LinkedIn is a powerful social networking platform for business leaders because it is specifically for professionals. It should often be the first social account to consider activating, especially for B2B and service-based companies.
Growing your LinkedIn presence is about consistency and credibility. Most people understand the basics of setting up an account for both your business page and individual profile. So, let’s take it a step further and look at a few more recent and advanced features to consider using.
Get the Basics Right First
Before you can elevate your LinkedIn profile, it’s important to cover the simple stuff. The fact that you’re reading this likely means you’ve done that, but some of the basics bear repeating.
- Upload a good headshot
- Add your work experience and education
- Connect to your company’s page
- Customize your URL
- Add professional certifications or volunteer roles
- Connect with the people you know
- Start posting relevant content consistently
- Upload an eye-catching background photo
- Comment on other people’s posts
Each step is fairly easy to understand but still requires time and effort to pull off. Take the time to get these right before moving on to these advanced tactics.
1. Verify Your Profile
LinkedIn wants its users to verify that they’re real people, so it’s incentivizing you to confirm you are who you say you are. This requires downloading the LinkedIn app to your phone and sending a real-time photo of your face using Clear.
Thankfully, LinkedIn makes this fairly simple—it only takes about two minutes. Completing this process earns you a tiny verification badge next to your name, and LinkedIn says verified profiles receive about 60% more traffic than non-verified ones.
2. Offer Services
Business pages are known for listing company services, but LinkedIn has added a similar feature to profiles. You can now create an individual services page, which adds a “Request Services” button beneath your name on posts.
This services page allows you to list services, locations where you work, pricing details, upload work samples, and request reviews from other individuals whom you’ve helped.
3. Open to Work or Hire
If you’re looking for a job or a job candidate, LinkedIn allows you to add a corresponding green or purple swoosh to your profile photo. To do so, click on the “Open To” button on your profile and select the right option.
Users with Premium profiles can search by people who are offering services, open to hire, or looking for a job. So this makes it easier for the right people to find you. It’s also a signal to your network of what you’re looking for and how they can help.
4. Switch to Creator Mode
If you add content to your LinkedIn profile, it might be wise to turn on Creator Mode. This gives you access to some unique tools like LinkedIn Live, the ability to create newsletters, and allows people to follow your account without having to connect with you.
Creator Mode also gives you access to more analytics insights on how many people have viewed your content. It also rearranges your LinkedIn profile to emphasize your experience, so this can be a downside if you aren’t focused on creating content.
5. Upgrade to Premium
Users looking to get the most out of LinkedIn can pay about $30 per month to unlock some new features. LinkedIn Premium is best for people looking to actively hire, contact more business leads, or do in-depth research on LinkedIn users.
There are a few different tiers of their paid plans: from “recruiter lite” to “premium career”, each offering different benefits. Thankfully, each one has a free trial so you can test out how each feature works and whether it’s worth the cost.
6. Use LinkedIn for Professional Development
Continuing education should never stop for marketers. Thankfully, LinkedIn provides a few different tools for learning from others on their platform.
In 2015, LinkedIn purchased online learning company Lynda for $1.5 billion. They’ve since rebranded that as LinkedIn Learning—a massive video library covering everything from finance to computer science. LinkedIn users can gain certifications to add to their profile with a paid subscription to the service.
Take Your LinkedIn to the Next Level
At GreenMellen, we love helping companies manage their social media accounts and get the most out of each network. Because we often serve B2B and professional service companies, LinkedIn is the place where we spend most of our time.
Like any other social media, LinkedIn is always changing. New features are added as old ones die off. For instance, LinkedIn groups haven’t been useful in a while, but that may start to change over time as professionals seek online communities.You can follow us on LinkedIn for more tips like these, download our free guide on LinkedIn best practices, or reach out to us if we can answer any of your questions.
