Over time, LinkedIn has morphed from an online digital resume into a vast personal sale page on the internet. If you’re looking for a platform to promote yourself, your skills, your business, products, and services, LinkedIn is the place to be in. LinkedIn is the biggest social network platform for business professionals. It is one of the most powerful tools for those that are job searching, recruiting, and wish to network with others in their field.
With significant numbers come big opportunities and taking into account the massive numbers the network boasts, becoming a LinkedIn influencer is one of the best ways to promote yourself in a professional capacity to engage with the right audience. A LinkedIn influencer is a user on LinkedIn who was invited by LinkedIn management itself to get a LinkedIn influencer badge on his/her profile.
This status of becoming an influencer will completely change your perception, and it will allow you to brand yourself, giving you real credibility. In order to get a LinkedIn influencer badge, you must have a valuable profile to LinkedIn. It is an invite-only program to the most well-known professionals in the world.
Once you have a massive presence on LinkedIn – including posting popular posts, images and gaining respect from top community members, LinkedIn will definitely recognize you. This guide will provide you with all the information you need to get started, including tips on how to make your profile stand out from the crowd and become a LinkedIn influencer.
1. Create a LinkedIn profile
Let’s start with the basics. Everything on LinkedIn starts with creating a great profile. The more personality you add to your profile, the stronger your unique and professional brand will be. You’ll need to fill out the necessary demographic information, your employment status, your education, skills, and work experience. Please be sure to fill out the most up-to-date information, and it’s essential to add a phone number so that a connection or a potential employer has a way to get in touch with you.
a. Employment status
An interesting field to fill out is your employment status. If you are looking for a job, consider using phrases like “currently looking for employment opportunities” or “advertising student seeking challenging employment opportunities” to show your proactivity and optimism. If you’re not looking for a job, name your job position as the founder of your company. Preferably a company that’s relevant to your industry in its name so you can take advantage of LinkedIn SEO.
b. Account type
LinkedIn has 2 different types of accounts: a basic one and a premium one. The premium one actually has 4 different versions tailored for different purposes with different benefits: Job Seeker, Sales Navigator, Recruiter Lite, and Business Plus. It comes with many more features such as unlimited profile search and InMail, but it comes with an additional monthly fee. Before making a decision, it’s best to assess your intended use of LinkedIn and choose the account type that best suits your business’s specific needs.
The best part is that each account type offers a one-month free trial, so you have the possibility to cancel the subscription if it’s not what you expected. Another option is that you can begin with creating a company page with LinkedIn basic, and if you notice that your page is doing really well and you’re sure that LinkedIn is your go-to platform, you can always upgrade the account.
c. Headlines
Adding an attractive headline is a plus, as it’s an excellent opportunity to make a great first impression. Make it exciting and eye-catching, so that connections want to click and find out more about you.
d. Photo
Add a high-quality photo to your profile. It is revealed that a profile gets 21 times more views and up to 36 times more messages than those who do not have a photo.
e. Skills
Research has shown that those who have at least 5 skills listed on their profile are contacted 33 times more often than other LinkedIn members. While you can add up to 50 skills to your profile, adding 5 sets of skills in the order of expertise and proficiency is the bare minimum. These skills will be used to connect with job seekers and other connections, so it’s vital to keep the most honed skill at the forefront.
f. Feedback
Ask someone else to give you their opinion on your profile to receive unbiased feedback.
- Is it appealing enough?
- Would they click on you?
Students can talk to their teachers or reach out to their career services centers, while professionals can turn to colleagues.
2. Optimize your LinkedIn profile to match your industry
All web content is primarily driven by SEO (Search Engine Optimization). This means that choosing the most relevant keyword in your profile is vital. When looking for connections, many users who want to become LinkedIn influencers look for specific keywords; hence the profile that contains the relevant keyword will rank higher in searches.
So, for example, someone in the medical field might optimize their profile by using keywords such as “patient care” or “healthcare” or “medical”. The best keywords will be those that match up with what the recruiters are looking for and those that match your skillset. Make sure to optimize your headline, bio, and job position.
These keywords should be used judiciously throughout the profile, and you must try not to use the exact keywords more than three times for every 500 words. As an alternative, you can use the synonyms of these keywords in addition to the actual keyword. So, for instance, if the exact keyword is ‘leadership’, you might want to include keywords such as “management” or “team leader” too. Each will yield different results.
