LinkedIn Features

77 LinkedIn Marketing Tips and Tricks for 2022

Every year LinkedIn changes dramatically and 2021 has been no exception, with massive changes to how our LinkedIn profiles look, a roll out that began in November. But there have been changes and updates all year and this article reflects these. How the 77 Tips work This checklist has been set out in sections that each relate to a separate aspect of the platform. It covers everything you need to know to make LinkedIn work for you – whether that’s becoming known in your industry; developing as a thought leader in your business; generating leads for your company; widening your network of peers, colleagues and leaders; or enhancing your profile to boost your chances of being spotted when a potential client is searching for someone with your skills. Here are the topics covered: 5 Important Changes to LinkedIn in 2021 Profiles Company pages Publishing Engaging Connecting Direct messaging 5 Important Changes to LinkedIn in 2021 Providing Services is no longer a section to ignore. The Services section sits in the top section of your profile, making it highly visible. From here you can add a short About section, list your services, request and display client reviews and send and receive requests for proposals. It also has an impact on how easily you can be found in searches. Choose wisely about turning on Content Creator The upsides of switching on this function are that your Activity section shows 6 of your most recently published posts, and your follower number and nominated hashtags display in your Intro section. The downsides are that your follower number displays in the intro and that your Connect button changes to Follow. It has been reported that any improved visibility of your posts – the intent of this new feature – takes two months. Understand the latest profile changes and implement them on your profile. In late 2021, LinkedIn revamped our profiles which changed how a number of sections display and slightly reorders them. Update your profile to take these into account. There’s a brief overview of the changes here: https://bit.ly/2YOY0Dc Planning an event? Use LinkedIn’s ever-improving Events feature to promote it. LinkedIn has made Lives available to most company pages which is an excellent place from which to host an event. The event page has its own URL and news feed, you can invite 1000 connections a week whose attendance is added to their Highlights section, and if it’s a Live, the resulting video drops neatly into the Video tab under Posts on the page. Newsletters allow you to send value-added content direct to subscribers’ inboxes. The newsletter function began rolling out in earnest in the 4th quarter of 2021, resulting in a deluge of invites arriving in members’ mailboxes. That unfortunately meant many invites to good ones were turned down simply because of the sheer volume. If you want to produce a newsletter, wait until the flurry has subsided or until they become available on company pages which, we are reliably informed, is not very far away. Company pages have undergone significant change and are more useful than ever. From LinkedIn Lives to product and service pages, LinkedIn company pages are now more valuable to businesses large and small than they have ever been before. If you have not looked at pages in the past 12 months, take another look at what’s available – you will be pleasantly surprised.   Personal profiles Update your profile image to include the cover video. LinkedIn now makes it possible to include a short video in the Introduction section to your profile. When someone visits your profile, it plays on mute for 3 seconds. Record this in portrait mode and include captions. Make your profile banner eye-catching and information rich. This adds visual interest to your LinkedIn profile, helping you stand out. When you include a tagline, web address and relevant background image to your cover, it grabs attention. This is valuable and important real estate that is often overlooked. Ensure your profile image doesn’t hide an important part of your profile banner. Profile photos sit at the left of your banner so don’t place critical information where it will be hidden. Cover image words need to be BIG. The dimensions of the cover image change, depending on the device being used so always look at how it will display on both desktop and mobile to ensure the text can be clearly read. The size ratio between profile image and cover image also changes; on mobile the cover image becomes smaller than on desktop. Claim your personal LinkedIn URL. Having a personal URL allows you to use it neatly and tidily in your marketing without a multi-digit suffix. The result is then your version of www.linkedin.com/in/lynnairejohnston rather than www.linkedin.com/in/lynnairejohnston-a9b16343. Update and complete your contact information so people can easily find you. LinkedIn allows you to add a physical/postal address, an email address, your phone number, three websites, your Twitter handle and a range of instant messenger platforms including Skype. Include as many as you have. Write a meaningful, impactful, attention-grabbing headline. This should not be your job title. A good formula is what you do, who for and the benefits they gain. Headlines can be 220 characters long so there’s plenty of space to include any key words that help you to be found in searches. Use all three website listing opportunities offered in the Contact Info section. Even if you have only one website, choose three different pages, list those URLs and describe what visitors will find there. There are 30 characters available for this. If you haven’t checked the websites you have listed for some time, do so to see if they need updating. Display the university you attended. If you have a tertiary qualification from a recognised university or polytechnic, tick the box that asks if you wish to show Education in the top section of your profile. If you don’t have a tertiary qualification but went to a ‘good’ school, add its name. Connect…