In two previous posts, I shared with you ways to craft a compelling LinkedIn profile (LinkedIn 101) and techniques for growing and nurturing your network (LinkedIn 201). Review those posts before embarking on this LinkedIn career advancement plan. You need your profile to be powerful and your network strategy in place before you create and implement your LinkedIn career-boosting strategy. Once you’re ready, this final post in the series shows you four ways you can use LinkedIn to expand your brand, do your job better, and ultimately increase your career success.
1. Express your thought leadership
LinkedIn provides several features you can use to expand your thought-leadership and build visibility and credibility with people who count. There are three ways that are most powerful for building visibility with your connections and the members of the groups to which you belong.
• Share (an article, photo, video, or idea)
When you share an update, you’re making your connections and fellow group members aware of what’s going on in your world, providing information that could be valuable to them. Sharing an update is the best way to let them know what’s going on in your world. Just sharing a few sentences – like: “I learned at yesterday’s AMA meeting that marketers are going to spend 20% more on video in 2018” is a simple yet powerful way to deliver value to decision makers while staying on their radar.
• Write (an article)
LinkedIn’s blogging platform is a great way to share your ideas and expertise. It’s a very easy platform to use (you can paste content from a Word doc) – and your posts need only be between 600 and 1,000 words. If you use this regularly, it becomes a repository of your ideas on your preferred topic. Just remember, don’t blow hot air. What you share needs to be both helpful for and a clear reinforcement of your brand message (how you want to be known), while ultimately delivering valuable information to your target audience.
- Curate (and then share)
If you’re feeling like you don’t have the time or desire to create your own content, curation can be your best friend. When you share another person’s post, disseminating information that you find interesting and valuable with your connections/groups, you’re enabling them to see potentially helpful content that they otherwise might have missed. Most websites that distribute content, like Forbes, Fast Company, etc. make it easy for you to share their content via LinkedIn. But a word of caution: If you just click “share” and send it to your connections and/or groups, it does little to build your brand. You need to add your commentary and point of view – why you think it is valuable. For example, you might say “This is a really useful article, especially the last paragraph.” Or “This piece is a powerful overview; the only thing I would add is XXX.” Or “This is a well-written piece, but I disagree with the author about his second point because…”
2. Expand your visibility
My personal branding technique for expanding visibility with minimal effort is called – wait for it – being lazy. By that, I mean reusing and repurposing the content you already have available. This amplifies your message and delivers brand consistency, communicating different forms of the same content in distinctive ways to the members of your brand community. So repurpose your Blog posts for your activity updates and embed whitepapers and articles in the summary and experience sections of your profile. Never look at any piece of content you create in isolation. Always ask yourself “How can I reuse this content to add value to my LinkedIn connections?”
3. Grow professionally
LinkedIn has an almost endless number of resources for those who seek to keep the saw sharp and want to remain on the leading edge. Just being a member of the right groups can help you stay on top of what’s happening in your field and connect you with movers and shakers in your industry. And LinkedIn has added features that are specifically designed to help you up amplify your know-how and develop new skills.
One of the most powerful buttons is “Following.” LinkedIn allows you to follow companies, influencers, and publications. This is your one-stop shop to stay on top of what’s happening – and it gives you endless amounts of fodder you can share to spice up the monotonous meetings you attend each day.
4. Learn about others
LinkedIn provides valuable content when you are looking to research competitors, know more about prospective clients, and identify and source the ideal candidates for open roles. Use it before meetings to get the 4-1-1 on the people you’re about to meet. Find common connections and interests and start building stronger relationships. And for those times where you want your sleuthing to be on the down-low (especially if you’re looking to poach talent or check out a competitor) be sure to change your setting in the profile viewing option to “private mode.”
LinkedIn provides an ever-growing number of ways to help you do your job better so you can stand out and achieve your goals. Approach LinkedIn with this mindset, invest a little time in it every day, and watch your career soar.
William Arruda is the cofounder of CareerBlast and creator of the complete LinkedIn quiz that helps you evaluate your profile and networking strategy.
