7 easy ways to get noticed quickly on LinkedIn

Yesterday afternoon, I spent an hour with one of my clients exploring how to get herself noticed quickly by the right people on LinkedIn. She is looking for a new career opportunity and needs a strategy that will land the next career move in the next 3 months.

Overall goals

We agreed that in order to get noticed quickly on LinkedIn (in a positive way), you need to

demonstrate your knowledge and expertise
showcase your achievements and experience
establish your personal and professional brand
prove that you have the right connections
provide social proof through recommendations
display professionalism and integrity

Here then are 7 easy ways to achieve the above.

1 – Make a good first impression

To make a good first impression on LinkedIn, you need a powerful profile that says who you are, what you do, where you do it and how you do it. Which means that you have to get the essentials right before you move onto the more advanced ideas below.

In particular you need to focus on the eye-catching headline and your professional photo. First impressions really do matter. By the way, a photo makes you 14 times more likely to be found.

2 – Get found

A powerful profile that showcases your achievements and experience is not enough. You need to make sure you have the relevant keywords that you want to be known for – in your headline, in your summary, in your experience and of course in your skills. Think about this from the employer or recruiter’s perspective. For example if you needed to hire a digital marketing manager, what’s the most likely term you will put into the search field?

3 – Build your network

The quality of your network i.e. your connections, whether you like it or not, is a reflection on your professional and personal brand. It helps to have connections in the sector in which you want to work.

The more connections you have, the bigger your network and therefore the more likely it is that you will appear in the list of 2nd connections. You’ll get mixed advice on whether to connect with everybody or only connect with people you’ve met in real life. I tend to steer somewhere in the middle.

4 – Prove your worth

When I am recruiting – whether in the past as Global Head of IT Customer Service or today for interviewees for my Confident Conversations podcast – I check the social media footprint, including LinkedIn and recommendations written about the individual.

Here’s what LinkedIn says: “The best recommendations come from people who value your work, services or products, such as managers, colleagues, co-workers, customers, and clients. Hiring managers and people searching for new customers and business partners prefer to work with people who come recommended by someone they know and trust.”

5 – Get involved

A easy way to get noticed quickly on LinkedIn is by getting involved in discussions. Join relevant groups. Once you have a feel for the group, don’t be shy – participate in discussions, and don’t be afraid to initiate discussions too. Ask questions relevant to the group. Share interesting news articles.

It’s easy to keep your profile appearing in the newsfeed (and therefore getting noticed) by sharing articles, liking and commenting on others’ posts. Follow the companies that you are interested in.

6 – Publish your expertise

LinkedIn offers you an easy publishing platform, LinkedIn Pulse. This provides you with the opportunity to demonstrate your knowledge and expertise by writing articles, case studies, and offering opinions.

This article provides a good beginner’s guide to get started. Remember who you are writing for and what your goal is.

7 – Share presentations

Slideshare is a little known tool in LinkedIn that gives you great exposure allowing you to demonstrate your expertise and showcase your experience. If you have given presentations at industry events or internal events, what can you repurpose and publish on Slideshare?

LinkedIn shares tips on how to use Slideshare and tend to emphasise its use as a business to business marketing tool. However why not take advantage of the opportunity to demonstrate your industry knowledge with greater visual impact.