Linkedin is a platform for jobseekers, employees, ceos and entrepreneurs; they all can benefit from using Linkedin to create thought leadership. This can help you elevate your personal brand, grow your engagement and following, and attract new and better opportunities.
Some people think of Linkedin as a place to post a resume style profile. Others use it as a social media platform, posting content and engaging with their connections. However you are using Linked, it is an ideal place to develop and be seen as a thought leader.
From your profile to the articles, posts and newsletters you publish, there are a number of strategies and places in your Linkedin presence that can help you be seen as a thought leader. This applies to those who are job hunting, happy employees, or a business owners or consultant. Linkedin can be used to advance your career and business goals, as well as make new connections, and done right, position you as a thought leader.
Creating thought leadership on Linkedin- expert advice:
Viveca Von Rosen, Co-founder Vengreso.com
“The key to position yourself on LinkedIn as a Thought Leader and expert is not to concentrate on yourself – but on your buyer or audience. In the end, people just won’t care that much about you until they learn more about you. And the quickest way to get people interested in you, is talk about them and how you can help them. As John Jantsch says in his latest book (The Ultimate Marketing Machine), “..promise to solve your customer’s greatest need.”
Your profile, from the background image, to your headline, to the name pronunciation tool, to the video cover story to the content you feature to the About section, to the content you share in posts, should all focus on your customer or client’s greatest needs (or wants) and how you solve for them. Your profile should be buyer-centric – my ME-focused. It’s amazing, the more you talk a about them and give them solutions to their problems, the smarter YOU will appear to be! To see what I mean, just go to www.LinkedIn.com/in/LinkedInExpert
Karen Yankovich, CEO She’s LinkedUp
“The very first thing a thought leader should focus on in their LinkedIn profile is not tactical, it’s more energetic! It’s time to shift the energy of your profile from an online resume to a home for your personal brand. Sure, tell us about your past experience, but your resume is all about who you used to be. Your LinkedIn profile, positioned properly, should be shining a light on the person you’re becoming.
Specifically, shift the focus of your writing from a focus on your skills to a focus on the difference you make in the world.”
Beth Granger, CEO Beth Granger Consulting: Intrepid Social
“You want to be seen as a thought leader and LinkedIn is a great place to do that. On your profile, the best places to do that are your headline, About section, and the Featured section. The About section is where you can really tell your story. Of course, share content consistently that provides value and shows your expertise. Feature this content on your profile.
Finally, get recommendations from other people about your expertise. People are often uncomfortable asking for recommendations. The perfect time to ask is when someone is thanking you for something. That’s the time to say, “You’re welcome. Glad to help. Would you be comfortable saying that on my LinkedIn profile?”
Josh Turner, Founder and CEO of Connect365.io
“The most common mistake I see people make with regards to their LinkedIn profile is underutilizing their Headline. The headline is your digital billboard on LinkedIn. Whether you are making a comment, writing a message or InMail, or posting an article, LinkedIn will always display your Name, Your Profile Picture and Your Headline. Don’t make the mistake of leaving it at the standard ‘Job Title, Company Name’ approach. This is what most people do. Give them something more. Show your prospects that you help others just like them and how you do that.
Now beyond that, LinkedIn content is about consistency. LinkedIn’s feed isn’t as ‘viral’ as Facebook or Twitter may be. But the discussion and audience you can build there makes it worthwhile. Because of this, consistent and quality updates are critical. We tell our clients to aim for a daily LinkedIn update during the workweek. Your updates should provide content that is relevant to your prospects. What are the topics they care most about? Provide them value by sharing related content to those topics.
We sometimes describe this as the ‘Oprah’ Effect. Back when Oprah was getting started, she was a great host. But she wasn’t necessarily an expert or specialist in one area. She built her credibility and authority by the guests she brought on. This goodwill built up by introducing her community to information and education led to her becoming not only one of the biggest talk show hosts in the country, but also one of the most trusted authorities in our society.
The goal with your LinkedIn content sharing and posting should be similar. Bring value to your prospects on the topics and interests they have. Don’t ONLY share your branded sales collateral. If you can do that, you’ll build more authority, more trust, and more engagement with your community.”
Joe Apfelbaum, CEO Ajax Union
“Your LinkedIn profile is now more important that your own website because Google will often rank your profile first when people search for your name. Try it yourself, search your name and see if your LinkedIn profile comes up.
Here is a quick tip: Make sure your headline speaks to your target audience. Look at my headline to see how I craft mine on LinkedIn- www.joelinkedin.com to see my profile. Also, you must make it easy for people to reach out, do that by adding a call to action in your ABOUT section. Finally include some examples of you work here like tamilinkedin.com does under roles.”
Todd Herschberg, CEO and Founder Veriscouts – one of the most connected people on Linkedin
“You’ll likely see quite a bit about some traditional approaches to LinkedIn thought leadership: post on a regular basis, share links to content by other thought leaders, be topical, etc. I’ll let you in on a little non-traditional approach: start a group.
Groups are a somewhat underutilized method for establishing yourself as a LinkedIn thought leader. For example, I’m a bit of a foodie, so I started a Foodies group. This gives me an opportunity to post recipes, food reviews, etc on a regular basis to an audience that is specifically interested in exactly the sort of content I create. LinkedIn also allows group owners to “Recommend” one post per week which increases the visibility of that post by notifying all of the 22,000+ group members. In my case, I usually will recommend any reviews that I have written (particularly if they are products produced by group members). This helps amplify the visibility and engagement on not only my content, but also on the group members’ products. This, in turn, encourages other group members to request my review of *their* products – further building my reputation as a thought leader.”
Wendy Maynard, Creator LinkedIn Lead Mastery
The LinkedIn Profile gives entrepreneurs a tremendous opportunity to establish ourselves as a thought leader. The key is to stop thinking about it like an employee and treating it as a CV. Instead, we can use it as a page that spotlights our personal brand, demonstrates our expertise, and shows our audience all the offers we have for them to solve their problems.
Julbert Abraham, Founder of AGM, LinkedIn Training
Nowadays, everyone wants to be seen as an expert on Social Media. If you are in the B2B space, you may want to be seen as an expert or thought leader in your industry on LinkedIn.
The process to create a LinkedIn profile that positions you as a thought leader can be accomplished with these three tips:
Tip 1 – Develop your LinkedIn marketing plan and strategy. Before you do anything else, you want to make sure that you have clarity on what thought leadership on LinkedIn means to you. How will it benefit your audience? And how you should position your profile to add value to all the traffic you will be receiving on LinkedIn.
Tip 2 – Do a full LinkedIn profile analysis. One of the best ways to do that is to find your Social Selling Index Score (SSI). If you have never heard this term before, it is a free tool that LinkedIn provides that help you analyze 4 key pillars of your LinkedIn account. These 4 pillars add up to a total score of 0-100. This will help you identify where you are on the spectrum. If you are between 0-50, there are a few changes you have to make to your profile. If you are above 50, there may be a few changes you have to make in your overall activities on LinkedIn.
Tip 3 – Update your LinkedIn profile accordingly. This is where you really have to think about how you can add value to your audience. Your profile is not about you, it’s about what value you can add to your audience. It’s your marketing tool, not a resume holder.
With these 3 tips you are able to build your thought leadership profile on LinkedIn, while adding value to your audience.
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