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Writer's pictureJessica Nikkel
Mar 17, 20223 min read

3 Ways to Grow Your LinkedIn Audience

Updated: Mar 26, 2022

Information from this blog was obtained from Hubspot, Neil Patel, Sprout Social, LinkedIn, and TedX.

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Image courtesy of Wix.

Do you ever wonder what to do with the blue box with one small word in white, “In”, on your phone? Or maybe it's a bookmark on your laptop internet browser? Your entire resume is on it but yet you can’t jump on board with your colleagues who are using it to update on their industry trends and interests. I have a secret for you: Don’t overthink it. Use these 3 simple steps to get started on optimizing your content and engaging your audience on LinkedIn.



Engage with Your Network

Let's start with getting you connected. Join a group on LinkedIn that is focused on your industry. Follow others in your industry or cross-industry. Are you a social media professional? Follow other social media professionals or thought leaders. Looking for an area that connects to social media marketing? Follow marketing or communications. Write insightful comments on posts within a group or on an industry leader’s post or status update. This is a great way to earn recognition from the writer but even from potential colleagues who can help grow your channel by adding, following, and sharing your content. One suggestion from Sprout Social encouraged LinkedIn users to message connections through the group or to pay the monthly membership fee to receive access to InMail, LinkedIn's source for messaging outside of your close network.


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Create Good Content

What is your field? What are you good at? What do you know that you feel compelled to share with others that can help them?


About 12 years ago, Simon Sinek challenged people and businesses to understand why they do what they do. He asked “What is your why?”, showing us that when you know the answer to that question, then you can produce the how, your LinkedIn page, and then what, which is the content you send out to your network. (Sinek, 2009)


Video courtesy of TedTalks, YouTube.


Maybe you are passionate about social media. Start thinking about what types of posts you want to get out. This can be articles, videos, and status updates. Once you understand the type you want to post, think about how many times you want to post per week. For more insight on increasing your audience engagement, please take a look at my colleague Matraca’s post about creating content that drives interactions with your brand.


Your next goal is to start tailoring your content to your industry. Share some best practices or a how-to in an article. Then promote your article. Repost on your profile. Share it with colleagues in messages and ask for their thoughts. Tag people in your industry in the comments. Make sure to include your keywords and hashtags. Hubspot shared The Beginner’s Guide to Linked In Marketing in which it suggested for newcomers to focus on a strategy for content creation. This should include short, quick posts because they thrive on LinkedIn, however, you should have a healthy balance of long form content. This encourages your colleagues to stay consistent engagers with a variety of content forms. Be sure to add images and videos.



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Plan Your Strategy and Be Consistent

Finally, stay consistent with your content calendar. Decide what you will post and when you will post it. Most content creators recommend planning out for the next month. You can plan out longer, just make sure you’re ready to make changes because communication and world changes are fluid enough that you want to make sure whatever you post still carries the right tone for the day. Hubspot suggests, that your audience will come to expect content from you, so the more consistent you are in a schedule, the easier it will be to keep your audience engaged with you.


woman laptop calendar
Image courtesy of Wix.

Resources

Sinek, S. (Presenter). (2009). How Great Leaders Inspire Action [Video]. TEDx. https://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action?language=en


Hubspot. (2021, October 4). The Beginner’s Guide to LinkedIn Marketing. Hubspot Blog. https://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/23454/the-ultimate-cheat-sheet-for-mastering-linkedin.aspx




Patel, N. (Date Unknown). A LinkedIn Marketing Guide. Neil Patel. https://neilpatel.com/blog/linkedin-marketing-guide/


Zote, J. (2021, May 13). 11 Powerful LinkedIn Features You Didn’t Know About. Sprout Social. https://sproutsocial.com/insights/linkedin-features/

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