Why you should spend 10 minutes a day on the platform.
If you’re looking to up your professional networking game, then spending a few minutes a day on LinkedIn is a great place to start. Having a thriving LinkedIn presence is great for finding new business opportunities, staying up to date on the latest trends in your industry, and cementing yourself as a leader in your field. Here are a few tips to get you started.
Take A Tour
If you haven’t spent a lot of time on LinkedIn lately, start by just checking it out. LinkedIn has continued to add new updates over the years and there’s a lot to see. LinkedIn will often prompt you to check out new features – take advantage of these mini-tours. Make sure you check out what others are doing with the platform and read what they’re posting. If you aren’t already, start following leaders in your industry.
Review Your Page
Now you should review your profile. This is the way you are presented to the business world online – so it needs to look and feel like you – the real you. Make sure your picture is up to date and shows your personality. Work through all the sections (About, Experience, Education, etc.) and make sure everything is accurate. You can also add in a banner and request endorsements from your past and present colleagues. Remember, you don’t have to do it all at once – just tackle one section a day until you feel good about your professional profile presence.
Try Premium
If you’re not a Premium Member, you can usually try it out for 30 days free. This is a great way to search for people and send them InMail messages even when you aren’t connected. You can also check out who is looking at your profile, get access to LinkedIn learning courses, and more. However, you’ll need to make a note to remember to cancel the trial otherwise you’ll be charged for a full, yearly membership.
Start Interacting
Besides connecting with colleagues and business peers, the next step to becoming a LinkedIn Pro is to interact on the platform. You can like, comment, and share posts, you can engage with polls that people have shared and you can create your own content. Don’t treat LinkedIn like any other social media – make sure what you’re posting and sharing is relevant to your professional life. It can be as simple as posting an opinion about an article you recently read, asking a work-related question, or starting a discussion about a trend in your field.
One final reminder, it can be tempting to go overboard on LinkedIn all at once, but don’t let yourself burn out too quickly. Set aside 10 minutes a day so you can look forward to what you might discover and build over time.