Transform Your LinkedIn To: Bombshell-Status.
Enjoy, and share this please! It took a lot of time as I've spent this last year capturing images and making content for this ONE post.
Well, where do I start? My posts would get a few hundred views at a time... It was discouraging, and this was less than a year ago. Fear not, fellow readers!
- Do you want to find out how my posts went from getting about 1-2K views to nearly 50K per month? Yes?
- Do you want to blow your future employers away during the recruitment process? Do you like the feeling of making an impact?
Note: My intention was not to land a job or to monetize. It was to share things I was passionate about and sprouted out of pure inspiration. I have to warn you- there's some serious positive-repercussions that come with this choice... In only the best of ways - so take this both seriously and with a grain-of-salt.
You can see above when I started creating videos - about one year ago (actually less than a year ago- if you want to get technical).
Find Your Why:
There could be many reasons really - to increase your networking sphere of influence, to collaborate with like-minded professionals that are passionate about a similar profession or area of work, etc…
I personally hate using third party tools due to limitations- so I share how I hack things together with open-source free tools. I love hacking things together- so the thought occurred to me- why not share it with the world? I love data analysis and showing how I do data analysis… So why not… Get the idea?
Narrow the Focus & Find Topics You Are Passionate About:
Trust me- stick to a few topics. I picked Adobe Analytics, R and Data Science - with a spin-off of Smart Home, because that's a hobby of mine. There's plenty of topics to build off of- with a few wildcards every now and then. Choose wisely as I mentioned above!
Let's Cut To The Chase - The details:
- Hashtags Hashtags Hashtags - Not only do these help with the Feed, but searches. I heard from prospecting employers that I kept popping up everywhere in Linkedin Searches based on keywords they were using.
I'm mentioning because I've done with and without, and I always use them...
They can help with searches too - not just posts...
- Always Give Value i.e. Share Something Interesting/Relevant - Even if it's a picture, SOMETHING - link, video or even another Linkedin account or group. Pictures are serious clickbait- as they are like youtube thumbnails. You'll get hints when you are bringing value :)
Images Can Be Critical - To get the foot in the door! Watch how you post a picture of a book or desktop screen and watch your engagement. Then post a picture of a selfie, or faces in general- watch your engagement soar compared to before. It's weird, but people apparently gravitate toward personal photos. Sometimes you just have to add something captivating to a photo... Can't tell here...
- Tag Popular People or Companies - If they respond or like your post… Jackpot (See the second image below here). Don't just tag people because they are partly relevant of your post. Tag them if it is something they wrote, or you have a firm relationship and know they will like the content. Don't be an ass and just tag people like you're their buddy.
- Share Quality Stuff - Don't write one sentence while sharing somebody's post. Don't share a video with a "Thumbs up" caption. Take a minute and think before you share why you are doing it. If it's just to get attention- it's likely not going to get attention.
- Share YOUR Content or Guides - Content that you created. Don't be surprised if your engagement and followers will grow fast- This will REALLY help, and quickly if you have a descent amount of connections- you're finally bringing value to others. Boop!
- Re-share Your Content - in case anybody missed it, but don't do it too far out (or else you won't be able to see the difference, unless you don't care)
- Time of Day - SUPER important or else it might get stuffed below- Don't post at 9pm on a Friday night. If you're trying to target east coasters and you're a recruiter in the west coast- do NOT post early afternoon PST, as they have dinner around that time...
- INCREASE your Audience - Go find people! Keyword search Linkedin! This is pretty obvious, which leads to my next point- add people that have professions in topics you write about or share. These were all Analytics professionals that added me after the post below - when a connection actually posted about me. Of course, I accepted all requests!
- Quality Audience - Don't add people that are artists if you are sharing about programming (unless they are with your company, a friend, or somebody that dabbles in programming). A good gauge is to see who is interacting with your posts - look at the types of professionals you see that are interacting with your posts...
Repeat steps above - and you'll start getting loyal followers. You will also enjoy posting more-and-more and the best part - your followers will be posting topics that you are passionate about, that you enjoy.
When This Happens - You'll Realize It Was All Worth It -
Other Suggestions/Last Words:
Make a Youtube or Medium Channel - It keeps a nice and organized repository of your historical content that you've created. Then sooner-or-later, somebody will think is a gold mine of nuggets when they find it.
Find a Group (Linkedin or Reddit) and Post in There - They will migrate to your profile and add you, trust me. Sometimes I split-post on Reddit and in Linkedin Groups:
From a Reddit Post: :)
Accept your Connections Wisely and Send Connection Requests Wisely - Believe it or not, there's a limit on Linkedin and one day you will regret just adding everybody randomly that requests to connect with you. Especially if you hate being spammed or pitched via your inbox. These requests below are pending for a reason...
They likely won't ever engage with my posts - and might even try to PM me with some kind of sales pitch.
Do your own A/B testing - See What Works - you'll have to see your engagement from the Linkedin Analytics. It only goes back about 90 days though, So share wisely, or else it will be painful watching a snail-paced engagement rate, and you can't fail fast and learn quickly.
If You Made It This Far - THANK YOU For Reading -
One last note - you have to be patient. If you are passionate about whatever you are posting about - it will come in no time at all. I may not be Richard Branson and get 50,000 likes per post- but I'm very fulfilled by what I am doing. It's a bonus with some of the feedback I've received and when people start giving back as I watch them do the same. Like I said before - I am a FIRM believer that if I didn't invest in LinkedIn over this last year, I wouldn't have the job offer I received as well as a few scout calls and chatted with some incredible people in my industry that I never would have dreamed of before.
If you don't think this will help getting a job. Well, I was told by the company that hired me that it was. So...
Helpful References to Get You Going:
- Sharing Content: https://www.garudax.id/help/linkedin/answer/434
- One of the Best out There: https://blog.hootsuite.com/how-the-linkedin-algorithm-works-hacks/
Article Writing Tips:
- General Tips: https://www.garudax.id/help/linkedin/answer/47537
- Creating Articles: https://www.garudax.id/help/linkedin/answer/47538
- Published Articles: https://www.garudax.id/help/linkedin/answer/47445
LinkedIn Analytics Information:
- Articles: https://www.garudax.id/help/linkedin/answer/56330/viewing-analytics-for-your-articles
- Shared Posts: https://www.garudax.id/help/linkedin/answer/71493
- Posts & Articles: https://www.garudax.id/help/linkedin/answer/83597
And of course... HASHTAG TIME! (This would be the end of the post)
#linkedin #engagement #audience #socialinfluence #socialinfluencer #influence #increasefollowers #connections #follower #growthhacking #googleanalytics #writer #blog #writing #bi #linkedinnetworking #networking #jobs #jobhunt #portfolio #resume #linkedinanalytics #analytics #datascience #datascientist #adobeanalytics #sitecatalyst #omniture
*Special Thanks to All Readers and Followers - Without You This Wouldn't Have Been Possible!
Congrats Kalen, what an inspiring journey! May JR's force continue to be with you!!
Kalen, wow - I was riveted and all I can say is bravo!!! You rocked it and the hard work shows ! Thanks !!!!! Best article I have seen here in a long time that is useful , detailed and timely !!!!