How do I maintain a LinkedIn profile?
What is LinkedIn?
LinkedIn appeared in 2004 as a resource for finding IT-specialists. In 18 years, it has increased significantly in volume – up to 800 million users in 200 countries. So the audience here is huge, decent and solvent.
The main categories – specialists and recruiters – are still there, but they are no longer the predominant majority. You can find all kinds of people here – fitness trainers, beauticians, salespeople, artists. There’s a lot of people out there! Today, the mission of LinkedIn is “to connect professionals around the world to share experiences.
What do you need this social network for?
First of all, to promote your professional brand.
This is much easier to do on LinkedIn than on other social networks. If Facebook and Instagram are focused on finding clients, LinkedIn is focused on finding experts.
If you’re an expert, on LinkedIn you can build your professional portfolio, get recognition from other experts, you can start getting invited to different professional conferences, you’ll have the opportunity to join other projects that are also easy to find through LinkedIn, and of course you can get orders.
Promoting your personal brand
Compared to other social networks, it takes longer to promote on LinkedIn. It’s not a very rushed network. Statistically, the LinkedIn feed has only 13% active users. People are busy working by default. If you start posting once a day, you might be asked, “Do you even work?”
Promotion here is a slow process, but the results are long-lasting.
People and their posts are better remembered here. On the other networks, feeds fly away at breakneck speed. And on LinkedIn, users post much slower, so the likelihood of finding the right person from a memorable post increases.
Building Your Audience
You have to understand that the entire LinkedIn base is paying people. Every one of them can become your client. But to do that, you need to get to know each one, get to know them from different angles, process them, and build a rapport with them. To do this, tell them about yourself, share some useful information that demonstrates your expertise, “warm” them up. This is a long process, and it will not work fast. On average, it takes five to eight months from start to first sales.
On LinkedIn you have to take quality, not quantity. You can’t sell directly here. You’ll be mistaken for a spammer and blocked.
Important! If nothing has been happening in your profile for a long time, and then you decide to promote and start sending 100 invitations per day, there is a very good chance that you will be banned and your profile will be locked. To unblock it, you’ll have to provide copies of your documents (passport or driver’s license, which will show your face).
Therefore I recommend to develop activity according to the principle “less is more, but better”.
You have the opportunity to hire a LinkedIn profile writer. You can devote more time to your professional development, and your profile will be maintained by a professional.