Market Organically on LinkedIn w/ a Personal Profile
Learn why the personal LinkedIn Profile is key and why NOW is the time to be get ACTIVE on LinkedIn.
By Ken Morico updated We know that trust is high when information comes from people instead of companies. That's why marketing using your personal profile on LinkedIn is so powerful. Not only is this marketing effective, it can be much cheaper than buying ads or spending years building up a reputable company profile on LinkedIn.
Beyond “Let’s Connect”: Create Meaningful Connections on LinkedIn
Your connection requests go in the LinkedIn shredder. Potential mentors, clients, and peers disregard your limp messages. LinkedIn dominates professional social media, but it's likely you're not using it correctly for networking.
For sure, I’ve sent personal messages most of the time, but my hit rate needed improvement, and when I started taking LinkedIn seriously a few months ago I knew I had to step up my connection and networking game.
Why are connections so important? They are the electricity of LinkedIn: they power the utility of LinkedIn... otherwise, why would you use the platform? Connections help you leverage: business outcomes, career mobility, influence, personal relationships and sense of community.
Commit to making high-quality connections.
Networking like a LinkedIn Pro
LinkedIn has changed over the years, and they now limit the number of personal connection requests you can use to 5 a month. That's nothing. Every connection request should have a personal note. You can only do that with LinkedIn's higher tiers like LinkedIn Premium and Sales Navigator. If you want to network, it's pretty much essential.
Plus, you get that LinkedIn badge on your profile when you subscribe.
Business leader Chris Haroun mentions when connecting with someone to use commonalities like ethnicity, school, area, etc. There needs to be some common ground to connect with someone, and of course you should offer some value in return, even if it's just your LinkedIn content (you publish deep content on LinkedIn regularly, right?).
If you think back on your professional life outside of the LinkedIn ecosystem, why were you hired / chosen / elected? I can think of exactly the reasons Haroun mentions: school, area, and maybe ethnicity. There are a lot more factors, but the point is that strong bonds can be formed over seemingly minor background attributes.
Luck Matters
Have you ever wondered why someone thinks fondly of you for some reason you just can’t understand? It happens. Sometimes we just get lucky. And sometimes we strike out. We can’t ignore luck. “I’d rather be lucky than good.”
What Works in Real-life Networking Works Online
The largest LinkedIn creators and thought leaders harness human psychology for maximum impact: large amounts of meaningful connections that engage with their content that powers their reach. We see this offline: word-of-mouth referrals are the most powerful form of influence. It’s an upward spiral.
Understand people and prosper.
Taking Action
So, next time you send a connection request on LinkedIn, find common ground, offer some value if you can, and engage where it makes sense.
Essential professionals score essential connections.
But why should we leverage LinkedIn NOW and go all in for organic marketing?
1 Billion+ Users (Harness LinkedIn's Power)
Now is the time for LinkedIn. Yes, I'm kicking and screaming. We've hit a tipping point; its utility and influence can't be ignored any longer.
It's over a billion users strong at this point and there is a confluence of factors why we need to take it more seriously now. I'll explain how we can harness it's power to strengthen our personal branding & SEO while making more connections / sales / customers.
Here's what's happening:
- 1+ Billion users
- 9 consecutive quarters of accelerating member growth in Q1 FY24
- Google Helpful content update is giving priority to LinkedIn content in Google Search - something it hasn't done before
- Macroeconomic turning point - still demand for jobs but layoffs and future layoffs mean the push/pull effects will draw more users and more engagement
- More tools on platform - it's a much better content platform today than it was years ago
Here's some stats from LinkedIn:
More Users, Fewer Problems
I've seen it turn into a real social network - with more users, content creators are taking it seriously and creating engaging content that's useful. I've seen Facebook posting decline in my network and to some extent, Twitter / X as well. Posts that are duplicated from Twitter / X to LinkedIn are getting more engagement on LinkedIn for media sites and industry sites I follow.
As with all social media networks, they are only really useful or worthy of your time if there are many users and they engage on the platform.
Content with Reach - LinkedIn for Personal Branding & SEO
With Google's Helpful Content update for search, it is now surfacing LinkedIn user content because of the site's authority. In the past, I've noticed some great content on LinkedIn, but it would never surface in Google Search. That's been fixed.
