The younger generation is looking for a career boost and shares similar priorities with small businesses that are trying to get off the ground.
Many small businesses want to establish a brand as the first step in getting off the ground. This phase will help them reach the right audience, regardless of whether they work independently or have hired an agency.
As more companies make LinkedIn part of their recruitment strategy, it’s becoming increasingly important for young professionals to establish their brand on LinkedIn early in their careers. LinkedIn users who use the platform to create an online presence can gain access to more internships, jobs, and other opportunities.
LinkedIn is a social networking platform that promotes collaboration among users and helps them build a network to help advance their careers.
This post will discuss several ways that you can use some social networking best practices to jumpstart your professional career.
- Your profile should reflect your brand.
- Your followers will love you for creating captivating content
- Join groups that match your career interests and goals
- Get connected with professionals from your industry
- Make new connections
These five steps will help young professionals to get noticed on LinkedIn and open doors for their career advancement.
1. Optimize your LinkedIn Profile to Reflect Your Brand
First impressions are crucial in building a personal brand, just as they are when you promote a business.
Optimizing your profile is key to driving engagement.
Consider how you would like your professional identity online. Adjust your profile accordingly.
Here are some ways to improve your LinkedIn profile.
- Make sure you take a professional, high-quality photo that is 400×400 in size. Choose a background photo that represents your brand. If you can design software, you can customize the image by adding a title or logo.
- Create a headline that grabs attention. Compare headlines with other users.
- Ask your peers and employers for recommendations. This can be a social proof tool to show future employers that you are capable of delivering quality work.
You are trying to increase your exposure to reach people with whom you don’t have a relationship yet. It’s important to make a great first impression to get the ball rolling.
2. Make engaging content for your followers
LinkedIn allows you to post any content that you like, at any time.
Optimizing your profile is similar to planning your posts. You need to consider the best content and the right time to post it.
Type of content
LinkedIn is similar to other social media platforms in that excellent copywriting skills are essential. Visuals are also a must. You can post text and links as well as images and videos. To increase your post’s reach, you can include hashtags.
There are so many content formats to choose from, it is important to find the one that best suits your connections and the audience that you are trying to reach.
Amplifr is a social media management software that can help you do this. This tool is used by many leading digital marketing agencies in new york to track their efforts. The interface is easy to use and allows you to analyze the performance of your posts over time.
It tracks impressions and clicks per post so that you can determine what type of content people enjoy engaging with.
This analysis can only be done if your posts were scheduled using Amplifier, and you have many connections.
Time to post
Many have spoken about the best time to publish your blog post. A quick Google search will reveal 104 million pages that are related to this topic.
This is clear evidence that there’s no one answer to this question.
Why? Because audiences are different.
LinkedIn’s best time to post depends on the frequency with which your audience interacts with it and the time they spend online.
This insight can also be provided by social media management tools. Amplifr will show you the hours that your online connections are most active. You can then schedule when your posts will be published.
3. Find groups that align with your interests and career goals
LinkedIn groups can be compared to Facebook groups. Members can reply to, post, and read messages that are only available to them.
LinkedIn groups offer better admin tools than Facebook groups. They allow you to share your knowledge and experiences with others to build connections.
These steps will help you find the right LinkedIn groups.
Step 1: Find groups that match your interests and experiences.
You can search LinkedIn for any professional fields and related interests using the search function.
Step 2: Determine which groups are most engaged and active.
To understand the level and quality of engagement in a network, it is a good idea to examine the posts within each group.
Next, you should join groups with lots of activity and engagement. It’s better not to join a group that has many new posts, but no engagement for several months.
Step 3: Become an active member of your group
After you have decided which groups are best for your interests, reply to any posts that were published in the last week.
You can share your expertise and increase your value by contributing.
If you feel comfortable, start a conversation by asking questions or sharing tips in a new post.
4. Get connected with other professionals in your industry
You must identify the people you want to network with to advance your career as part of your brand-building process.
Find influencers in your area who have similar experiences and connect with them via LinkedIn.
Try to get to know leaders in your industry, or people in the same position that you are aspiring to.
It is great to have a group of inspiring people to look up to and learn from. If possible, comment on their posts and keep up-to-date with their content. Engage with your replies. Ask questions, or share your insights.
Once you have established a foundational network of contacts, connect with LinkedIn users to expand your reach.
You should add users who share the most common connections with you. Because you likely have similar interests, there’s a chance that these people will also be open to engaging with yours.
To build professional relationships, you can connect and engage with them.
5. Make new connections
After you have built trust with your network by commenting on posts, engaging with others, and building relationships, it is time to take your LinkedIn strategy up a notch.
LinkedIn connections are one of the best methods to establish relationships. You can filter through your network to find the people you have engaged most often, by looking at replies, comments, and direct mentions.
Next, think of ways you can work together or help one another.
You could, for example, be an SEO expert and identify their SEO needs by looking through their posts or performing an SEO audit of their website before you approach them with an offer.
You can also use these suggestions to help you make connections:
- Find vacancies at your place of employment
- You might suggest collaborating on a particular project
- We will work together on a blog post
- Together, pitch developing a course/digital product
These are just a few of the many ideas. LinkedIn offers many more ways to build professional connections.
Get your LinkedIn connections to the next level
You should now realize that no matter how many LinkedIn connections are made if you don’t take action on them, it doesn’t matter.
LinkedIn can help you take your existing connections to the next level.
Smart engagement on LinkedIn can also improve future work efforts like email outreach.
It is important to remain consistent in your engagement strategies and to continue to brainstorm ways you can add value to your connections.
These tips will help you get started on LinkedIn, even if it’s your first time.
