LinkedIn is no longer just a job search platform. It is a global community with powerful potential that can act as a free marketing tool to introduce you as an entrepreneur to thousands of potential clients, customers, partners, employees and investors.
Over the past two years, my LinkedIn content has reached 1.3 million in 70 countries. These experiences would be worth five figures through paid social channels. This is why building your brand on LinkedIn is a great way for an entrepreneur to get a free introduction to themselves and their business.
However, it has not always been easy – everything worth doing takes time. One of my first posts got less than 500 views, and now looking back at it, I understand why. I formatted it like two large paragraphs in a college English essay. I have also not been active on the platform. Because of this, the potential reach of the post was severely hampered. I didn’t let that stop me.
I continued to create content several times a week for two years, learning the algorithm and hone my skills. The persistence paid off when I recently wrote my 300th post, and some posts have reached over 75,000 views—much better than the 500 when I started.
So if you haven’t already considered using LinkedIn to the fullest as a marketing tool, it might be time to rethink your decision. I hope this article speeds up your learning and teaches you what I wish I knew when I first started on LinkedIn.
Table of Contents
1. Comment on other posts
The LinkedIn algorithm turns commenting on posts into a powerful engagement tool. When you comment on a post, you gain access to the author, their network, and their network’s network.
They will see your portrait, name, title, and comment. At the same time, your network will see your comment and the original post, adding value to your network and the author at the same time – it’s a win-win!
Comments also show your audience that you are available if they want to contact you for an urgent order or a quick question about your business.
Set aside 15 minutes a day to leave 5 to 10 meaningful comments on posts related to your industry. It’s a quick and easy way to grab attention, increase profile views, and add value to your community.
2. Create content
Once you learn how to comment on other people’s posts, you’ll want to start creating your own content to take full advantage of LinkedIn as a marketing tool. Many people are hesitant to post on the platform and are unsure if their posts will be well received. Worst case? Someone scrolls through your post and gets on with their day. Best case? Your post will be seen by a potential client, investor, partner or teammate.
The life of an entrepreneur is very busy, so for starters, aim for two posts a week. You want to make sure you don’t burn out too quickly and run out of ideas to post. I often create content in batches to optimize performance. This way you can write when you are motivated and creative without feeling pressured.
The best time of day to post depends on who your audience is. For many, this may be the 8 to 10 am window when people start their day. You can use a third party scheduling tool to schedule your posts so you don’t have to remember to upload them manually.
3. Connect with like-minded people
The best thing about LinkedIn is connecting with amazing people from all over the world and adding value to each other’s lives.
To get started, you can send up to ~100 connection invitations each week. I recommend taking 30 seconds to add a short, personalized note about why you want to connect with the person.
Once they accept, they will start seeing your content in their feed. You can also send them a direct message to share helpful resources, ask questions, and introduce yourself.
If you don’t know who to contact, you can start with LinkedIn suggestions. The Connections tab will often suggest people you share common interests with (same school, company, job title, city, etc.).
If you want to be more targeted in your connection efforts, you can use powerful search filters to find exactly who you are looking for. For example, if you’re in the clothing business, you might want to connect with fashion buyers at a particular company in a particular region. You can do it with LinkedIn.
4. Build credibility and trust
LinkedIn has a high domain authority rating, which means it ranks well in Google searches. If someone searches for your name, they will most likely see your LinkedIn profile as one of the top results. If they visit your profile and it appears to be inactive, you may be keeping that person from contacting you.
Earning trust is the key to the success of your business. By creating content consistently and engaging with your community, you will have a reliable and trustworthy landing page whenever someone stumbles upon your profile.
Final Thoughts
If there’s anything you can take away from this article, it’s that being active on LinkedIn through commenting, creating, and sharing can be a powerful free marketing tool to accelerate your growth as a founder.
