How to Increase Your LinkedIn Presence

by Amy Shuman

It’s no secret around my workplace that I am highly active on LinkedIn. Lately many people have shared with me their own hesitations in using the platform, and asked how they should get started. "What should I post? I don't know what I would write" people have shared. Sometimes people feel overwhelmed with the pressure to come up with original content, or how to best phrase their comments on different things. I've found that its actually a lot easier to become an active member of the space than it may seem.

If you are wanting to increase your presence or activity level on LinkedIn here are some tips I would offer:

Click Like. This is probably the simplest way to start interacting on LinkedIn. Hit the thumbs up (or any of the other emoji reactions) on other people’s posts. It makes people feel great to see people enjoying their posts, and it flashes your name in front of people at the same time. The best part is that it takes very little effort on your part. One click and you are in the conversation.

Comment. Comment on other people’s posts to gain more visibility. Your comments don’t have to be profound, either – just the act of writing something puts you on the board. I often comment simple things like “love this!” or “thank you so much for sharing this.” 

Share. If you aren’t sure what to write or post, you can start by simply sharing other people’s posts. This is different than copying other people’s work… to “share” something you start with their article or post and use the “share” button. I used to feel pressure to develop a bunch of original articles and then realized a lot of the content I was reading on colleagues’ pages was being shared from other places. It’s really a win-win because it gives you something to share and you get to support the work of someone else at the same time. I know I love when my articles get shares, and would wager that most people want their posts to be seen as much as possible.

Pictures. I love taking pictures and being in pictures, but didn’t want to make people uncomfortable or awkward. I decided to just ask people at events if they would mind taking a picture for LinkedIn. It was a little scary to think people would say no, but then the worst that would happen is I would just take a selfie, or take a picture of my desk or my name tag or something (which I have done many, MANY times). To my surprise, many people were excited to be asked to be included in a picture. Once it became a habit, I started showing up to meetings and have people ask me “are you going to post this on LinkedIn?” I love it. The simple act of taking a quick photo can help build community while also enhancing your LinkedIn page.

Tag people. Don’t forget to tag people in your post or photo before you post! By doing this I sometimes discovered I was not connected with colleagues through the platform and was able to add them at the same time. Your post also will get more visibility when you tag others and the algorithms will share with both of your networks.

All the hashtags. Hashtags are free! Pile them on! You may get other advice from people, but I personally love it. If you throw enough hashtags out there you might even find your post trending in one of them. One way I use hashtags is to shape my personal brand. I frequently use the tags that describe the work I am passionate about (#workforcedevelopment, #cliftonstrengths, #workplaceculture, #leadership, #ucdavis) whether they seem to have a direct link to my specific post or not. I also like to ask people who host events that I participate in whether there is a hashtag they’d like me to add that would help promote their work. 

Just Post. At the end of the day, you can’t really fail at this. The beautiful thing about activity feeds is that they refresh and move forward all the time. You can even edit or delete after you have posted something if you feel you must. You won’t really know how it all works until you try it, so stop yourself from overthinking and just start posting.

I’d love to hear other things that work well for people! Please comment below to share your experience.