Don’t get me wrong, Posts are important for visibility but there’s much more you can tap into.

I usually encourage people to start by focussing on commenting instead, getting involved in conversations before starting them themselves.

So for me, commenting is in many ways just as important as Posting – maybe more so!

Finding relevant topics using LinkedIn’s own Content search, or by looking at the Activity area on a person’s profile is a perfect way to engage on topics & with people you really want to talk to.

Leaving your thoughts has many benefits:

Raises your visibility
You get seen by the Poster (through their Notifications) and they recognise your contribution … which is positive in itself and gets you front of mind. You also get seen by other people interested in the post’s topic hence increasing credibility with a wider interested audience.

Key point: commenting earlier helps get your comment as the first in the list increasing visibility

Builds personal brand
Your ‘headline’ field appears with your photo when you comment raising your profile – as it’s like your own personal tagline make sure that it reinforces the message that you would like them to take away when they think of you.

Key point: only the first 85 characters of your Headline field are visible here so make them count.

Increases profile views
People reading your comment will hopefully want to find out more & your Profile is the perfect place to do that! Make sure that the key parts of your Profile supports this and communicates value to those who visit!

Key point: Remember to check your “Who’s viewed your Profile” page and follow up accordingly either with an invite or a message as appropriate.

Improves engagement (both directions)
Often the author will reply to your comment which develops the conversation further – an additional benefit is that the algorithm recognises the interaction and makes sure that person is more likely to see your content in return when you do post!

Key point: use a ‘mention’ when you post the comment (ie. ‘tag’ the author, which makes doubly certain that they are notified

Demonstrates expertise
Leaving a comment which adds to the conversation demonstrates your skill & knowledge to author & readers alike – great for your reputation and the likelihood of additional connections and opportunities.

Key point: try to make the comment at least 7 words long and, ideally, make it valuable and relevant rather than a weak “Great Post!”.

Should you be commenting as well as posting?

The post Comments on LinkedIn are powerful for engagement first appeared on LinkedIn Training, LinkedIn Courses and Coaching.

The algorithm did this, the algorithm did that … and all because you’re getting rubbish in your LinkedIn newsfeed.

Well, IT’S NOT MY FAULT!

(Sorry about the capitals but I feel reallllllly strongly about this)

Well, when I say it’s not my fault, it is sort of … but it’s yours too!

“How can we help?” I hear you ask?

Well for starters if you think something you see is good and it’s something you’d like to see more of, then LET ME KNOW! I’m not a mind reader after all.

Just ‘Like’ it or ‘Love’ it or ‘Celebrate’ it or any of the other buttons – that way, I’ve got half a chance of knowing I should be showing you more things like that.

If you really want to make it really easy for me then leave a comment on the post … that will make it clear that you’ve really got into the topic and want to get properly involved.

It’s not rocket science.

If there’s a particular person whose stuff you want to see more of, then go to their profile and “like” say 5 of their posts … that way I’ll get the message and know to show you more from them when they next post.

If you don’t like something, then I’m keen to know that too. I like to learn and better myself.

Yes, really.

See the ‘three dots’ (ellipsis if you prefer) at the top? Click that and then tell me why you don’t like it and I’ll try to make you don’t see so much of it. Simples, yes?

And if you don’t want me involved at all then just change little tag at the top of the page from ‘Top’ to ‘Recent’. I WON’T BE OFFENDED … or at least I promise to hide it well.

That way you just see the latest stuff, not the things I think you want to see.

And if you really really want to avoid me, then type the words you’re looking for in the Search box at the top of the page, choose ‘Post’ and I’ll show you things that contain that word. See, now you’re in control.

I know this is a bit of a personal post and I’m sorry to have got emotional, but ultimately I just want to be loved … so please help.

And if you could take down those posts about “How to beat the algorithm” (which are really hurtful by the way) then that would be most appreciated too.

Yours truly / Hugs & kisses / Love & Peace * (delete as applicable)

The Algorithm
(Just call me Algy for short)

The post Open Letter from LinkedIn’s Algorithm first appeared on LinkedIn Training, LinkedIn Courses and Coaching.

As Lincoln is famously quoted as saying “You can’t please all of the people all of the time”.

The same most certainly rings true when it comes to your Profile as well – write it to try to talk to everyone and you’ll end up talking to no-one.

So, it’s really important to decide who is your target audience when writing it.

