4 Highly effective Methods to Use LinkedIn

LinkedIn is no longer just about keeping an eye on your old colleagues. Many small business owners have benefited tremendously from this including LinkedIn as part of their social media strategy, from building brand awareness to connecting with valuable mentors to attracting new customers.

While you can gain a lot of traction by simply posting from time to time, there are tools you may not know that can improve your impact. Read on to see some new ways you can use LinkedIn today – along with examples of how some entrepreneurs have used them.

1. Start a newsletter

You can already share your expertise easily by posting articles on LinkedIn, but for another way to build your thought leadership and possibly a decent following at the same time, check out LinkedIn’s newer newsletter feature.

Publishing a newsletter is similar to publishing an article, with one major difference. When you publish an article, only a small percentage of your connections will see it in their feed, depending on the platform’s algorithm and attention. On the other hand, when you publish a newsletter, each and every one of your subscribers will receive a notification that you’ve shared new content, which is much more likely to result in a higher engagement rate.

Newsletters are an ideal strategy if you want to write content on a focused topic and can publish great ideas on a regular basis. For example, Latesha Byrd, CEO of a talent development agency Perfeqta, started a newsletter on the future of work and had nearly 5,000 subscribers within two months of its weekly publication.

LinkedIn newsletter from Latesha Byrd, The Perfeqta Future of Work.

However, the option to publish a newsletter is currently not available to everyone. To access it you have to Activate creator mode on your dashboard and meet up certain access criteria (at least 150 followers or contacts and a recent history of original content sharing). As soon as newsletters are available to you, you will see the option “Create newsletter” when you click on “Write an article” at the top of the start page.

On your profile page, scroll down to find your dashboard where you can enable Creator Mode.

2. Moderate live discussions

Live video is an always popular type of content on social platforms, and LinkedIn is no different. There are many ways with LinkedIn Live Video, but we’ve seen that having intimate conversations or round table discussions works best for small business owners.

For one, it enables you to take advantage of the incredible and ongoing engagement that video content offers. As on many other platforms, LinkedIn Lives will remain available as recorded video after the event, increasing your potential reach.

Sherrell Dorsey, Founder and CEO of The plug, has had great results hosting live discussions. “We have maybe 400-500 people watching the discussion live, and then a week later I’ll look it up and 4,000-5,000 people watched the video. This engagement resulted in huge conversions for our newsletter, ”she says.

LinkedIn live discussion moderated by Sherrell Dorsey from The Plug.

LinkedIn Live can also be a great way to connect with other executives, develop their audiences, and deliver valuable content to your followers. “I get some phenomenal people who actually do this work,” says Byrd of the live chat she is moderating. “Other companies can see that it is possible for them or receive concrete and tactical strategies that they can take with them into their organization.”

Similar to newsletters, this function is currently not available to everyone. You must meet the same Entry criteria and then make an access request to be able to stream live.

3. Create or re-share video content

If going live is a little too daunting for you, that’s fine too. As for most of the Internet, video content of all types currently works well on LinkedIn, and as we’ve seen elsewhere (Instagram Stories is a good example of this) your video content doesn’t have to be anywhere near as good as videos produced for other platforms.

“The great thing about LinkedIn is that it doesn’t have to be polished or professionally edited,” says Byrd. “I shared a video of me where I was standing in front of the camera and talking for a minute about the scary process of rebranding my company. It got so many likes and views that it even caught the attention of the LinkedIn team. “

Sheena Russell, Founder and CEO of Made with local, agrees that you don’t have to be that curated when posting videos on LinkedIn. “It feels like a low-pressure, low-stakes environment where I also feel like a lot of other founders are sharing more freely.”

She even goes so far as to republish videos created for other channels – like Instagram roles – that relate to her personal brand on LinkedIn. “It’s not what it was built for, but it usually works well,” she says. “We’re not a formal or stuffy brand at all, so I want our little corner of LinkedIn to feel authentic to us.”

Sheena Russell from Made with Local reposts a look behind the scenes of their LinkedIn feed.

4. List or find customers on the Services Marketplace

LinkedIn is synonymous with hiring for many, but there is also an entire marketplace dedicated to finding contractors and other service professionals. This can be ideal for small business owners who often cannot yet afford full-time help.

Just go to the Services marketplace and find the support you are looking for: graphic design, public relations, accounting, lawyers and more. You can send more information about your project and request a quote in the LinkedIn app.

Marketing strategists in the service market.

Or, if your company is a service provider, use this feature to find your next customer! At the top of your profile page, click the “Find Potential Customers” button to add information about the services you offer and appear in the marketplace.

Set up the services you offer on your profile page.

LinkedIn offers a lot. I hope these suggestions get you started if you aren’t already using LinkedIn as part of your overall social media strategy. Whether it’s one of these options or something completely different, building a strong LinkedIn strategy can have a huge impact on your personal brand or small business LinkedIn has had an impact on their businesses here, and sign up at any time Twitter If you have any other topic suggestions you’d like to see here!