14 LinkedIn Hacks That Will Triple the Size of Your Network in Two Weeks

LinkedIn is amazing.

When it comes to networking with professionals, there is simply no better place to hang out.

Not Snapchat. Not Facebook. Not Instagram.

LinkedIn is the professional’s jam.

LinkedIn is a great place to attract business users who are serious about their stuff.

Nearly every professional on the planet has a LinkedIn profile.

This large user base makes LinkedIn an ideal platform for marketing B2B products and services.

But here’s the thing. You need to grow your network for these marketing efforts to be effective.

In this article, I’ll discuss LinkedIn hacks that will triple the size of your network, which in turn will lead to more engagement, conversions, and revenue.

This article, in other words, is about you making more money.

Growing your LinkedIn network is how it happens.

1. Include Images in Posts

This might sound like a simple thing, but it’s really important on LinkedIn specifically.

It’s no secret that images increase engagement on social media posts. On LinkedIn, research shows that including a photo increases views 11x.



This means you need a header pic, profile pic, and pictures on all posts you publish to maximize your profile’s viewability.

You can’t just post any images, however. They need to be relevant to your target audience, in which case you’ll need to understand who that audience is.

Let’s deal with that point.

2. Cater to Your Audience

 

Do you know what your LinkedIn audience wants, likes, needs, and will benefit from?

Everyone’s network is different, but you can make a few assumptions based on the data.

For example, comScore broke down the demographic composition of each social media network. Although LinkedIn is one of the most popular social networks among adults aged 30 and older, younger Millennials tend to avoid it.



What this means is you don’t have to worry about being trendy like BuzzFeed on this network. A traditional approach should work just fine on these professionals.

Generate quality leads on LinkedIn by posting unique and sensible content that encourages clicks.

A premium or paid membership on LinkedIn gives you a robust set of data on who’s viewing your profile, reading your posts, and interacting with you. It makes sense to analyze these metrics from time to time.

Whether you look at the data or not, there is one thing you should be doing — getting to know your network.

Interact, message, like, follow, post, and comment around. It will pay off as you get to know your network on a more personal basis.

7. Track Your LinkedIn Analytics

Data analytics are the only way to truly know how any online campaign is doing, and LinkedIn is no different.

Though you can’t track LinkedIn views through Google Analytics or SEMrush, you can track them through the site’s internal analytics.



The Next Web already has a great article detailing which LinkedIn analytics are available and how to access them, so I won’t delve too deeply into it here.

What I will tell you is it’s a great idea to export these metrics into your own spreadsheet or database and track them offline in conjunction with other social networking and web traffic.

Read all 14 hacks and the compete article

The 7 Deadly LinkedIn Sins

Stephen Key

LinkedIn is growing by leaps and bounds. No surprise -- it’s a perfect place for people to connect and do business online. Though along with the platform’s growth, there seems like an ever-growing divide between users who see huge returns on their investment and those who swear that LinkedIn just “doesn’t work.”

I get it. It’s easy to access people you want to connect and do business with, but doesn’t mean you’ll be successful, especially if you approach using the platform incorrectly. This may sound harsh, but someone has to say it: It’s not other people. It’s you. Hopefully, the below advice can help. Here are the seven deadly sins that will cause your LinkedIn outreach to go unanswered.

5. Being needy.

Have a little confidence. Act like you belong at the table. Don’t immediately reach out to someone after they accept your connection request. Don’t message them a second time after just 24 hours have passed without a response. This is another way of being respectful of other people’s time and space. I promise you, it’s a more effective way of building a foundation for a productive business relationship.

6. Getting too personal. 

It’s okay to get personal at times, but remember, this is a place for business. You’re trying to connect with people professionally. LinkedIn content, especially video, has had amazing reach over the last few years, but just because you can post something doesn’t mean you should. LinkedIn is a tool for branding. What does your lunch or the fact that you have time to post about it say about your professional brand? There are plenty of other platforms to share your political beliefs, vacation shots and breakfast choices. 

See all 7 Deadly Sins and the complete Entrepreneur article

6 LinkedIn tips to make your profile pop

By Matt Kapko

Most professionals are aware of the business-oriented social network, LinkedIn, and many of them use it. However, a large percentage of businesspeople struggle with making the most of the world's largest professional social network. 

