How to build your best career with Linkedin in the next 30 days?
Linkedin is a game-changing tool, but most people don’t know how to use it effectively. You might feel like it’s not for you. It’s too professional or, you don’t know how to do more than just job hunting.
If these are the thoughts that run in your mind,
You need to re-think that decision.
Linkedin is not just a social media platform. It’s actually a money-making machine if used to its full potential. The wealthiest “who’s who” of the business world hang out here.
When your posts go viral on Twitter or Instagram, you get likes, shares, followers, and a lot of traction. The same is true with Linkedin. The only difference?
The network can get you places. Financially, professionally, and personally.
The true power of Linkedin lies in its network. The people who like and comment on your posts, the people you connect with, or even the people you approach.
Getting the best opportunities out of the platform is not rocket science. I’m gonna share a few tips and tricks to help you harness the true power of this social channel.
The three areas I’m gonna focus on are:
1. Personal Branding
2. Freelancing
3. Job seeking
Buckle up. Your social game is about to change.
Personal Branding on Linkedin
Let’s start with my favorite category. The startup called “me,” aka the personal brand.
Personal branding is how you position yourself as a brand in a niche you dominate.
Sounds easy, isn’t.
The best part about building your personal brand on Linkedin is the quality of the network. The people who see and notice your content are supreme. These people can open doors for you that you didn’t even know existed.
Steal these value bombs to kickstart your personal branding journey on Linkedin:
Niches: There are riches in the niches. (read it as nitch and not neesh to make it rhyme). Someone who sells to everyone ends up selling to no one. Your personal brand is your way of indirect, but the only difference is you are the product.
When you start on Linkedin, the best thing to do is pick at least 2–3 niches and produce some kick-ass content. If you can narrow it down to one, it’s better, but eventually, everyone runs out of original ideas. So, it’s better to start with at least more than one.
Content: I don’t care if you’re an atheist but, you need to worship content. Mindless content that’s copied, twisted, and pasted isn’t going to get you anywhere.
It’s a non-negotiable in personal branding that the content should be original. Linkedin has a fetish for text-heavy content. Writers are at an advantage, but visual content like carousels also does really well.
What really works on Linkedin:
Thought Leadership: Talk about how you know something better than others but subtly. Talk about how you got good results for you or your clients, what you learned, or hacks you discovered along the way.
Personal Experience: The best way to sound like a human is personal experiences. Success, failure, growth, life, or anything in-between works on Linkedin. Being relatable is the only formula that works every day, without fail.
How to/Tips & Tricks: Give away your knowledge and provide a ton of value for your connections. Don’t be afraid to give out too much. It’ll always come back to you in a better way.
Share how you did something or hacks that make it more efficient. People drool over things that help save their time or money.
Engagement: I have saved the best for the last. You might think that engagement has nothing to do with content creation, right?
Well, not directly but, engaging with other people is literally the key to success on Linkedin.
Here’s how you can engage with people on Linkedin:
Connecting with people sending personalized notes without B.S,
Commenting and liking posts and sharing your genuine thoughts,
And, Giving valuable advice to the people in your community.
Pro Tip: Engage with other accounts half an hour before you post yours. It helps to get good engagement because the first hour after posting is crucial.
Freelancing on Linkedin
Linkedin is the best playground for freelancers. It’s like a jungle and, you’re the hunter. You hunt for clients, and more often than not, you find some really good ones.
Well, like I told you, the quality of your network is only going to go up from here.
It’s not actually just about you. It’s also about your ideal customer. As a freelancer, you’re in the right space because your customer is already looking for you.
If you are building your personal brand, it’s only a matter of time before your ideal client finds you. It might not be that easy but, trust me, at least you’re in the right environment to have business come at you.
Now that you have a bag full of value bombs on personal branding, It’s time to:
Level-UP your freelancing game on Linkedin with:
- Connections: I talked about building connections previously. As a freelancer, you should focus on two main categories:
- Clients: The people you want to work with
- Other Freelancers: The people who can help you make it work
It’s not about clients that pay you well but also about those who value your time, efforts, and energy. The other half of the equation is the other people who are in the same game as you. Your fellow freelancer’s network.
You can build a tight community of people in the same profession and reach out to veterans in the field.
Who knows? Maybe, you can help them too.
2. Cold Outreach: Linkedin is a great place for cold outreach. You can slide into DMs and connect with people you want to work with.
Sounding salesy in the first pitch is a complete no-no, but here’s how you can make it better for you and your prospect:
-Lazor-focused Personalization: Nope! Don’t tell me you included “Hey, {Name of client}” in the first line, so you’re an outreach wizard. By personalization, I mean deep research into who they are and what they do. I wrote something here. Check it out but, finish this first.
