Digital Director Emma Maule outlines some handy LinkedIn tips to boost your online presence.
Now that Q2 is in full swing, it’s a good time to check in on those New Year’s resolutions.
Earlier this year, we shared a blog post about LinkedIn resolutions, and we hope you’ve been able to keep up with yours!
LinkedIn is the top networking tool for the profession, and it plays a crucial role in connecting you with your clients, colleagues, and peers, so it pays dividends to devote some time and attention to your profile and consider what you might share. Remember, you have a willingly captive audience – key stakeholders are openly sharing their news. Celebrating one another is an important way to sustain the strength of your network and get first-hand industry insights.
When we’re doing LinkedIn coaching, the same questions tend to come up. We always focus on the individual brand over the brand of the firm as a whole, as this is what will win work – because people buy people, and because company pages don’t receive much traction. Employee networks have, on average, 10 times the reach of company pages, with six times the engagement rate on their posts. Content shared by employees is perceived as more authentic and is seven times more likely to prompt positive actions as company-shared content – so it’s vital to share content from your personal profile.
To ensure that your digital presence shines, here are my top tips:
One: always include images or videos in posts. The brain processes images 60,000 times faster than text, so be visual and memorable. You can share up to nine images or one video. Pictures of people you meet at events, or you getting together with your team, are great content and also good for employer brand. Did you know that photos featuring people can lead to a 20% increase in reach, or up to 60% if the photo includes you, and a 50% boost in engagement?
Two: focus on personal storytelling. Share aspects of your life, successes, failures, and lessons learned. People want to know what makes you tick, so let them in. Be authentic, as people buy people – their approachability, their expertise, and their personality – rather than corporate accounts.
Three: post consistently, but don’t overpost. More than once a day will damage the reach of all posts – whereas posting once or twice a week on weekday mornings seems to be the sweet spot.
Four: step away from the ‘repost with your thoughts’ button – it will do you no favours. Write comments under posts instead. LinkedIn wishes to create a platform for engaging discussion and a post with many comments underneath ticks all of its boxes. LinkedIn will reward you for writing comments under posts by showing them to the majority of your connections, while a ‘repost with your thoughts’ will receive significantly less traction.
Five: keep a notepad app handy to capture ideas or article links to use later. This will help hold you accountable and make sure you post regularly.
Six: optimise your profile to ‘All-Star’ level. A completed profile can increase your reach by up to 40%. Ensure you have a professional headshot, a branded banner, and make use of the headline where you 220 characters to describe your role and add some keywords.
Seven: you are a band ambassador for your firm. This is true whether or not you include any ‘views my own’ disclaimers, so don’t share anything that would offend people, damage your firm, or bring the profession into disrepute. If you’re tempted to wade in to a controversial topic, step back and think. Try not to cause a mass debate that will come back to haunt you.
Eight: nurture your posts. Don’t “post and ghost” – ie create a post then immediately log out. Engage with others on the platform before and after your post to see up to 30% more reach.
Nine: don’t just rely on your firm’s company page. Posts from personal profiles will always travel further than those from the company page. People are more interested in getting to know the personalities behind the business. It’s also a great idea to support the company page by liking, commenting on and ‘instant reposting’ its posts, as company page posts tend not to show up in newsfeeds unless they are engaged with by an employee.
Remember, your LinkedIn profile is often the first impression you make on potential employers and clients. By taking the time to optimise your digital presence, you’re setting yourself up for success in your legal career.
We offer LinkedIn training for groups and individuals – get in touch if you’re interested.
