5 Things You Should be Posting on LinkedIn
Written by: Ali Smith, Innovation Manager
Define Your Goals
LinkedIn can feel like a confusing platform to navigate. We understand it to be a networking platform for professionals in all industries to connect and build relationships for their respective companies and organizations. As often as people question what is relevant to add to their resume, LinkedIn doesn’t limit you to one 8x11 piece of paper. This leaves many people wondering, what am I supposed to be putting out on my LinkedIn profile?
Whether you are managing a business page for your company or adding more to your personal profile, there are a few questions you will need to ask yourself to best define what to post. First, you will need to clarify what you want to achieve through your page or profile.
Are you looking for a new job?
Are you recruiting more employees?
Do you want to expand your client base?
Are you positioning yourself/your business as a thought leader?
Are you breaking into a new industry or service?
All of these questions will help you prioritize what kind of posts you should be developing. Each option below is extremely valuable to your brand, but it will be up to you and your goals to decide where to start.
For Personal Profiles
1. Accomplishments/Certifications/Certificates
No matter how relaxed your headshot may be, LinkedIn is still a networking tool. There is no shame in bragging about your achievements and newest credentials. We all know that certifications and certificates take time and effort, so show them off!
LinkedIn has a section specifically for ‘Honors and Awards’ as well as ‘Licenses and Certifications’ for personal profiles. Follow the steps below to add either of these sections to your profile:
Add ‘Honors and Awards’ to your Profile
Open your personal profile
Click ‘Add profile section’
Of the three option sections, select ‘Additional’
Select ‘Add honors and awards’
Add ‘Licenses and Certifications’ to your Profile
Open your personal profile
Click ‘Add profile section’
Of the three option sections, select ‘Recommended’
Select ‘Add licenses and certifications’
2. Projects
If you were the lead or played a major role in the development of a project or program for an organization, highlighting this on your personal profile helps people understand and remember your unique skillset. If you do not already have a ‘Projects’ section on your profile follow these simple steps to add it:
Add Projects to your Profile
Open your personal profile
Click ‘Add profile section’
Of the three option sections, select ‘Additional’
Select ‘Add projects’
3. Recommendations
You are able to give and receive recommendations on LinkedIn. This is an amazing way to network or say thank you to coworkers, employees, and supervisors. The same as a Google or Yelp review, this provides credibility and creates trust with your network for yourself and the work that you do. If you do not already have a ‘Recommendations’ section on your profile follow these simple steps to add it.
Add ‘Recommendations’ to your Profile
Open your personal profile
Click ‘Add profile section’
Of the three option sections, select ‘Recommended’
Select ‘Add recommendations’
For Personal AND Company Pages
Although LinkedIn does not offer the above sections for business pages, these accolades can still be announced in the form of posts, articles and added into your page descriptions for your followers to see. It is just as important for a company to encourage their employees to stay active on their personal LinkedIn pages. Their network will be able to see the growth that your company fosters, encouraging appeal to join your team or clientel.
If you are looking for other ways to stay active on your page, look no further!
4. Celebrating Wins
Celebrating wins is severely underrated. Not only will your connections and followers celebrate with you but it also provides acknowledgement to hard work that is well deserved. Whether you are celebrating personal achievements on your profile or massive wins on the company page, your community will feel more connected to you for sharing. Here are a few wins that you don’t have to let go unacknowledged:
A new office space
Onboarding a new client
Attending networking events
Getting a new headshot
Work anniversaries
Completion of a big project
Winning/being nominated for awards
5. Experiences/Insightful Perspectives
Going hand-in-hand with celebrating your wins, there is always a journey you have to take to get there. Talk about the process it took to reach these milestones and maybe even the hurdles you encountered along the way. Being transparent about the insights and knowledge that you have will connect you and your network on a deeper level. LinkedIn is transforming into a platform that is blending personal and professional a bit more, so we encourage you to still maintain professionalism while being authentic. Users on all social media platforms are looking for relatability, LinkedIn included.
Conclusion
Open your page for conversations and build relationships through the content that you produce. Staying active on your LinkedIn can open the door to opportunities that you may not have even realized you were looking for. Like we previously mentioned, all of these ideas are extremely valuable to your brand, but it will be up to you and your goals to decide where to start.