-Filter the fu*k out: The search bar and filters on Linkedin are so underrated in terms of functionality. They are hidden gems, quite literally.
The quality of filters on Linkedin is better than Snapchat and Instagram. Except for the dog filter, You can’t compete with that cuteness, ever.
Filters on Linkedin help you narrow down your search results to exactly what you want. The narrower the search, the better your results.
Some of my favorite filters are:
- Industry: It’s pretty straightforward. Lets you know the kind of industry you can target. Yes, you can choose multiple industries.
- Company Size: It displays a rough idea of the no. of employees that work in a company. You can target small businesses, mid-levels, or full-blown MNCs to cater to. AT THE TAP OF A BUTTON!
- Keywords: You can type in the exact keywords for name, title, company, or school. It’s pretty cool to find clients if you have half-baked information. Maybe you just know their name or company. It’s still doable, and that’s great, isn’t it?
- Locations: Freelancers are so hyped up about working internationally. The location filter helps you choose your favorite clients, no matter where they are. If they use Linkedin, you can tap them.
If you feel that freelancing is not for you and you’re better off with a full-time role, read on. Listed below are the best ways to get a job via Linkedin in a smarter way:
Finding a Job on Linkedin:
Linkedin gives you a dedicated job portal to look and apply for jobs. The filters are pretty good. The process is pretty straightforward so don’t worry about it.
But is that exciting enough?
There’s a reason you’re here and not on naukri.com or monster.
The reason is networking.
Getting a job through a clearly listed portal is what everyone is doing already. The real magic is how you take the other route.
I’m not saying job portals are useless. All I’m saying is take the road that most people don’t even know about. Apply for the job through a portal but:
1. Research: Tap into Linkedin’s true potential by researching the fu*k out of:
- The Company
- The HR
- The Employees
The trick is simple. Build a personal connection for value and not just getting something out of it.
When seeking a job, your goal is to get employed. But, it’s much better to build a personal rapport that gets you one step ahead of everyone. The ones who are still playing the resume accept-reject game.
If you plan to seek a job, start connecting with people from your dream companies every day. The law of large numbers works, and one day or another you’ll get a reply for sure. Don’t sweat it, but don’t quit too.
2. Content & Strategy: You cannot wait around to get a reply from your favorite company. Here are two things you must do:
1. Keep applying for more jobs.
2. Keep doing your research and connect with people who can get you that unfair advantage.
Now that we have the pre-requisites done, the next thing is content creation with a strategy.
What do I mean by that?
Not to sound spiritual but, it’s like manifesting your dream job with content.
Let’s say:
You’re really into marketing and, your niche is health and wellness. You’re seeking a full-time role in this fancy startup in the same niche as you.
You’ve applied and connected with a few employees from the company. Now, it’s showtime.
- Create a plan of action for posting for the next 1–2 weeks. Plan it according to how long you want to pursue this job opening.
- Read the job description carefully and come up with content ideas around the same.
So, For Eg:
If the JD says, “idea candidate should know to track and measure social media KPIs,”
Start with a post like,
“How to measure social media analytics?”
“What social media metrics to track in the health niche?”
And start sharing and DMing the post to your new dream company connections. They’ll either accept it graciously or reject it saying please don’t do self-promotion.
I’m not gonna talk about if and when things go south but, to increase your chances of getting a good reply,
The message should probably say something like, “Hey! I know this stuff, and I know you’re looking for someone like me.” Try to get on a call or an impromptu interview so that you raise your odds.
That’s literally the only two “get luckier” points I have for the job seekers.
The funny thing is, I came up with content & strategy points literally while writing this blog and,
I feel that now I’ll definitely try it for myself.
(I’m gonna thank myself for writing this post because I’ll probably apply the same strategy now.)
Thinking outside the box is not extraordinary. It’s just different and, it might work out for you. If you don’t try it, you’ll never find out, and that’s not a burden you should carry.
Enough Philosophy. Let’s end this long-ass piece with a conclusion.
Conclusion
Social media can be a life-changing tool for your personal and professional journey. Only when you learn to use it the right way.
Content creation on Linkedin is still only a couple of years old but the platform has tons of potential.
It’s not hard. It’s about being a little off-beat that can make the difference. So, please do.
Build a personal brand first and then choose one of the two steps described above.
Once you work on who you are and display that, the only choices left for you are freelancing or a full-time job. And, that’s a win-win.
So, the only question that’s left is:
Will you start with personal branding on Linkedin?
Let me know in the comments below.
Originally Published with ❤️ on Kushagraoberoi.com
