LinkedIn is an incredible platform to build your profile, networks, and connections, plus leverage career opportunities. Gembridge is all about “finding gems” (GEM) and “connecting people” (BRIDGE), and although we connect in various ways, LinkeIn is a valued tool that we leverage.
A LinkedIn Profile is not just a static page on a website, it is constantly evolving.
Events like the recent FIA Conference prove to be great opportunities to connect with people in your industry. Although you meet in person, it is also a great idea to connect online.
Here are some quick and simple tips to maximise the power of LinkedIn:
Complete your profile (or at least to 80%)
Remember, it takes only a few seconds to get someone’s attention online, so ensure you stand out for the right reasons. A professional headshot, background image, summary, education, and employment history are important, along with skills, interests, and recommendations.
This can be considered your online CV to easily search and apply for jobs. But also, the LinkedIn algorithms will suggest ‘people you may know’ from previous employment, alumni from university days to reconnect and build connections, or simply people from the same sector who like similar content.
IMAGE
Ensure you have a headshot image that is clear, professional, and fit for purpose. LinkedIn is considered a professional business network, so your image should be appropriate, and ideally not at the beach wearing sunglasses. An image so people can recognise you instantly, and quickly put a name to a face.
ADD Skills
There are many skills to select on LinkedIn. You can select as many as you wish, but I recommend selecting the 10 most prevalent in your experience. What are the key ones you wish to be contacted for?
CONTENT… Create, share, LIke and engage
Be current, clear, and concise. Think about what is relevant, interesting, informative, or insightful. Publish blogs, short posts, and job advertisements. It could be about an interesting conference session, together with a photo and for greater reach, you can tag people (including conference speakers and delegates) or share on a group page to a targeted audience. Leave a professional, kind, and inclusive digital footprint.
Join Groups
You can reach more people and targeted communities who have a special interest. Some relevant to Fundraising include the Australian Philanthropy Network (APN) or Fundraising Institute of Australia (FIA) or Certified Fund Raising Executives (CFRE). Connect, learn, share ideas and content, but keep it relevant to the key topics.
Network
Connect with people that you meet, or proactively introduce yourself via LinkedIn to people in the same industry where you have mutual connections. Add a note with the context or start a discussion.
LinkedIn's own advice is that you should only accept connection requests from people that “you know personally and who you trust on a professional level”. Be selective and sensible about how you network on Linkedin. It is a numbers game, but is still quality over quantity.
500+
After you reach 500 connections, LinkedIn does not disclose how many connections you have. If you have below this number, I suggest starting to connect with colleagues to build your network. This will add power as your 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and more as connections grow. Reaching this milestone is a little badge that indicates you actively use LinkedIn and have made a concerted effort to build your network.
At the 2023 FIA Conference, there were well over 1,000 delegates to connect with!
Keep in touch
Adding friends is great, but engaging with them is where the magic happens. Share interesting articles or thoughts that you know they are interested in, or write a brief message to say hello, happy birthday, congratulations on your new job, etc. Definitely don’t SPAM or try to SELL.
BE CONTACTABLE
Respond to messages and engage here. The messages are instant and effective, and usually short, so no need for long essays. Add your contact email address and/or phone number too. Your 1st connections only can access this from your profile. Sometimes the phone can be more effective than back-and-forth messages.
Curate your experience
In your settings, you can alter the notifications. Decide what you wish to receive and the topics of interest so they are more targeted to your inbox and newsfeeds, along with your specific job search.
FOLLOW
You can follow people, companies, groups and influencers to instantly be alerted to new content, jobs, ideas and career highlights. Gembridge posts jobs on our LinkedIn page regularly, so Follow Gembridge.
Dedicate time
LinkedIn can seem overwhelming when getting started. I suggest spending 10 minutes every working day to connect and engage. Consider: Who have I met recently? Who did I connect with at the FIA Conference? What was my favourite session? What did I learn each day? Like most networking, you need to invest time and energy, so get started and enjoy the LinkedIn journey.
BONUS TIPS
We asked Phil, LinkedIn Account Manager about his top tips for a great LinkedIn profile. Below are his top 3!
BONUS top tips from Phil, Gembridge’s LinkedIn Account Manager
You can also view your Social Selling Index Score, available here. This score updates daily, giving you very real-time insights and confirmations on how your profile is improving. Try out the tips above and then check the difference it has made to your score!