How to use LinkedIn the easy way

Content made easy

• Post regularly – Once you have a LinkedIn profile, it’s important that you post content regularly. This way your content will be seen by more people, and there’ll be no questioning who you are and what you do.
• Subscribe to industry newsletters – Subscribe to industry newsletters so up to date, relevant news for your sector comes straight to you – no more hunting for what to say. You can then repost these stories, adding your own comment if you like.
• Use hashtags – Use #tags to search relevant news or sector opportunities you might want to share.
• Big up other people – If you’re following the right people this should be a good source of inspiration. Like and share content that takes your fancy, it’s easy content and makes other people feel happy.
• It doesn’t have to be all work – Sharing sector specific content shows your knowledge and enthusiasm, but just because it’s the work network, doesn’t mean you have to post just about work. Posting about the things you do and the causes you care about outside of work will show your followers who you are, not just what you do professionally.
• Give and take recommendations – Whenever you leave a job or finish a contract, ask your previous manager to write a recommendation for you. If you manage someone, help them by providing a recommendation, it’s all good LinkedIn karma.

Connect with others

• Make it part of your routine – every time you receive or send an email to someone new, look them up on LinkedIn and ask them to connect with you. If you’re new to LinkedIn, try to think of the people you’ve ever met in real life and ask for a connection.
• Don’t be shy – There’s no need to be shy about asking for connections. LinkedIn is all about making new contacts and seeing what opportunities they bring. If you dont know them at all, include a note explaining why you thought they were interesting, they’ll be chuffed.
• BUT don’t connect with just anyone – The LinkedIn algorithm favours content that’s getting engagement. If your contacts are relevant to you, they are more likely to like and share your posts. Strangers and spammy accounts tend not to engage with content so don’t feel the need to accept requests from completely random people.
• Keep up to date with sector news – Having said that, you do need to make new contacts. Sector awards are a great way to learn the best people and organisations that you should be connected with. Find awards shortlists and add winners and runner ups as contacts and follow their journey to get inspiration.
• Ask for introductions – The other way to make new connections is to actually ask for them. I recently made a shameless plug when I moved away from London and wanted to connect with new people in Bristol. The post did really well and I made 7 connections off the back of it.

Keep it up!

• Set aside time – You don’t want your profile taking time away from your life. Set aside some time each week to create some content, and check on your feed. Phone notifications can help you respond fast if someone contacts you, just select the ones you want so you are not feeling bombarded.

Play the long game

• It never happens straight away – Connections made both in real life and online rarely come to anything straight away. You might even find that connections you made years ago pop up at the most unexpected time, so my advice is not to underestimate anyone as the long game really does pay off.
• Keep in touch – We’ve proven this time and time again at Good Beans. We’ve had clients come on board 7 years after an initial meeting, simply because we’ve kept in touch with the people on our A-List. Let those people know when you have important news to share, like ‘I’m now freelance’, ‘I’ve now set up an agency’, so they know to come to you when they need you.

Good Beans is an ethical marketing agency based in London and Bristol, connect with us on LinkedIn 😉