How to Level Up your LinkedIn (without being cheesy)
If you are trying to get ahead in work, in your career, in your job search, or building your small business, and you’re not active on LinkedIn (but you are feeling frustrated and at a dead end) then it might be time to give it a go.
I began to lean into LinkedIn when I became a coach. As a journalist, I didn’t need it (or so I thought), but as a Coach, I kept getting asked if she was on LI. Both by people in other online groups, and also at networking events.
London Jenny did her networking in person and looked for cases studies or connections on what was then Twitter. Sometimes Facebook, too. But LinkedIn? That was for the suits, and I wasn’t a suit. And my inbox was full of PRs who wanted to meet me or share news.
Only, as a coach, the tables were turned. I needed to make new connections. And then, as a freelance writer who moved out of London (and post-pandemic) I realised I wasn’t getting the attention I had done previously.
And, as a coach, I did have something to say that didn’t fit anywhere else.
The thing that I wasn’t expecting was for me to lean into LinkedIn as a journalist, too.
In fact, as I juggle coaching and journalism, I have found several contract roles as a writer on LinkedIn. I see more and more jobs posted there.
But it still feels cringe, right? I call it the LinkedIn ick. And often people will ask how they ‘get over it’. But it’s not about beating it, or getting over it. The best way to get past the cringe isn’t to try and beat it, or ‘get over it’, but to keep it with you and post anyway.
There are five key ways you can level up your LinkedIn TODAY.
Before you delve into these, I want you to think about something: Your LinkedIn ‘why’. What’s your purpose for being more active on LinkedIn? What do you want to achieve? What is the reason behind your wanting to level up? This is important because when you’re posting (or holding off from posting) you can think about the ‘why’ and focus in on why it matters to you. It’s a good way of cutting out all the noise.
Your ‘why’ might be new clients, or a new job. It might be standing out in your niche. It might be future-proofing your career by getting active before redundancy or quitting. As a freelancer it might be about visibility and new clients. As a journalist it might be about landing new commissions and finding case studies and experts. It could be a combination of all these things.
Once you have your ‘why’, give these actions a go:
New banner and bio (the words under your name). Ask yourself honestly if these are working hard enough for you? could they be clearer? Stronger? More detailed?
Make your ‘about’ really shine - yeah you’ve got a few paragraphs there, but it’s time to add MORE. Name drop brands. Speak about your qualities. SHOW OFF!
Ask for recommendations - ask for at least TEN today. Yep, ten. These are your trip advisor. They say ‘I’m great, but don’t take my word for it, these people say I’m great, too’. You can also re-purpose them into other content (eg make slides of them on Canva for your Instagram).
Stop liking and lurking. It’s not enough. Begin to post about you, and what you know.
Connect with relevant people - you can begin to find them using keywords in the search box. Don’t just rely on what your feed shows you - fill it with people who will want to work with you. Use keywords to search, deep dive into your industry and who is in it on the platform.
Oh, and sixth - Come and join my Level Up your LinkedIn workshop on Feb 25th!
The workshop is about levelling up - it’s going in stronger than beginner level. This is for you if you have a profile that’s ‘ok ish’ and you want to add some oomph and you need that rocket up your behind, some help and accountability.
It will focus firstly on the basics but then dig deep into really sprucing them up and challenging you to go further than you are at the moment.
So you have an ‘about’ with a few pars? We’ll be saying ‘time to make it meatier!’. You’ve already got a banner? Is it working hard enough for you, is it showcasing what you do, or just kind of sitting there a bit meh?
The workshop is on Feb 25th at 18.00 GMT - that’s 13.00 EST or 10am PST, so hopefully all my lovely subscribers can make it! It won’t be recorded, as I like to make workshops a safe place where people can share.
But if you would like a workshop to fit a specific time zone, let me know as I’m keen to facilitate that for you!
We’ll do some chatting, and some writing - and you’ll plan some content, too. It’ll challenge you, get you to up your game, and help you find a way forward with your LinkedIn beyond ‘lurking and liking’.
Ready to level up? Come join us!
