6 Ways to Make Linkedin Work for You
Linkedin felt like a daunting network. I remember making an account in 2010 because we had to do it for some college class, but I really didn’t do anything with it. Once I started looking for work outside of K12, I realized that Linkedin was like riding a rocketship to my destination compared to other alternatives in the market.
After getting married in 2015 and realizing that I couldn’t sustain the Bay Area lifestyle on a teaching salary, I decided it was time to take my job search seriously. Unfortunately, my Google account, associated with Linkedin, was hacked in 2014 so I had to start over from scratch. I still had my connections, but I had no clue where to start.
Read on to see how I went from a couple hundred contacts to over 6500 followers & connections within a year. This article will help you make Linkedin work for you. The first shift that I needed to make started in my own view of the product and the impact it was meant to have.
Community Mindset
Linkedin began in 2003, making it one of the oldest social media platforms around. It started as a place for business professionals to network and make them more productive. As a former educator that never felt like a business professional, this was not a very appealing reason to join this website. Alas, I did it because it felt like the way to get a job but I definitely put the power of this platform in a box by only seeing it as a resume container. Checkout the history of Linkedin if you’re interested in reading more.
What I came to realize later is that this platform is a vehicle for my own learning, professional growth, and provides access to opportunity far beyond a job. Linkedin didn’t need to change to meet my needs, I needed to change my view of the product and see it as a network for my brand, professional development, and career. Many opportunities for me have come simply because I posted something interesting or in response to others. This includes jobs, speaking opportunities, and invites to major events.
Use the Linkedin Algorithm
All social media platforms have what is known as an algorithm. It is basically a way of sorting posts in a users’ feed based on relevancy instead of publish time. This allows them to push relevant content that may be appealing to you. Chances are if you like it so will others.
One of the best ways to take advantage of this algorithm is to build a network of like-minded peers within your industry. I’m an Instructional Designer, which is a fancy title that basically allows me to use my knowledge of how humans interact with each other to solve business problems related to training. My role includes a mixture of learning theories, visual design, web development, and UI/UX. Knowing this about my career and my goal of moving up in this role allowed me to focus on connections, groups, and articles that are relevant to myself and my target network. This means I had to be judicious in who I accept and invite to my Linkedin community. The algorithm makes this easy, especially when you follow certain hashtags and groups.
Let’s take a look at some more practical tips for making Linkedin work for you.
Join Groups
Given that I now have a very specific audience that I want to reach (e.g. Instructional Designers and Sales Trainers), I can now curate my feed and network by joining groups relevant to those topics.
The best way to join a group is to use the search bar to look for a topic of interest, select groups, and start looking through the list. In this case, I recognized the Sales Enablement Society from previous conversations that I’ve had with colleagues so I think it would be in my best interest to join their group. Open the group and click the blue Request to join button and you’re in (upon approval).
This will help you learn more about your industry, provide you with a place to submit interesting articles, and begin filling your feed with relevant information vs. silly cat videos. Notice in the image below one of the top items in my feed come from a group that I follow? The algorithm is already working for me.
Add Hashtags
Another simple way to get a curated list of topics is to create some hashtags that you want to follow.
I’m really interested in developing my blogging and writing skills in 2021. So I’ll search for the word + the hashtag symbol (e.g. #blogging) within the search bar and follow that tag. Upon clicking the blue Follow button I should start seeing these appear in my feed. If you need help managing your list be sure to check out the Linkedin help page.
Share, Like, & Comment
This may seem pretty obvious but the more you interact with content the better the algorithm knows what you like. Consider this a positive feedback loop. The platform will recognize what you want to see based on your groups, hashtags, and what you choose to like and share. It also pushes those likes/comments to your network.
Life can be really busy and as responsibilities grow I have less and less time to find articles and share them to my network. So when I have a free minute at work I like to jump on Linkedin, add a like to Cara North’s daily job post, and jump off. Even if it doesn’t benefit me, somebody in my network may need a new job so I look at this as a way to pay it forward.
Steal time away from endlessly scrolling on somebody’s fake life on Instagram or Facebook. We get it Shelly, your kids are always happy and your vacations look amazing. Why are you traveling so much during Covid anyways?
Do good for your network by sharing opportunities or liking articles you find interesting instead of comparing your family and life to your friends or a celebrity. Honestly, it has helped my mental health and led to opportunities that I mentioned previously in this article.
Schedule Informal Interviews
Finally, one of the best things you can do on Linkedin is to schedule informal interviews during your research process. Coming from the classroom, I had no idea what I wanted to do. Otherjobsforteachers didn’t exist yet so I had to do my own market research by going onto Google. Many of the jobs that I found weren’t very interesting to me but once I found a role like Customer Success Manager (CSM), which seemed like a fit, I wanted to be sure before investing time and energy into this new role.
This is where Linkedin really shines. I wrote previously about using Linkedin to connect with anyone. Follow the tips in that article to isolate someone with your desired role and who was previously in your current role (e.g. CSM + Teacher). Many people are willing to speak to you about their role and career, especially if you make it about themselves, who doesn’t like sharing their own story? I identified many roles that looked good on paper but were not for me.
This approach eventually led me to isolating Instructional Design and the rest is history (which you can find on my Linkedin profile).
Use these 6 tips at your own discretion but align it to your goals. I knew that having a longer reach online would help me re-roll my career and provide me with more opportunities for future employment. One of the unintended consequences were the opportunities that I didn’t know I wanted, such as speaking at large events, sharing my story with ATD, or being interviewed for a book.
Linkedin is a great platform, but you’ll never know the true value until you make it work for you.