How can we leverage this? Post on LinkedIn and reference your own article on your own site. From that article, link to landing page where you sell a product or service.
Macroeconomic Turning Point
With some industries strong while others weaken, it creates a Goldilocks time for LinkedIn. People NEED LinkedIn - in fact, there was a 55% year-over-year increase in LinkedIn Premium sign-ups in Q1 FY24.
People will pay social media? Yes, especially when there's utility. People vote with their wallet. Take notice.
More Platform Tools
I'm really enjoying the Newsletter feature of LinkedIn. I can subscribe to influencers I follow and see their newsletters in one place or via email. I can comment and see other users' comments -- something not easy to do via a traditional newsletter.
Of course, LinkedIn supports vertical video and I suspect it will promote it even more as we move to a more video-first environment, but for now, LinkedIn is great for office professionals because text-posts can get great reach. Plus, you can blog an create articles with LinkedIn Articles.
Don’t Be Afraid to Post on LinkedIn - Why Posting Matters
Maybe you're scared to post or have imposter syndrome. Maybe you care too much about what your peers think or feel you can't reveal too much on a professional network. Know this: The Essential Professional speaks.
I've learned a few things over the years that might help you build up your profile and give you the courage to stand up and speak - something that's truly needed in this new world of AI and high competition. And of course, you don't need to publish on LinkedIn - you be quiet and irrelevant... others will gladly take your spot. But that's not how my followers roll: let's get into it.
- The older you get the less you care what others think. Ask any person of experience and they will generally tell you the same. There's just something about getting older that makes you more resistant to criticism. Some special people get this courage earlier in life (especially New Yorkers). Maybe it's experience. Maybe it's building up a cash hoard. Maybe it's being more comfortable in the person you became.
- Get in a position where you're not reliant on others. Some people can't "rock the boat" with content on LinkedIn because they are too highly paid. Think about that for a second. You are trading your ability to speak with large sums of money. Fear isn't a way to live in my world view. When you develop contingencies you can speak your mind. Some worry that recruiters or hiring managers will review their social accounts and disqualify them because of their views. Wow! What a blessing... it's great to work with people who share your world views or at least tolerate them.
So how do we make it happen on LinkedIn?
Showing Up on LinkedIn
First off, you need to let people know you exist. There are a lot of "lurkers" on LinkedIn. Only 1% of active users regularly post content. 1 PERCENT! We log into LinkedIn, scroll, see a few posts, and bounce. I think a lot of us feel like we have nothing to say, or just chime in with some hackneyed responses like "congrats", or "way to go." Just showing up in a meaningful way can make you win. The math says so.
People might feel like they can't really respond meaningfully or post LinkedIn Articles, Newsletters, Videos, or carousels because they are afraid what their peers or supervisors will think. Here's some real talk: people change jobs all the time and you are quickly forgotten by many of your coworkers after just a few years.
A Thought Leader?
Wouldn't you want to be thought of as a thought leader? You can build LinkedIn content that can demonstrate your knowledge to others in your industry and potential employers / clients. Yeah, it takes time to create deeper content that competes with pro content creators on LinkedIn, but you don't have a choice in 2024. There are 9 billion people on earth and AI is killing it right now. Make it happen.
A Flood of Ethical Content
Another reason you should post, and why the world needs you to post, is that there is so much garbage, unethically produced content. We need to drown that out. With only 1% of users producing content it leaves a vacuum for the worst people. Let's shine our light and fill the feed with true knowledge.
With 1 billion members on LinkedIn, what a great time to demonstrate knowledge and authority on LinkedIn.
The Belief
I believe in you and your ability to voice your thoughts. Always remember: you’re not a corporate cog -- you’re an essential professional.
Conclusion
All these factors can increase our personal brand on LinkedIn. Increased visibility in Google Search means our LinkedIn Profile will be prioritized when clients / customers / employers search for us by name, and when we write content on LinkedIn, people will find it beyond the LinkedIn platform.
I think now is the time curate our LinkedIn feed, add contacts from other social networks that have a LinkedIn presence, and subscribe to newsletters.
For help with your LinkedIn presence as well as a content strategy and bespoke tools to maximize your impact, reach out for LinkedIn consulting. The timing is perfect.