Nobody hands you a dictionary when you join LinkedIn. Last week I spoke about A-M. Here are the rest of the letters.
N is for Network
People always talk about the growth levers of LinkedIn being posting, commenting and engagement. But active network expansion is so vital to growth. Once you have posted on LinkedIn you can either sit and hope your post is incredible enough to find its audience, OR you can add the people you want to reach. A connection request gets people to notice your profile, and once they accept, they see your profile and your posts for free. LinkedIn has a limit of 100 connection requests per week. I don't always use that limit, but it's a great way to get visibility, and I would highly, highly recommend it.
O is for Organic Reach
Organic reach is when you create a post that's so killer, so on topic, so trendy or so relevant to a large part of the LinkedIn audience that it's shown more. Lately that means memes and funny posts. They're great for spreading your message BUT they do very little for your brand in terms of reaching the right audience. Use them, but use them wisely.
P is for Polls
I don't use them often, and I think that's my loss. Done well, a poll tells you what your audience resonates with and lets you survey the market before launching a new offering. Some people do this wonderfully.
Credits: Lola Bailey
Q is for Questions
Hooks get the curiosity of your audience up, but you also want a really nice call to action. A call to action (CTA) is anything towards the end of your post that encourages your audience to act on the content you've put out.
Questions are the most effective CTA. I usually like to have a very clear question, where the answer is either a yes or no, or something so instantaneous that people can answer immediately (for example, What's your favorite color? Black.) A lot of people end up going with the more generic "Agree?", which is kind of pointless, because you're basically giving the yes-men a warranty to just say yes on your post
R is for Reposts
Reposts = Free access to another person's audience. This usually works for posts that either further an industry opinion (by talking about something super relatable,) or posts that are so educational and so interesting that people cannot help but share them. I would try to optimize for it, but I wouldn't make it your end-all be-all. The goal is to get in front of the right people, not necessarily more people (unless you're an influencer.)
S is for Services
This is unfortunately not something I've seen being actively used, but LinkedIn has a wonderful Services section where you can mention what you do, who you do it for and what you've achieved. If you want more freelance projects or one-off projects, it's a great way to showcase what you're doing.
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Aand… now back to the newsletter.
T is for Thought leader
Actively exploited on LinkedIn since 2022, when everyone wanted to lead the conversation about their industry. Right now, this has shifted. LinkedIn has become more about influencers. There is still thought leadership, but in a different format: more personal, based more on experiences rather than expressing a thought about an industry norm or what really works. The aura has moved. It's lost its charm over the years. It's still relevant, but not in the way we used to know it.
U is for Unsolicited DM
The cousin of broetry, cold or unsolicited DMs have people reach out to us asking us to buy something. If you want to grow on LinkedIn, DMs are the way to go. But please, please, please do not send cold or generic DMs. Give something of value to your audience. That may sound super generic, but either give them a free resource they could use, or ask them to contribute their opinion or perspective. People are more than happy to help. You just need to give them something of value to participate in. Do not try to actively sell to them. They really don't want it.
V is for Video
LinkedIn has gone back and forth on video and right now it sits in the eh, meh, lukewarm zone. Still a great way to let people see who you are, how you speak and how you move, which builds trust. It just takes time and isn't the fastest route to results.
W is for Who viewed your profile
This has been highly controversial, because even with LinkedIn Premium you get the generic "someone from this industry viewed your profile," which is useless. But who viewed your profile is an interesting way to begin conversations. You can always say: hey, I saw you viewed my profile, I'm just curious what motivated you to do that. It puts people in a zone of surprise. It's a nice, super simple way to reach out, DM them and begin a conversation. I would always advise you to do it, (although I don't do it myself. :)) I've has someone do it to me and it works quite well.
X is for eXistence
Okay, fine. I cheated a bit. But hear me out. LinkedIn is your professional existence, the version of you that clients, recruiters and future colleagues meet before they meet you. . Be very careful with what you express on LinkedIn, but not too careful. It's okay to be a bit vulnerable and open. Workplaces are becoming a bit more human. That's how I see my LinkedIn and that's how I express myself on it. But at the same time, don't go overboard and don't overshare. Your professional aura is built from what you choose to show, and just as much from what you choose to keep.
Y is for Yes-men
Yes-Man are the people who agree with every post and never offer a different or fresh perspective. I am also guilty of this. I usually always comment on posts I agree with and ignore the posts I don't agree with.
But, in order to stand out on LinkedIn, it's important to be a no-man. That's what will make you stand out and create your aura on LinkedIn.
Z is for Zone of no clicks
The Zone of No Clicks is where posts go when they get no reactions and no engagement. It's all right. It's part of the process.
You need to experiment. You need to try. If you just keep doing more of the same, you'll look like everyone else on the platform. So don't worry too much about it. There are still posts of mine that get three likes. It's all right. It's not the end of the world. Our whole worth is not based online, so totally do not worry about it.
Aaaand that’s all of the alphabet. So now, for my question, what letter do you rely on most for LinkedIn? Just reply with the letter.
Grow-th Architect is where I (Shreya Vaidya) think out loud about brand-building, positioning, and surviving on LinkedIn. If this resonated, subscribe, or share it with someone who needs to hear it.