If you have already read LinkedIn 101 then you are in the right place, if not read that blog post first.
There are personal branding tactics that one can follow for their LinkedIn account. We went over the general do’s and don’ts in LinkedIn 101 so here is where we will get more in depth about your account.
Most of your accounts are probably the non-premium ones which work perfectly fine but there is the option to get a free trial on the premium level.
One thing we need to go over is connections and recommendations. On your account you may have zero connections at the moment. The first thing you can do to help this is to ask LinkedIn for recommendations from your network! To do this you go to the top header of the page and click “Network” and there will be a list of “people you may know.”
The Next Step
The next step will be old employers or colleagues that have a LinkedIn. You can search their name in the search box to the left of the Network tab and ask to connect with them.
Once you are finished with connecting with people you may know and do know you can start to find professional groups. If you have attended a college or do attend you can find your school on LinkedIn. You can also follow companies or groups that you may have been a part of or are just interested in. There is no limit. Just quickly search key words of what you are interested in and go through the lists of companies and groups.
When you have followed these groups/companies you can engage with their posts just like Facebook. This includes commenting, liking, and sharing. Another good tactic to take part of is to author and post your own articles to gain visibility.
The options are endless on how you will present your LinkedIn profile but always remember that this is a professional profile and used to connect with future employers so always have your profile and interactions shown in a positive way.
Let’s review what we learned from this post:
- Free Trial for Premium level
- Ask for LinkedIn recommendations from your Network
- Customize connection requests
- Follow professional associations & online groups
- Engage in online career blogs
- Author and post LinkedIn articles on various subjects to gain visibility
- Always respond within your network in a positive way