Do You Want to Get More Out of LinkedIn?

Sorry, but I’m going to name-drop a little here. I actually had the good fortune to talk with Reid Hoffman, the founder and past CEO of LinkedIn. We had an initial phone call, and then I met with him for an hour in his office on their campus.

By the way, he’s a great guy! Intelligent, friendly, down-to-earth, and easy to have a conversation with.

I raised a concern with him that most people only think of LinkedIn when they need a new job. They go months or years without using the platform, then pop in to update their profile and search for jobs (after they've been laid off or quit their job).

I said that LinkedIn should be the place you come every week to continue your professional development, grow your career, meet mentors, find advisors, and more. Their acquisition of Lynda.com helped accelerate LinkedIn Learning, so you can continue your professional education through online courses. You have to dig deep, but LinkedIn Groups can help you connect with interesting people. But, most of the heavy lifting of your professional development and networking will still be up to you.

It is possible to leverage LinkedIn to light up and activate your professional network. When used consistently, people will see your name every day. When used appropriately, everyone will know what you do and think of you when opportunities arise.

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Engage more frequently

Do you want to grow your following and engagement here? Start using LinkedIn every day. Pop into the mobile app once a day or keep a tab open in your browser and visit the site a couple of times a day every week.

This is an opportunity to showcase yourself and your work. You’ll get the most out of LinkedIn if you post original content, share useful articles, and engage with people in the comments (on their posts and yours). Don't be a passive consumer.

However, you should at least like and comment on the posts of people in your network. That’s not going to do anything to demonstrate your talent and expertise, but it will get your name in front of people a lot more often.

Every time your name shows up in a comment thread, it is a "mini advertisement" for who you are and what you do. But, it only works well if you’ve been strategic about how you wrote your headline, which shows up as your one-line micro-bio near your photo and name when you comment.

Consider the real examples of headlines below. Note which ones are explanatory and intriguing and which ones are generic and forgettable.

• UX and Ethics for AI - Educator - CMU's Software Engineering Institute
• lawyer
• Expert facilitator and meeting designer for F2F, remote and hybrid
• Senior UX Designer
• Writer, illustrator, researcher, and auror of universal life processes
• sales officer

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Post and publish more often

Ideally, you should publish LinkedIn native articles, either weekly or a few times every month (this newsletter article is an example). As I’ve mentioned before, native articles on LinkedIn get more visibility and attention in the feed than those you share with a URL to another site.

However, if you're not up to writing an article, you can still post, comment, and engage every day in some way. Choose some of these activities, which I listed in order of impact:

• Intelligently commenting on the posts of key influencers in your profession and industry.
• Intelligently commenting on the posts of hiring managers at companies of interest, potential future coworkers, recruiters, etc.
• Intentionally expanding your network with great connections. But, don’t spam people! You can still follow folks if they don’t accept your connection request.
• Posting original content (e.g., text posts, photos, videos, polls, etc.) and using relevant hashtags and appropriate mentions.
• Resharing posts that you think your network would find useful.
• Messaging and catching up with old friends and past colleagues.
• Viewing the profiles of key influencers, hiring managers at companies of interest, potential future coworkers, recruiters, etc.
• Liking and commenting on the posts of others.

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How this helps you

Doing all of this helps you leverage one of your most focused networks. LinkedIn tends to be the best place to connect with current coworkers, past colleagues you enjoyed working with, and like-minded people from your profession and industry. Twitter is a close second.

When people frequently see your name, you're saying smart things, and you’re authentically engaging; it helps build a positive professional brand. You become top of mind when someone knows about a new opportunity that is a great fit for you.

Because I’m so active on LinkedIn, I’ve had people reach out to me who haven’t spoken to me in 10-20 years! Some have hired me for gigs, others have invited me to speak at events, and many have reconnected with a message (which is also a nice win 😀).

• Do you want people to think about you when they have a great opportunity?
• Do you want people to refer you to others who are hiring?
• Do you want to be invited to more speaking engagements, panels, etc.?
• Do you want people to become interested in working for you?
• Do you want more smart and interesting people in your network?

I know, I know. LinkedIn can also be a spammy and occasionally annoying experience. But, you can dial in your settings to block out the spammers, ignore or report people, and manage your network to focus on quality relationships.

Be ruthless with curating your connections! If you’re not using LinkedIn as much as you'd like to because of all of the noise, what do you have to lose?

By the way, I host a private career community for ambitious professionals, like yourself. If you're looking for a trusted peer group that can help you get ahead at work, check us out!

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Larry Cornett is a leadership & career coach and business advisor who hosts a private mastermind community for ambitious professionals with weekly challenges, office hours, and ongoing support. If you’re interested in starting your own business someday (or accelerating an existing one), check out his “Employee to Solopreneur” course (launching later this year).