3. Promote your credibility in multiple ways
Once you’re created and launched your profile, Linkedin will allow you to share your opinions on various topics, increasing your chances of becoming an influencer in your respective field. However, social media marketing on LinkedIn works differently in comparison to networks like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. You can be considered to be an influencer only if you can influence some of the inactive users on the platform by posting engaging content. Here are some ideas on how to promote your credibility in multiple ways:
a. Start a blog
The most essential skill of being an influencer is the ability to engage with your audience. You must understand what your audience typically likes to create blogs for them. The best way is to strategize, build, and test your writing to learn what is and what’s not working. You can start by reading about how create to create a great content marketing strategy. It may take some time to master this skill, but once you do, the strategy and plan you implement will fall into place. Sharing original content that is relevant to your audience enhances your visibility on LinkedIn as a contributor.
b. Start a podcast
Engaging content comes in different forms, and podcast is one of them. Podcasts are informative and entertaining, and they are a fantastic way for influencers to share their knowledge and become the best people to follow on LinkedIn. If you’re only posting simple text and imagery, you’ll find it difficult to gain traction, whereas rich media podcasts resonate. You can start by reading about how to create a successful podcast.
c. Declare war on buzzwords
Every year, LinkedIn releases a list of the top ten most overused buzzwords on LinkedIn profiles. This list consists of keywords that are being overused in headlines and summaries to the extent that it has now become almost entirely meaningless. This means that using these keywords are not enough to convince connections, and you’ll need to demonstrate these qualities through the way you describe yourself and in the way you use LinkedIn profile features to show what you’re about.
d. Spread the endorsement love
Endorsements from other members highlight your skills and increase your credibility. To endorse someone, you need to select connections in your network that genuinely deserve your endorsement. Naturally, this will often trigger the connection to return the favor, and if not, don’t hesitate to reach out to them with a message asking them to endorse you for a couple of skills as well. Be sure to be proactive in managing the endorsements that you receive. If you feel that the endorsements that you received are not a true reflection of who you really are, you can use the edit features and choose the ones that you wish to show and want to hide.
e. Request recommendations
Adding recommendations to your profile will take things a step further. They are essential visual testimonials that will add more credibility and value to your added skills and experiences. Similar to endorsements, don’t hesitate to reach out to people to send you written recommendations. Take the time to think who you would appreciate a recommendation from and personalize your request – it’s definitely worth the extra mile.
f. Share curated content
LinkedIn is a professional space, and it wants you to share business-oriented content. Successful thought leaders share their knowledge and experiences, as well as offer to help their followers. Sharing articles, case studies, and other brand content should help show what you and/or your business are all about, and it demonstrates commitment and passion.
g. Comment on others’ posts
Interacting with your audience is an essential part of the process. You must get into the conversations on comments and understand the needs of the people to produce content. Add comments to your shared content to emphasize why you think a particular piece of content matters. A comment that is expressed with a point of view establishes your real opinion and thought leadership, and it is likely to attract additional comments which will raise your profile across LinkedIn.
4. Measure your success: LinkedIn SSI
Your Linkedin Social Selling Index, known as SSI, measures your profile’s effectiveness. The platform uses four pillars of measurement to give you a score:
- Professional branding.
- Finding the right people.
- Engaging with insights.
- Building relationships.
Your score is updated daily, and you’ll be able to compare your score to the rest of your industry and network. As a general rule, an SSI of anything above 70 is considered to be a high one. As long as you are providing valuable content and interact with your network, your SSI is most likely to increase and rise. Becoming a LinkedIn influencer is all about building genuine connections with people.
Wrapping up
LinkedIn is an excellent platform for new opportunities. But to make the most of it, it’s essential to understand how to use it to get started on an exciting future. LinkedIn is continuously looking for new talent to feature on their platform. So it’s important to be proactive and to pay attention to the quality of content, engagement, and regularity.
If you work hard on the points mentioned above, it will definitely help you in increasing your chances of being invited by LinkedIn to become an influencer in their platform. Try working on some of the ideas presenting continuously, and you’ll find that you are making quick progress. Once you become an influencer, you’ll be amazed at the positive difference it does to your personal and business image.
