There are common questions that come up frequently about posting on LinkedIn and managing your profile.
What is the ideal size of a post? Number of words?
It varies and you can check out people’s activity to see examples and the reactions they receive.
The size of the post really depends upon the topic, and what it is that you’re trying to do, not about the number of words but how engaging the content is or isn’t. Sometimes short, quotable posts get a lot of shares and reactions where it is insightful and not about you.
Where the content is more education and informational the posts tend to be longer and you could consider summarising key points, say with an infographic,
If is it a post about an event that has happened, then a few sentences with images and tagging people that were involved will get a much greater reach.
You might share other people’s posts and content or create your own original posts – a combination of all sorts of posts, unless you are someone like Simon Sinek or Brene Brown where quotes work well, shows the depth and breadth of expertise and areas of interest.
Should you have a LinkedIn page for your business or organisation?
Yes but unless you are a large organisation, perhaps a government agency and/or you have lots of jobs on offer, then your business page probably won’t get too much attention. Instead, hone your focus on your personal profile as this is where you’ll get traction, putting more effort into building your connections.
Do you share other people’s content?
Yes, I do share a lot of other people’s content because it is about being generous and helping others as well, which build relationships on purpose.
How often do you post?
Every day as LinkedIn is a priority platform. Balancing posts with original content and others content and if you don’t have something of value to say then why post.
Is LinkedIn a good place to blog?
The best place to publish blogs is your website because you own that real estate. You don’t own LinkedIn, or Facebook, or Twitter, or Instagram.
Post a blog and/or video included on your own website first, then schedule posts sharing the blog onto all of your other social media channels.
Would you consider LinkedIn more of a powerful tool than Facebook?
It really depends upon your business and/or personal brand. Because of the industry areas, the type of work the company does then LinkedIn is my number one platform. Facebook would be second – probably Facebook groups together with Facebook pages, for a more connected, more intimate conversation, but LinkedIn is definitely number one.
What do you post about?
Something that’s topical, interesting, authentic and demonstrates unique knowledge or experiences. You’ve got to mix up the different things that you’re posting, and test out what reactions you are getting from people. Now with LinkedIn, alongside likes you can see reactions and some people use these for polls to test out what is more on point.
Is it better to post an article you’d have written?
You’ve got to really vary the content – you can’t just only be about posting other people’s stuff.
If you do want to position yourself as a thought leader, and as somebody with a significant profile, then you definitely have to be creating your own content. Suggest you post as a blog and then share on all socials.
Are you open to connecting with anyone?
Some people have the L-I-O-N in their title, which means that they are open to networking with anybody. I don’t have that specifically, but I’ll still connect with everybody and delete them if they try to sell and/or hit me up for a date! 😊
How recent should your headshot be?
At least update it every year and you don’t have to have professional shots. But the number of times that you see people, compare their pic and in real life, and it’s like, “No. This doesn’t match in terms of the photos!” Make sure that it looks how you look now.
How do you know if LinkedIn is your primary platform?
Ask yourself, where are those people and organisations that you want to sell to, hanging out?
What’s the success rate of reaching out?
It is all about how you go about it and don’t automate messaging as people generally do not like this at all. Success comes over time as you build your connections and the numbers of people that you have 2nd and 3rd connections with.
Generally speaking, if I’m reaching out to somebody who’s second connected to me or third connected to me, that means that my first connection is a connection of theirs, most people will accept the connection.
I rarely put a specific message in there – if it’s really important person and I don’t want to stuff it up, then I may put a specific message that adds value or offers them an opportunity. But that’s probably after following them on their profile for a little bit, sharing some of their connections and content, knowing what they are about.
Do you say yes to random connections with no intro?
Yes, and you may have a different view on this. Some people will say I’m not going to link with this person unless I’ve actually met them.
I have a view but that there’s no way that I can meet face to face, and now even more so, everybody that I want to meet and connect to in the world. So generally speaking, I’ll give people the benefit of the doubt. If they then hit me up with a message that is really icky and salesy, or if I get a request for a date, then I’ll basically delete or block them from there.
Any other tips?
Aim to create double the content output that you are taking in at the moment, because social media and news feeds can be all consuming, and it can really eat into your productivity.
Check your contact info as depending on when you started your account, you might have an old yahoo, hotmail or gmail that may include a nick name or something odd, remember it needs to be professional.
LinkedIn is a long game, have the app on your phone and when you have a few spare minutes, aside from checking posts, reach out and connect to people where it makes sense. Note the names of people, types of job roles and organisations you want to be known to and take a targeted approach to strategically reaching out.