Information in this blog post was obtained from Neil Patel, Sprout Social, and Pretty Little Marketer.
Isn’t it wild that we have come from dial-up internet and basic search? When I was younger, I remember taking library research classes on how to specifically type your keywords into the search engines to find what you needed. Now our search engines are incredible. Not only can they find the answer to your exact worded question but they can give you alike suggestions to help your search. You might be wondering– how does this impact my LinkedIn page? In recent years, LinkedIn has improved its connectivity by allowing you to optimize areas within your profile to make you noticeable.
Keywords
Keywords are your friend. Keywords can apply to just about anything that is connected to search engine optimization. It’s basically how today’s AI finds you in the midst of all of the social media content out there. It puts you on the map or in other words, the search engine results page or SERP. Want to get noticed? Place at least 3 keywords that pertain to your content subject in your blog. Include it in your title. An important best practice for this is to not overdo it. You don’t need your keyword in every sentence. Search engines frown upon that when they’re working to put the best content out there for the audience.
Hashtags
Okay, you’re probably wondering why I separated this. Aren’t hashtags keywords too? Yes and no. Hashtags are extremely helpful in social media because it puts you in the specific pool of the topic you’re writing about. The biggest thing to do here is to not overdo your hashtags. You don’t need twenty of them. At most I have seen upwards of three hashtags in any given social media post. For LinkedIn, however, I see usually one. In my blog post, Content Ideas to Make You Stand Out on LinkedIn, I indicated that your subject matter should be of value to your reader. The same goes here. You need to find a hashtag that isn’t too complicated. For example, #socialmediaandcomputers might not be the best option. Why? It’s too specific in the sense that most people are not contributing content to solely social media and computers. One way to change this up is to consider using #socialmedia or #computers. Likely, other content writers are talking about this too and if they are, they are more likely to read your content and maybe even connect to you, growing your LinkedIn network. Read more from my colleague, Jade Artzer on how to win with your hashtags on LinkedIn.
LinkedIn Headers
Content strategists are talking about optimizing your header. This is the spot where you put a short blurb of what you are and where you going. It should look something like this:
“Content writer|social media strategist| open to contract opportunities”
This is useful because it also is a piece of the LinkedIn SEO algorithm. It pulls your profile into the group of content writers and social media strategists specifically. It tells your viewer what you do. This will grow your connections and possibly even your job opportunities.
Post Times
If you’re not posting around the right time, the time when people are connecting to their social media accounts, your content might be disconnected. It’s really important to get as close as possible to the time that is best for your specific channel to post. This is why it’s important to have a content calendar. If you’re a business owner, definitely invest in a scheduler if you can and have the opportunity to do so. I have used Sprout Social’s scheduler in a volunteer capacity and it was nice to be able to preschedule a post and make changes if needed. Sprout Social posted the best times to share content in a recent blog. According to Sprout Social, the best times to post on LinkedIn are corresponding to the U.S. workweek and states "that most content since geared towards leadership and professionalism." This makes sense for most LinkedIn users to consume content during these times.
If you’re not at the ability to be able to use a scheduler or don’t see a need if you’re just working on your page, then still have a content calendar. You can create your own. Google has created a template for you through Docs and Hubspot has one you can download as well. If you need to set reminders to remember posting, I encourage an app called Todoist. It’s a great tool to make a to-do list. You can set recurring lists, checkmark off your activity, and see what’s ahead.
Insights
A great way to build your SEO is to understand insights first and what they mean to you. Neil Patel has a great blog post on how to use LinkedIn insights. According to Patel, LinkedIn’s “industry insights” page can give you data on your industry, such as social media or marketing. This is helpful for you because if you know what is important to your reader then you know how to market your content to them and this only improves your potential for relationships even more. Pretty Little Marketer, or Sophie, shares on her Instagram page to think about and understand areas like your worst performing content and compare them to your top-performing content.
Social media and LinkedIn can be easy, you just have to give them a try.
Resources
Keutelian, M. (2022, April 13). The best times to post on social media in 2022. Sprout Social.
Miller, S. (2022, February 9). How to use your insights to smash your future content. Pretty Little Marketer Instagram page. https://www.instagram.com/p/Ca9QswyjRfp/
Patel, N. (Date Unknown). How to use LinkedIn Insights in an actionable way. Neil Patel. https://neilpatel.com/blog/linkedin-insights/
Sprout Social. Social media publishing tool. https://sproutsocial.com/features/social-media-publishing/
Todoist. Todoist app features. https://todoist.com/features
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