Looking for a job?
Then we need to appeal to people who might be interested in employing us – perhaps hiring managers or HR or specialist recruiters (did you say Talent Acquisition Managers?) in a company, or maybe agency recruiters representing them.

Looking for clients?
Then who are the decision makers in the companies you are looking at – are we talking the finance or purchasing departments, or the users of your service or product is designed for, or someone who has just been asked to do some research and build up a short list.

Personal Branding?
Who would be drawn to you by the attributes you have, the way you present yourself and the topics you talk about.

And, in each of these cases,

WHAT IS GOING TO MAKE THEM SIT UP AND TAKE NOTICE OF YOU

(And ideally, as Balzac added, then “make them get up and take action!”)

That’s what you need on your profile. Something which makes them stop, read and think … and ideally get in contact.

So make sure you give them all of that!

The post Who do you want to notice you on LinkedIn? first appeared on LinkedIn Training, LinkedIn Courses and Coaching.

No. Sorry about that.

The fact is that with the variety of audiences, topics, formats, marketing options, networks & individual preferences we all have, there can never be one format that fits all. We all have different tastes and we certainly have different reasons for being on LinkedIn which makes a one size fits all approach to be almost impossible.

Indepth posts, business topics, personal successes / challenges, motivational posts, even jokes – which have certainly been successful for some people (though not to my taste) – all have their place.

However, for those looking for a general business format, here is a great framework to try when you post which should allow you to get a number of the key trigger elements in place:

1. Strong Opening
The first 2 – 3 lines are what people see so, like a newspaper headline, you need to use that to get their attention

2. Hook
You need them to click on ‘read more’ to see the rest of your post, so give them a reason to do so

3. Content
Important that you make sure what they see is of value or inspires a reaction depending on your post’s purpose

4. Call to Action
What you want them to do next – leave a comment, like, get in touch – doesn’t have to be blatant but do encourage an action

5. Visual
An image or video helps it stand out – may give visibility or add value to the post (or both!)

So many other formats to consider but is this a format you’ve tried? What works best for you?

#LinkedIn #Marketing

The post 5 Key elements to creating LinkedIn business post first appeared on LinkedIn Training, LinkedIn Courses and Coaching.

All of this information is controlled from your “Settings & Privacy” page which you can access by hovering over ‘Me’ in the main menu (top right hand corner of the screen when you’re logged into LinkedIn) and then choosing it from the menu below.

You then need to head to the ‘Sign In & Security’ menu item on the left hand side of the page – this gives you the ‘Account Access’ area and the top item should be ‘Email addresses’.

Clicking on this will show you the list of all of the email addresses you have associated with your LinkedIn account – this might be one or more email addresses, and should look similar to the image below:

Adding new emails

Once on this page, if you then want to add a new email address then:

1. Go to the bottom of your list and click the ‘Add email address’ link.
2. Enter the new email address in the box that appears
3. Click ‘Send Verification’. You will usually also be asked for your LinkedIn password.

You will then be sent a confirmation message to the new email address and it will immediately appear in your list of emails as “unconfirmed”.

When that arrives, just:

4. Click on the link in the email message (or cut and paste it – you know the drill!) and you’ll be taken to the LinkedIn site
5. Click on the “Confirm” button that you’ll see on the page
6. You’ll be asked to sign into your account again at this point as a security measure – REMEMBER to use your current primary address to do so, not this new one
7. Your new email will now be saved

Changing your Primary Email

To change your primary email address – this is the one that receives all of your LinkedIn communications – return to the ‘Email Address’ page via the ‘Settings & Privacy’ page.

Here you’ll see the list of your confirmed email addresses and all you need to do is select one of them and then click on the ‘Make Primary’ to the right hand side of it and then add your Password again. You can never be too sure!

One last Comment

In a couple of places, LinkedIn does recommend that you have both a work email and a personal email associated with your account. This is actually good advice. In spite of best intentions, when you change job for whatever reason, your LinkedIn account is unlikely to be top of your todo list – however, if you only have your work email address in there and no longer have access to it, then you may have difficulties updating details etc. so do have at least two and that way you’ll not need to create new profiles and reconnect with people should things go astray!

When you have verified an email address (which you’d need to do to make it useful) then you can use this as your log-in address as well – it uses the same password as previously, but does give you an additional access method. As I said earlier, you don’t want to be locked out of your account!

As a final point, should you be in such a situation, you might also like to sporadically back up your LinkedIn connections just in case!

The post Changing email accounts on LinkedIn first appeared on LinkedIn Training, LinkedIn Courses and Coaching.