LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional community, connecting more than 620 million professionals from more than 200 countries. It is a platform with a very high communication potential that offers great opportunities. So why not use it?
In this article we explain why it is important to use LinkedIn and how to use it correctly to achieve concrete and measurable results.
We won’t provide you with any magic bullets, but just some valuable advice (worked out and methodically tested) that, if applied with precision and perseverance over time, can make a real difference and help you succeed.
Table of Contents
Why LinkedIn
LinkedIn is the largest professional network out there, with the goal of connecting professionals from around the world to increase productivity and success.
Using LinkedIn like other social networks is not rewarding. She doesn’t post vacation photos on LinkedIn, nor does she share all the details of her life through sparkling images and cover poses.
LinkedIn isn’t even the place to express and share your innermost moods or feelings. Not a channel to directly sell products or services.
On LinkedIn, you don’t talk to your friends or a target consumer. Instead, it makes its professionalism and know-how available to respond to user needs and help other professionals improve their business.
On LinkedIn, contact opportunities are created and networks of relationships between professionals are built , with the aim of nurturing and growing the network itself.
LinkedIn, a relationship platform
Social networks are made up of people . And on LinkedIn, in particular, people with your professional profile make a difference.
It’s no coincidence that LinkedIn is often referred to as a human-to-human social network , where relationship is the keyword to being successful.
On LinkedIn, what really matters are people , as professionals . People with their own backgrounds formed by studies , work experience and skills in specific sectors. People who should know how to count, each in their own way, their professional career, their goals, their dreams and their passions.
Using LinkedIn means presenting yourself as a professional in a certain industry.
The benefits of using LinkedIn
LinkedIn is a demanding social network because it requires time, perseverance, dedication and asks its users for an extra effort compared to other social channels: to add value in exchange for visibility and notoriety.
But at the same time it also offers great opportunities, because it allows (for free):
- tell yourself in a professional way, through the creation of a personal profile in which to describe your work experiences, highlight your skills and abilities
- Develop a network of professional relationships, by creating a network of useful contacts for your business.
- publish valuable content to increase your visibility and, in return, receive recognition and esteem from the public
Also read : LinkedIn: what it is, how it works and how to get the most out of it
Using LinkedIn actively, but above all with commitment and continuity, can provide users with a series of advantages, in terms of:
- greater and better visibilityon the web (you can make yourself known as a professional to a wide target)
- positioningin your target market (you can work to make yourself recognized as an expert, a point of reference in your sector)
- Lead generation (acquisition of new contacts / prospects useful for your business, through a specific research activity)
- better reputationand greater visibility (active users on LinkedIn are appreciated and rewarded)
How to use LinkedIn to be successful
Now that you understand why using LinkedIn is important, here are some of the best practices to follow to start being successful.
1. Work on your personal profile, develop your personal brand, and present yourself as a seasoned professional in your industry.
In order to position yourself as an expert in this sector, it is not enough to fill out your profile as if it were a CV, waiting for someone to read it.
To get noticed on LinkedIn, you first need to introduce yourself in a simple but effective way, highlighting, both in the abstract and in the extract , your skills and abilities.
As if it were a small advertising page, even in our LinkedIn profile we must convince our interlocutors to choose us, to trust us and to contact us to discover and get to know us better.
Read more about : How to optimize a LinkedIn profile
2. Create your network of relationships and feed your network with useful connections for your business.
The network is the people to whom we donate through content without expecting anything. As Reid Hoffman puts it:
“Your network is the people who want to help you and you want to help, and that is really powerful.”
Weak ties, as Granovetter said, but with GREAT STRENGTH.
To use LinkedIn effectively, you need to build a network of connections and establish valuable relationships.
LinkedIn is a powerful and very useful tool that allows users to get in touch with other professionals and to weave a network of useful professional connections for their business. But remember that quality contacts make all the difference, so:
Create useful and interesting connections for your network.
Instead, avoid collecting contacts just to “make a number.” To learn more about who to accept or send to on LinkedIn, read here .
Always build a relationship with your contacts.
Customize your messages when sending a connection request, but avoid sending messages for purely promotional purposes, because LinkedIn is a relationship platform, not a sales platform.
3. Post and share valuable content to cultivate relationships, build engagement, and gain visibility.
Interact with your network, advise and comment on publications by communicating your point of view and highlighting your experience on topics related to your sphere of interest.
LinkedIn rewards those who add value to the network and enrich users in some way, sharing and publishing (constantly) useful content , intelligent solutions to a problem or need, elements for reflection that add value to current affairs or news of the sector. To learn more about writing effective LinkedIn posts, read here .
4. Define the goals you would like to achieve with LinkedIn.
Set aside a few minutes a day to network and interact with your network. You can also establish a daily routine in which to put LinkedIn on your daily “to do list.”