"LinkedIn is probably the most underutilized platform on the face of the planet," according B. Bonin Bough, vice president of Global Media and Consumer Engagement, Mondelez International, a global snack foods conglomerate. Bough spoke last week in Las Vegas at the 2015 International Consumer Electronics Show.

We asked LinkedIn for advice for CIOs, IT executives and other businesspeople who want to stand out on LinkedIn. Here are six tips to help you achieve business value from the platform.

1) Make Your LinkedIn Profile Shine

It all begins with your profile, the default starting point where LinkedIn gives you the chance to make the right first impression and attract the most meaningful and relevant opportunities.

A scattered and poorly developed profile means you may not be showing up in relevant searches. You may also be missing out on volunteer opportunities, speaking engagements and business networking, according to LinkedIn. 

You don't have to tackle the entire job at once. LinkedIn encourages you to break up you profile makeover into a set of smaller jobs. "Adding a profile photo, a compelling headline, a summary of 40 words or more, filling out your experience section and adding your skills, are great places to start," the company says.

You can make changes to your profiles using LinkedIn's mobile app or via a new, guided experience that was recently introduced along with a series of new desktop features for profiles. 

You can also increase your exposure by adding rich media, a background photo and details about volunteer work, certifications or organizations you support. 

Each action you take helps to make you more discoverable to the hundreds of millions of professionals on and off of LinkedIn," according to the company.

2) Don't Be Shy on LinkedIn

A professional social network is no place to be shy. "Networking is crucial for your career, but people tend to transform from social butterflies in their personal worlds to flies on the wall in their professional spheres," according to LinkedIn.

Don't worry about pestering other business professionals or hesitate to contact people you haven't spoken with in a while. LinkedIn says its Connected app can help you find appropriate moments to connect. Job changes, a mention in the news, work anniversaries and recent meetings are all opportune times to reach out, according to the company. 

6) Find Your Voice on LinkedIn

"Your professional identity isn't just about what you've done," according to LinkedIn. "It's also how you think and what you know."

LinkedIn's self-publishing platform gives members a platform to share lessons learned or comment on industry trends.

You're not only encouraged to showcase your areas of expertise but to also take the time to craft an authentic voice. While your voice may not develop naturally overnight, it's important to stay true to who you are and how you want to present yourself, according to LinkedIn.

"Publishing posts is a great way to showcase your professional knowledge, position yourself as a thought leader in your industry and even highlight some of the interesting things your company is doing," LinkedIn says.

Read all 6 tips and the complete CIO article

REVEALED: The simple keywords to use on your LinkedIn profile that will have employers coming to YOU with job offers

Dawn Graham

If you’re in a job search or plan to be soon, you know that the stakes are high in this competitive market. A major part of the process where many job seekers routinely underprepare is the interview. In fact, I often see candidates spend more time planning their outfit than their content.

While what you wear certainly has an impact, what you share earns an offer. And just when you thought the interview couldn’t get any more stressful, the current pandemic has changed up the game in new ways, so there are a few additional things you need to be ready for if you want to stand out and secure a great next step in your career.

Although you’ll no longer need to worry about the grip of your handshake (perhaps ever again), here are three new aspects that will be important to focus on in your next job interview:

1) You’ll need to set up the environment. While video teleconferencing has become more popular over the last several years, use of this medium for job interviews has dominated in the past few months due to social distancing, which means expectations for a near flawless execution have also skyrocketed. Fumbling through the process while experiencing distractions and technical difficulties isn’t an option, so it’s up to you to master the platforms being used and practice beforehand so you appear confident in troubleshooting any unexpected challenges. 

And now, instead of showing up to a building where you meet in a conference room or office, you are required to set the stage for the interview environment, which takes some additional preparation and can have a major impact on the outcome. As the host of at least one side of the interview space, you’ll need to consider lighting, connectivity, audio quality, ambient noise, background visuals and video angles just to name a few. 

Everything counts and will be a part of the evaluation since it’s likely you’ll be using video technology regularly to communicate in the new role, perhaps with customers, so the interview has become an audition of sorts. 

Interviews are inherently anxiety-provoking and there’s a lot you won’t be able to control, so it’s in your best interest to control as much as you can regarding the environment. The ball for much of this is now in the job seeker’s court.

