Hajra Naz
LinkedIn is widely recognized as the premier social platform for professionals and businesses, offering job seekers and business growth opportunities. However, how many individuals are genuinely maximizing its capabilities?
In recent years, LinkedIn introduced new stuff about more than job hunting or getting business leads. Using these features well can boost your personal brand, supercharge your career, and make you a respected voice in your field. Along these lines, amazing open doors come to you as opposed to you continuously searching for them.
Now, let’s explore a portion of these features beneath. In any case, before we make a plunge, here’s a fast-fair warning:
Avoid using LinkedIn only when you’re looking for a job.
LinkedIn offers more than just a job board. Its integrated job board is just one feature among many on the platform. The greatest mix-up you can make for your career is holding on until you’re jobless or looking for another way before you effectively use LinkedIn and make your profile.
If you wait, it might be nearly too late, and you’ll have to start building your brand from scratch. Establishing yourself as an industry expert or a skilled professional will be considerably more confounded.
Lastly, some of the tools mentioned below might be in beta mode. As a result, their availability could vary based on your location.
5 LinkedIn features you should be using
Before considering utilising the subsequent features and tools, assessing and posing some crucial questions is essential: “Do I possess a fully filled-out profile?” “What objectives do I have on this platform?” and “Who comprises my intended audience?”
If the response to the initial question is negative, envision and revamp your profile. Ensure it’s comprehensive and mirrors your distinctive personal brand, aligning with the latter two questions.
If you need clarification on your purpose or target audience, think about your career goal first.
1. Turn on “Creator” mode.
You may not know this, but setting your LinkedIn profile to “Creator” mode is an excellent approach to positioning yourself as a thought leader in your field. This is because it grants access to a wide range of tools, including building up and hosting LinkedIn Live Audio events, LinkedIn Live events (the video version), and newsletter launches.
Additionally, you can choose five hashtags that let others know what you talk about and are interested in for your profile’s title. The “Creator” mode also ensures that when other people view your profile, they first choose to follow you rather than connect with you.
If they genuinely want to join your first-degree network, they can select “More” from your profile to bring up a dropdown menu containing the “Connect” option. The number of your followers will then appear, helping you use numbers to build social proof for your brand.
2. Collaborate on skills-based articles.
You can now use the LinkedIn Skills Pages to further build your authority on the site by applying to be a LinkedIn Top Voice in your expertise.
LinkedIn will recommend AI-generated articles specific to those talents you can contribute so that you may give your unique perspective when you add skills to your profile’s talents section that are pertinent to your profession and industry.
If you frequently cooperate, LinkedIn may give you a gold LinkedIn Top Voice badge that you can proudly show on your profile. The more you collaborate, the more you position yourself as a competent leader in your field.
3. Undertake skills assessments
You could see a button that says “Take a skills assessment” when you click into your profile’s Skills section. This assessment is an excellent method to demonstrate that you are a true expert in your field.
LinkedIn skill tests look at AdobeADBE -3.4% and Microsoft MSFT -2.1% software packages, among other technical and design applications. It would be intriguing to see whether or not LinkedIn tested soft skills in the future, such as customer service or leadership scenarios.
But in the interim, completing LinkedIn Talent Assessments is a terrific choice if you’d like to proudly display your expertise and skill set, particularly if you’re considering transferring careers to a role or industry that employs these essential technical talents.
4. Subscribe to the LinkedIn Learning Blog
LinkedIn’s “LinkedIn Learning Blog” often posts advice on new skills you should pick up so you may modify your career to fit the needs of today’s dynamic workforce. Its list of the most in-demand talents, like the “LinkedIn 2023 Most In-Demand Skills”, was compiled using data and research from LinkedIn.
This report gives you information and ideas on advancing your career based on what companies and the market are searching for if you are serious about doing so.
5. Check your LinkedIn SSI score
Have you ever questioned why you aren’t attracting enough LinkedIn opportunities to advance your career? This tool might be helpful. If you’re serious about developing a powerful personal brand, you can adopt this technique, which sales professionals frequently employ.
LinkedIn rates your profile using the SSI (Social Selling Index), based on four critical factors equally weighted at 25. In other words, you should have a perfect score of 100 if your profile is excellent and meets all four criteria.
This is what the free SSI tool from LinkedIn compares you to:
- Create a solid professional identity.
- Make the proper connections
- Engage in reflections
- Build connections
Open the following link after logging into your LinkedIn account in your browser:
Over 70 should be your optimum score. Create a LinkedIn plan using the information from this tool to position yourself as an authority on the platform, connect with the right people, and draw in additional chances. Over time, this will raise your score.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, LinkedIn is much more than just a job board. It is an effective tool for building professional relationships, finding your next job or business opportunity, and enhancing your brand. Since LinkedIn is constantly releasing new features, staying active there is imperative to be informed of updates that will advance your career.
You can advance your career to new heights and unlock a universe of limitless opportunities by utilizing the tools available to LinkedIn Creators, working together on skills articles, utilizing your current skills while seeking to learn more, and understanding your current status in the market using the SSI feature.
