If you’re like most writers and editors, you want to have as many avenues for potential clients to connect with you as you can. If you’ve overlooked LinkedIn or just haven’t used it to its full potential, the summer is the perfect time to recommit and start upleveling your approach. LinkedIn has become second only to personal referrals in my freelance business. When I started freelancing 10 years ago, my LinkedIn was a dead zone and only about four years ago did I get really serious about leveraging this platform. Here are my best tips for using LinkedIn today.
#1: Find Other Leaders in Your Industry and Comment on Their Work
This might seem counterintuitive. Why would you follow another editor or content writer and give more LinkedIn juice to their posts? Because this helps to show that you’re an active participant on the platform and gets your name out there, too.
Providing thoughtful comments on a colleague’s posts on LinkedIn makes this more like a network. Remember that other people in your colleague’s network will see your responses, too, which opens new connection opportunities for you and greater exposure overall.
Most people post content on LinkedIn a few times per week. Choose a couple of favorite thought leaders to follow and scope their content. LinkedIn tracks what interests you and shows you similar material on your login feed.
#2: Use Keywords and Hashtags in All Your Content
The LinkedIn algorithm considers many aspects of your profile and posted content when deciding whether your profile will show up for various searches.
Keywords are those terms and phrases your clients might use to describe your work. It’s important when brainstorming these not to limit yourself to only the terms you would use to describe your work in an elevator speech.
For example, an editor might use:
- Proofreading
- Developmental editing
- Professional editor
- Copyediting/copyeditor
- Line editing
- Editing
- Freelance editor
That’s just the start of a small list that could be expanded significantly based on your niche and the work you do for clients. The same goes for hashtags. Do some research on which hashtags align best with your profile and service offerings.
Hashtags perform best on posted content on the platform, not on your profile. However, you can still sprinkle some hashtags throughout your About section on your LinkedIn profile.
#3: Connect with Five People Every Day
To become a power user of LinkedIn, you don’t need to connect with 50 people a day. In fact, that kind of activity usually gets flagged as spammy and could get you blocked. Small consistent steps are far more effective for growing your connections and network on LinkedIn. LinkedIn starts to take you seriously when you have at least 500 connections on the platform, although you can always continue to connect with more people after you’ve hit that threshold.
Connect with five people every day. Make it simple and do it first thing in the morning. I have been on the LinkedIn app while I’m waiting in line at the grocery store or before an appointment. Send authentic and simple messages to connect, and don’t offer to provide them with services right away.
Here are a few examples of messages I’ve used in the past:
- “Looking to expand my network of lawyers in the area. Open to connect?”
- “Love the content you post on LinkedIn. I’d like to be connected here.”
- “I noticed you’re interested in [insert topic/cause/etc. here]. Me too! Let’s connect.”
If you do attend a local networking event or conference, use this as a supercharged chance to grow your LinkedIn following.
#4: Create a Roadmap of Content to Post
A big reason why most freelancers don’t want to use LinkedIn is because they’re not sure what to write about. Don’t put that pressure on yourself to come up with those ideas on the day you intend to post. Instead, start with a brain dump list of all the topics you could post about. Here are some as a starting point:
- Best practices for hiring an editor
- Biggest mistakes people make when working with a freelance writer
- Common grammar/style mistakes or issues people struggle with
- The best lessons you’ve learned working for yourself
- Your perspective on the future of digital marketing (or insert your industry/niche)
Store your content bank in a spreadsheet, Trello board, or Google Doc where you can pull that information up easily when you need it. You’ll thank your past self for the inspiration.
LinkedIn success builds like a snowball, so you might not see results right away, but it really gets easier after you’ve been at it for some time. Make the commitment to small steps on an ongoing basis and you’ll start to see your traction grow.
Laura Pennington Briggs is the founder and CEO of the Freelance Coach. A two-time TEDx speaker on how freelancing is changing the economy and the host of the weekly Advanced Freelancing podcast, Laura has helped over 15,000 freelancers start and scale their business. She’s an expert on systems, project and client management, marketing a solopreneur business, delegating to team members, retainers, and developing multiple income streams for writers of all stripes. Laura is the author of five books, including the Six Figure Freelancer and How to Start Your Own Freelance Writing Business. She’s also the founder of Operation Freelance, a national nonprofit providing free entrepreneurship training to military spouses worldwide.
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