Are you ready to get your LinkedIn squared away once and for all? Today, I want to share with you a few tips on how you can make the most out of LinkedIn in just five minutes a day.
Now I know for a lot of you LinkedIn is not as fun as Facebook, it’s not as cool as Snapchat or Instagram but let me just tell you from experience that LinkedIn is one of the most important social media platforms. You don’t have to spend a ton of time on it, but when someone Googles you, one of the first things that typically comes up is your LinkedIn profile. So if your photo is out of date or there is no information about you, there is a perception that you’re not in business.
So what are a few things that you can do each and every day to make the most of it? First and foremost, check your messages. Have you ever gone onto LinkedIn and maybe you haven’t been on in months and months and there’s like 50, 100, dozens at least, messages and notifications and connection requests?
So clean that out, it doesn’t have to be every single day but at least a couple of times a week. Go through your messages, go through notifications, go through your connection requests. If you’re not sure who to say, “Yes or No” to, here’s what I do. First of all, if they don’t have a photo and I have no idea who they are, they’re out.
If I don’t know them but maybe they’re a second-tier connection, or third-tier connection, generally speaking, I’m going to accept them as friend request because I think of LinkedIn as like this ultimate networking party. You and I don’t need to be best friends to connect on LinkedIn but if somehow we’re related professionally on that second or third tier connection, I say, “Yes” and we connect which is great. So go through your messages, go through your notification at least a couple of times a week.
The other thing that makes a big difference if you just have a few minutes a day is to go through your newsfeed on LinkedIn. Go through your newsfeed, take a couple of minutes. You don’t have to scroll through the whole thing but take like a minute or two, scroll through your LinkedIn newsfeed. What you’re looking for is something interesting that you can like, comment or share on. Now, just like any other social media network, don’t just scroll through and like a bunch of things. Don’t be a drive-by liker. Don’t be that person but what I love about LinkedIn it’s quieter.
It’s a lot quieter than Facebook, and it’s pretty much strictly professional especially the content that people are posting. When you like, comment or share that actually shows up on your LinkedIn profile as an activity, right? That’s a little thing that can make a big difference. Usually a couple of times a week, I’ll look at my LinkedIn newsfeed, scroll through, like, comment, and look for something interesting to share. It’s one way to take your LinkedIn connection to that next level.
If you feel like, “Okay, I’m connected with all these people on LinkedIn, now what?” This is that now what. As people are posting things, look for an opportunity to like, comment, and share. Along with that, look for interesting things that are relevant to you professionally that you can share in LinkedIn once or twice a week.
For me, I’m in the business of social media, specializing in real estate. So if I read a really interesting article, or a go to a really interesting conference or reproduce a piece of content, I will share that periodically on LinkedIn because it’s professional and it’s business related. That doesn’t take a whole lot of time, it’s a small thing that makes a big difference.
Another tip that I’m going to give you is, be a good finder. Be a good finder, so as you are working with clients and you’re in your community and you’re out and about, when you had an amazing experience, maybe you’ve had a great client experience, maybe you worked with another agent on the other side who was fricking a rock star. Maybe you have an amazing stager or lender, right? There’s this cast of characters involved in every transaction, right? As my good friend Glen has always said, “There’s this cast of characters involved in every transaction.” So when you have a great transaction, when something great goes on, how about surprise and delight that person. How about reach out send them a recommendation on LinkedIn. Not just an endorsement but take the time to write two or three sentences. I can guarantee when you do that and they don’t expect it, usually the reaction is, “Oh, my gosh, I had no idea. Thank you so much.” It’s a small thing that can make a big difference.
There you go, those are my tips. If you only have four or five minutes every single day, that’s what you want to do when it comes to LinkedIn. Remember LinkedIn cannot be the set it and forget it network, you’ve really got to make the most of what you’re doing with LinkedIn.
I would love to hear from you, are you on LinkedIn? If you are, drop your LinkedIn link below, let’s connect! Feel free to reach out and feel free to send me a message on LinkedIn and say, “Hey, I watched your video and now I would love to connect.”
