If you haven’t logged into LinkedIn since you landed your job or haven’t created a profile at all, you’re in the right spot. You may be thinking, but I’m employed, happily! First, congratulations, and second, LinkedIn is an effective networking tool with powers beyond job searching. Next, you may be thinking, “but I don’t have time.” Wrong! You can be a social media superstar with small actions that can have significant positive effects. Here are five benefits of keeping your LinkedIn profile up-to-date and being consistently active on the channel.
1. Develop and improve your skillset. You can learn a lot on LinkedIn by simply following people and organizations in line with your interests and carving out time for quick, daily scrolling.
- Find informative, educational posts and articles helpful to your current role and organization.
- Keep up to date with trends in your industry or field of work.
- Learn tips and tricks to help you be more efficient or deliver better results.
2. Build a strong network and get support. Nurturing your network can bring opportunities in your current role, support future career steps, and even be valuable in your personal life.
- Keep in touch with colleagues and make new connections. Start building your network by sending invitations to people you have worked with (former/current colleagues, vendors, clients, etc.)
- Pro tip: Every time you meet someone new, send them an invite. It’s better to send it right away while you are fresh in their mind.
- Receive insights and answers to your questions by joining interest-based or professional groups.
3. Take control of your online presence. Whether you’re a seasoned worker or just starting your career, you have an online footprint (unless you’re living off the grid.) Building out your LinkedIn profile helps you control your online narrative and ensure that the content out there reflects you.
- Develop more meaningful connections. We’ve already covered how you can benefit from building a solid network. But, you can’t hide behind a generic avatar to do so. Build out your LinkedIn profile to capture your depth of experience, interests, and goals.
- Attract opportunities. Your network will see your name associated with your activity and think of you – for jobs, business opportunities, referrals, and your incredible expertise.
4. Attract more awesome co-workers to your company. Showcase the culture that contributes to your happiness at work.
- Help show potential new hires that your company’s employees are invested in its mission and values. According to Hootsuite’s research, job seekers (i.e., potential recruits) rank social and professional networks as the most important resources in their job search.
- Be a trusted source of information. You’ll help bring like-minded people to your organization (and gain some awesome people to grab lunch with.)
5. Support the growth and health of your organization by commenting, liking, and sharing your employer’s posts.
- Help build brand trust. People are more likely to trust brands talked about by their friends and family. In fact, according to Hootsuite’s research, more people trust a regular employee (53%) than a CEO (47%.)
- Increase brand visibility. LinkedIn found the employees of a company tend to have ten times more followers than the company itself. Even if you have a small network, you’ll still make an impact.
- Generate brand engagement. Did you know that employee activity on LinkedIn has more impact than general company posts? That’s right! LinkedIn found that while only about 2% of employees reshare their company’s social posts, they are responsible for 20% of the overall engagement. That’s a lot of impact you and your co-workers can have by just investing a few minutes a day.
Now it’s time to get out there and build your LinkedIn presence. Set aside a few minutes a day to nurture your network. Show goodwill by generating helpful content or resharing, commenting, or liking posts from your company, colleagues, clients, and organizations that you support.
