Do’s and Don’ts when you first get started on LinkedIn™️ there can be a lot of ‘noise’ from people on the platform about what you should and shoudn’t be doing.
It can be confusing to know what to do and what not to do.
So I’ve pulled together a list for you.
The Do's on LinkedIn
Profile: Make sure that your profile is fully filled out, you will always be tweaking your profile and adding to it
Authentic: Share authentic stories and personal experiences to make posts more engaging.
Be Personal: Include occasional personal updates. Personal posts often get the highest engagement, but don’t overdo them.
New Features: Keep on top of new changes on LinkedIn and test them, often users who start using new features as early adopters experience great wins
Ideal posting time: there isn’t a perfect answer. You need to do what works for you but be consistent, I aim to post 2-3 times per week consistently.
Engaging: Respond to comments in a timely manner, ideally be active immediately before and after you publish content (so engaging with your network and ideal customers before and after you post)
Sales: Build relationships in your community and specifically individual connections before attempting to make a sale. You wouldn’t do that in person! If you do, we wouldn’t be friends.
Content Planning: Try and plan your content ahead of time, you will see people talking about how they have created content for a quarter in 30 minutes, just do you! Posting on the fly can be stressful and you may end up just not posting.
Content Types: Use a good mix of content formats (text, video, polls, slides) see my recent post
Analytics: Check your analytics so you know what is and isn’t working for you. It’s important to test and learn, if something isnt working right now, tweak it and go again.
Content Types
🔷 Text-only post
🔷 Media (Image or video)
🔷 Event
🔷 Celebrate an occasion (project launch, work anniversary, new position, education milestone or new certification)
🔷 A job you are hiring for
🔷 Poll
🔷 Carousel (pdf document)
🔷 Find an expert
🔷 Articles and newsletters.
The Don'ts on LinkedIn
Pitching: Don’t “connect and pitch in the DMs” immediately after connecting with someone, you wouldn’t do that in person, so why do it online!
Posting Frequency: Don’t post more than once a day, let your post ‘breathe’ before sharing content again (the exception is reposting your own content, within 8 hours).
Tagging: Don’t over-tag people or companies in your posts, only tag if it is relevant. a long list of people tagged, who don’t engage with your content, teaches the algorithm that your content is not of value.
Automation: Don’t automate personal interactions - this is against LinkedIn™️ guidelines and also goes against being authentic.
Being generic: Don’t use generic connection messages - everyone can spot a spammer, be authentic and read someone’s profile and content and connect with meaning. The fatal cut and paste we’ve all had a DM with the wrong name so be personal.
Managing a Profile: Don’t manage someone’s personal profile - it’s against LinkedIn™️’s terms of business and you risk having your profile blocked, or worst, banned. If you are creating content for someone, use a third party scheduling tool.
Copying: Don’t copy content - no one likes a copycat! Remember, be authentic.
Don’t post and ghost: This is when you share content (even if you have scheduled it) make sure that you are around to engage with your audience, especially important to reply to comments.
Generic comments: Don’t comment ‘great post’ or ‘great article’. It does nothing for your engagement. Try and use at least 10 or 12 words. Comments are really powerful, there is a new analytics tool that allows you to see the number of posts and comments, try for a 1:3 ratio.
Don’t be negative: Keep the community positive, your brand is everything.
Inconsistent: Don’t be inconsistent with your posting - stick to a schedule that is achievable for you. Life happens so don’t stress. Just re-set and go again.
Here are 5 Key take outs for you:
🔷 Consistent: Above all be consistent, find a routine that works for you and stick to it.
🔷 Authentic: Be authentically you, no-one else can be you. This goes for your content and your comments.
🔷 Be human: Don’t behave differently online to how you would behave in person. You will be found out!
🔷 Reciprocity: Always engage with those who take the time to comment on your content, it is good manners and best practice on LinkedIn.
🔷 Comments: If you can't post, make sure you are commenting. Comments are gold, don't under estimate them.
Your questions answered
What are engagement pods?
This is where a group of people get together, share their posts and comment on each other’s posts.
The issue is that this artificially increases your engagement, but the content is not relevant to your followers, and you are bringing people to your content that just aren’t the right people! Also, LinkedIn™️ are cracking down on this and it will come back to bite you!.
What are the LinkedIn guidelines?
They are a collection from LinkedIn to aid best practice on the platform.
Community guidelines: https://www.linkedin.com/legal/professional-community-policies
Platform publishing guidelines: https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/a519782/
User agreement: https://www.linkedin.com/legal/user-agreement
Take some time to read them so you know what you should and shouldn't be doing on LinkedIn.
Then, of course there's the big questions...how can I help and how can you contact me?
Simply click below to get in touch and we can discuss how best I can help you and your organisation.
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