So far in 2020, we’ve seen a lot of changes in the world of social media.
Influencers are being scrutinized more than ever, ad costs have increased dramatically, new platforms are coming out every week and fresh network services like TikTok are taking over, but no one is talking about the one platform which produces the most benefit and costs us nothing.
As far back as 2015, Forbes posted an article titled “Is LinkedIn Poised to be The Next Big Social Network for Brands” Nearly 5 years on, the answer is a definite yes and for more than just consumer brands. It extends to your personal brand too.
Do you remember in 2007-2010 when Facebook reach was never an issue? You could post something and all of a sudden it would take off with hundreds of likes and tons of shares. That’s how LinkedIn is now.
LinkedIn has allowed everyone to have a voice that can easily be heard by a large audience at no cost and very quickly.
The numbers speak for themselves.
I’ve seen accounts that have around 250k followers or more on Instagram and 15k on LinkedIn. When the owners post organically to Instagram, they get about a 20-30k reach but on LinkedIn they’re getting hundreds of thousands of views in a week with no ad spend behind it whatsoever.
Not many other social platforms can do that and have as much value as a LinkedIn follower does to a business.
These impressive figures used to be normal when people built really large followings on the likes of Facebook and YouTube, but now that their algorithms have changed, it’s just not possible to do that anymore.
That said, LinkedIn’s reach won’t last forever and it’s not for everyone, but if you’re someone who has ideas and wants the world to hear them, then LinkedIn is the way to go.
Plus, the way to do it is simple and costs nothing whilst others are charging for it.
Without further ado, here are my top 5 recommendations to help you generate a large and beneficial LinkedIn presence:
- Post content that is engaging. Not click bait but content that allows people to create a community on your post and encourages them to respond / comment.
- Post often. I would recommend at least twice a day.
- Post original content or comments on articles that are relevant to today. We all know what happened during 2019’s Black Friday. You should talk about what’s going on now.
- Encourage others to post about you. Create a small community that you engage with on every post of theirs, as they do yours.
- Post positive content. LinkedIn is not Twitter. The majority of people don’t want to hear about your emotional weekend. Talk about things that provide deep value instead.
Something that a lot of folks aren’t focused on when it comes to social media is the value of a follower. Follower value varies per platform dramatically and I would argue that LinkedIn and Instagram are the top 2.
If you think about it, if you’re active on LinkedIn you are probably more driven than most:
You care about your career. You have an accessible network. You want people to hear about your ideas and you have or are looking for a job.
Because of these qualifiers, this makes you so much more valued as a follower compared to other platforms, boosting not only your consumer brand but your personal brand. I just hope that everyone takes advantage of this before it’s too late.