audience get to know you better. But your comments are also seen by people outside of your network who are connected to the original poster or other commenters. If you are generous with your comments, you will begin to build engagement, not only with your existing network, but with new connections as well.
There are lots more new features and functions being added to LinkedIn every month. Take some time to explore and you might find a better, more engaging platform to help you build your practice.