2) You’ll be asked how you’re handling the pandemic --  Read how to address this, #3 of the changes and more interview tips at the complete Forbes article

11 LinkedIn experts weigh in on how to start your LinkedIn job search campaign

Working for a One-Stop career center, I’m often confronted by job seekers who haven’t used LinkedIn but know they must in order to shorten their job search. Some of them believe they should begin by writing a compelling profile which makes good sense. But is a profile alone enough?

Put yourself in my clients’ shoes; you’re starting with nothing. Of course you need to have a profile, and the best you might accomplish is copying and pasting your resume to your profile for the time being. First and foremost 

1) Sarah Johnston advises to create a strong headline:

The first thing a job seeker should do is to consider their headline to make sure that it delivers the most value. LinkedIn only gives you 120 characters for the headline. Make sure that you are maximizing those characters to the fullest with search terms.  No recruiter is searching for #ONO or people open to new opportunities UNLESS they need a temp or contract worker for an immediate fill role. Use words that a recruiter would actually search for to find someone like you.

So where do you go from there? Perhaps just as important is inviting people to the party. In other words, building a targeted network of the most important tier of connections and expanding from there.

And equally important would be communicating with your network. After all, if you don’t engage, your out of sight out of mind. I know it sounds like a cliché but any LinkedIn expert will agree that engagement is key to your campaign.

I wanted to know what great LinkedIn minds think about how one should start and maintain their LinkedIn campaign. Here’s what they wrote:

A strong profile is necessary to start:

 

2) Andy Foote says be deliberate when writing your profile. Do your research by looking at what others write.

Before you do anything with your own LinkedIn page, look around. Peruse a few career blogs, search on “LinkedIn” within them. Then spend half a day browsing LinkedIn, search on relevant hashtags like #linkedin and #linkedintips and #andydoeslinkedin (that last one is mine).

Look at as many profiles as you can and take notes, what do you think makes a “strong profile” and why? What elements do you need? What impresses you? What should you avoid doing? After you’ve thoroughly researched and made notes, roll your sleeves up and get to work on creating your new and refreshed LinkedIn presence.

Once you’ve finished, pick 5 people you trust and ask them for their honest opinion of your new profile page, take before and after screenshots if you really want to show them the transformation that has taken place. If they suggest changes, implement those if it makes sense to you to do so. Thank them for their feedback.

Understand that the LinkedIn profile is a living and breathing document, it needs to change as you change, so get into the habit of updating and tweaking it regularly. It is also a powerful networking device. Thousands of people will look at it over the course of your life!

Take it further with targeted network and engagement

5) Kevin Turner writes that creating a targeted audience and engaging with them is also important. 

As much has been written about LinkedIn profile best practices, I’m not going to spend our time on that.
To really accelerate your momentum on LinkedIn focus on Targeting your Audience & Engaging with Knowledge to build your Brand and Demand.
Targeting Your Audience on LinkedIn:

• Research, Find, and [Follow] at least 25 to 100 Target Companies
• Research, Find, and [Follow] all Leadership of your Target Companies
• Set up Job Search Alerts for those Companies and Select [Notify recruiters]
• Visit each company [Page] and [Follow] their #HashTags, so they appear in your Feed
• Set up Google Alerts for each Target Company and their Leadership

Engaging Your Audience:

• Know each company’s and leader’s pain points and how you may be able to solve them
• Watch your Feed for Post Opportunities from your Targets that you can intelligently contribute too by [Like], [Comment], & [Reshare]
• If a conversation sparks, be ready to nurture the process, and if this becomes a repeatable pattern send a personalized invite to [Connect]
• At the right time, reach out to your new Connection with a request for their advice in the form of an informational interview

Follow these steps, and your LinkedIn experience can be transformed into a powerful campaign focused on creating your dream opportunity.nce can be transformed into a powerful campaign focused on creating your dream opportunity.

 See what all 11 experts have to say and the complete Things Career Related article

**  My bonus tips:  
1) When you send a connection request tell them why you want to connect with them.  
2) Don't ask " Can you look at my resume and tell me if you have a job that might be a fit"  If someone isn't going to put in the effort to see if the company has a job posted that might be a fit how much effort will they put into doing the job...  One caveat.. If it is a small company they might not post their jobs.