LinkedIn Success Doesn't Come Without Effort: 7 Best Practices To Succeed Online

In today's world, it is vital that your company is present and active on social media. When you are unfamiliar with the world of social media it can feel overwhelming and you may not know where to even start. Social media training can be beneficial to you and your company so that you can greatly improve your success online.

All social media platforms have their pros and cons and some are more valuable than others depending on your type of business. Knowing how to make the most of the social platform you are using is the real key to seeing success online. LinkedIn is a place where people either thrive or fail, there seems to be no in between. You've probably seen the LinkedIn profiles that have no image, they've never posted an article, and it still says they are working for a company you know they quit years ago. Those types of profiles are usually overlooked because they are seen as incomplete and probably irrelevant. If you have a LinkedIn profile that resembles that description, read on and implement these 7 best practices to get your profile up to speed:

1) Keep Things Professional

Start off on the right foot with your followers by keeping things professional. Post content and articles that are relevant to your industry and actually provide some sort of value. There is nothing more annoying than click-bait articles that are shared merely for the purpose of being disruptive. While Facebook may be the place to share photos of your kids, update your friends on your latest trip, or share a funny meme, those are not appropriate for your LinkedIn page. A professional-looking picture is another must-have. Profiles with a photo get up to 21 times more views and up to 36 times more messages. Don't choose just any old photo, your cute selfie from the party you went to last weekend isn't LinkedIn material. When you’re on LinkedIn, remember to act the way you would when talking to a prospective client—all the time.

2) Use Keywords in your Summary and In Articles

One of the best things you can do when creating a LinkedIn account is to completely fill out your profile with the most up-to-date information. In the process of doing so, use as many keywords and phrases that relate to what you want people to find you for. For example, if you are a lawyer that practices many areas of law, make sure to list out each area on your profile. That way if someone searches for “personal injury lawyer” and another person searches for "wrongful death lawyer", you will pop up on both of their search results ahead of another lawyer who doesn’t have those details on their profile. 

3) Share Articles and Great Content

After making sure your profile looks good, make sure to post great content consistently. Not only will this place your content and articles on your connections’ newsfeeds on a regular basis, it also shows your thought leadership. If people find value in your posts, they will not only think higher of you, but they will also start to seek out the things you are sharing. Some people might even share your content with their connections giving you twice the exposure. Yes, you heard me right—they will start looking for YOU. Another great place to share content is the LinkedIn Groups you are a part of. The people in those groups are all similar in their likes and actively searching for great content and resources that are relevant to the topic of the group.

4) Connect With the Right People

There are different strategies you can use when it comes to connecting with people and other businesses on LinkedIn. You can connect with only those you actually know (the way LinkedIn intended) to ensure that your network is strong and personal. You could also choose to connect with people you don't know but have a common connection with. Those people would be considered your 2nd Degree Connections on LinkedIn. A 2nd Degree Connection is when you are both connected to one of your 1st Degree Connections, basically, you have a friend in common! A great way to be introduced to those 2nd Degree Connections is to find out who it is you both have as a friend in common and ask that friend to introduce the two of you. This will widen your LinkedIn network and give you a foot in the door with other businesses.

5) Join Groups

A great way to interact with others who you wouldn’t normally be connected to is to join a group. Groups are a great place to connect with others in your industry or those with shared interests. Not only will you receive great information from them, but you can also provide them with great content or discussion points and create meaningful and helpful relationships.

6) Create Articles

One of the most underrated features on LinkedIn is the “Write an Article” feature. This feature allows you to create a long-formed post that is basically a blog. Some benefits of articles are:

• They are posted right to your profile. This provides extra content that your competition likely isn’t giving to your viewers and also develops thought leadership.

• A post is shared on your timeline and your connections' newsfeeds when you create an article. Even if they don’t read it, your name is still getting in front of them.
• If you post awesome content, those who find your post can “follow” you to get notifications whenever you create another post.
• You can use links in your articles that direct readers back to your website so they can continue learning more about you and your business.

All four of those points above amount to two important things—great exposure of your thought leadership and added trust.

7) Interact

One of the most important parts of being involved with business is networking. On LinkedIn, the best way to network with your connections is to interact with them. In order to form those business relationships you need to connect, talk, compliment, ask questions, etc. You can (and should) do all of this on LinkedIn. This shouldn’t replace your face-to-face networking, but it is a great way to build upon it. Did you meet someone at a meeting? Add them on LinkedIn and continue to nurture the relationship by showing interest in what they are posting and sharing. If you like a pat on the back when you post, dish it out to others when they post too.

So there you have it. Seven of the best LinkedIn practices that I’ve experienced.