Six Strategies to Boost Your LinkedIn Engagement

• Maintaining a consistent profile update schedule for improved visibility
• Identifying and integrating career-relevant keywords for search optimization
• Enhancing profile credibility with professional images and personalized banners
• Soliciting and offering recommendations to validate professional contributions
• Fostering engagement and brand recognition through regular content sharing
• Leveraging hashtags effectively to broaden content reach and expertise showcase

In 2003, the American business networking site LinkedIn was launched worldwide. Since then, it has become an integral part of business culture, giving people at all stages of their careers an outlet for building comprehensive networks virtually. Everyone from talented individuals just starting out to the world’s preeminent business mavens is just a click away.

Given the breadth of information and resources LinkedIn has to offer and the hundreds of millions of people ready to connect on the platform, establishing a strong LinkedIn presence should be at the top of every career-minded person to-do list. Using the platform’s built-in tools, you can craft a polished profile that imbues your personal brand with trust and credibility while boosting your exposure to new opportunities.

In an October 2018 post, LinkedIn reported that engagement rates were rising by more than 50% per year. Time has never been better to learn how to maximize your visibility on LinkedIn—and doing so could very well lead to the next big opportunity in your career. Here are six strategies for sprucing up your profile so you can use LinkedIn to your best advantage.

1. Keep Your Profile Up-to-Date

Ensuring that your profile is always completely up-to-date with respect to even the slightest detail is truly best. You never know when just one tidbit of information will move you higher in the search results for a potential client or employer. Plus, a neglected profile is easy to spot. Because LinkedIn members can view your profile 24/7, you want to make sure that yours clearly conveys that you are someone who is diligent about keeping your information current.

We are all used to making time for certain tasks at regularly scheduled intervals, such as visiting the doctor or dentist for a checkup. Why not make a regular appointment with yourself to reevaluate your LinkedIn presence?

2. Harness the Power of Keywords

Did you know that 95% of recruiters use LinkedIn to find job candidates? Recruiters conduct searches using keywords, so include terms in your profile that will matter most to your career trajectory.

If you aren’t confident about which keywords you should include, you can use a software tool to help, such as WordClouds. You could start by finding a handful of job postings for positions you might be interested in transitioning into and copying and pasting them into a single document. Then, see which words appear most often: these are your keywords.

If you want to increase your chances of appearing in someone’s search results, you should also maximize your use of keywords that highlight your skills. And if possible, use the maximum number of characters allowed for each section as well.

3. Update Your Profile Picture and Banner Background

Statistically speaking, LinkedIn members with profile pictures are likely to receive 21 times more profile views and nine times more connection requests than those without. Having a photo that looks professional increases the authenticity of your profile.

You can also customize the banner behind your profile picture to an image that radiates the qualities you want to be associated with, rather than using the default LinkedIn background setting. An engaging and authentic banner can go a long way in making a great first impression.

4. Request Recommendations

Recommendations are an excellent way of demonstrating the value of your contributions as an employee, and they help hiring managers understand the kinds of experiences others have had when working with you. You can tell a lot about a person’s work ethic, values, and reputation from their recommendations.

The best way to accumulate more recommendations for your profile is simply to ask for them. Remember also to reciprocate by providing recommendations for others.

5. Share Regularly

Get in the habit of sharing your work and thought leadership in LinkedIn posts because this is key to building your brand and the public’s perception of your expertise. Not only do such posts increase your engagement but they can also increase exposure for your employer. Although only 3% of employees tend to post content on LinkedIn, those who do have been found to generate 30%  of their companies’ content engagement.

Regularly posting content can also help you establish beneficial content-sharing partnerships over the internet.

6. Use Hashtags Strategically

Hashtags have become immensely helpful for individuals who wish to make their content more accessible and easily discoverable by people searching on specific subjects. When used in the right way, hashtags can function like free SEO for your brand, allowing you to more easily showcase your expertise for exactly the people for whom your content is most relevant.

Optimizing Your Content

Here are a few pointers to ensure your LinkedIn content is effective and compelling:

• Pick the right time to post
• End your posts with a call to action (CTA)
• Create high quality content
• Automate your approach
• Proofread everything

If you commit to using all these strategies regularly, you will undoubtedly improve your LinkedIn engagement rates. And chances are, that could lead to the next big step in your career.

In conclusion, implementing these LinkedIn profile enhancement strategies can substantially boost your professional image, visibility, and connections. By keeping your profile current, leveraging pertinent keywords, emphasizing authenticity, and consistently sharing content, you can open doors to new career prospects and elevate your professional journey on LinkedIn.