If there were a contest to see who could spend the most time during the work day on LinkedIn, would you be a contender for the gold medal? 

There’s no doubt that LinkedIn has expanded our options to find and connect with people, whether it’s for marketing or recruiting. It creates opportunity by opening doors and putting valuable information at our fingertips. It can help us build focused call lists for marketing and/or recruiting. It can help us share information that will elevate our visibility to attract prospective clients and candidates. It can suck us into aimless, falling-down-dark-rabbit-hole browsing under the delusion that we’re being productive. 

It’s smart to create dedicated blocks of time on a consistent basis to create focused call lists for marketing and recruiting. Focused searches built into specific blocks of time, with a specific outcome: building calls list for marketing or recruiting campaigns. You’re in, you know what you’re looking for, you build a productive list that you add into your ATS, and you’re out of LinkedIn. Well researched call lists position us for productive conversations to generate Assignments and Candidates. That’s what helps us make money. 

But, living on LinkedIn isn’t doing our entire job. So, living on LinkedIn shouldn’t consume our entire work day. 

Block out 20 minutes each week to take advantage of the many other ways LinkedIn can build your business. Schedule the time on your calendar. A 20 minute block of time at the same time on the same day every week. 

In those 20 minutes, work your way through each of the 10 tasks on the LinkedIn Power Checklist to amplify your visibility and return from LinkedIn

LinkedIn Power Checklist

Post articles from business and industry press. Get in the habit of saving links to articles about business issues and trends that will impact your niche. 

Keep a running list of articles that are business relevant, so you’ve always got an inventory of articles to post. Clip the link when you find the article and store them in Notes, Google Keep or a word document so you can easily access them when it’s time for your 20-minute LinkedIn window. Some articles will be time sensitive or have a limited shelf life of relevance, but other will be equally relevant for a longer of time.  

Post more articles relating to business and industry trends than you post on hiring or interviewing, but post both. Articles relating to business and industry trends show your ability to speak to your clients’ needs.

Post a question to engage conversation on LinkedIn. When you post your article on LinkedIn, include a question to prompt engagement. Sample questions:

How will this affect your business? 

This is what my clients are talking about. What are your thoughts? 

Industry Trend: Is this good news or bad news?

Follow key contacts in your industry. Clients, candidates and key influencers. There’s value in you seeing what they post, and there’s even more value in them seeing that you care what they post. 

Like other posts. We all like to be ‘liked’. Do it. 

Comment on other posts. Since you’re following folks that might be candidates, clients and/or key influencers, you’ll see what they post. Go beyond the mere ‘like’ and comment on their post, even if it’s as simple as “good point” or ‘I agree.”

Repost other posts. When someone you follow posts content that you think will be of interest or value to your audience, repost it.  Reposting is a great shout out to the original poster. 

Tag others. When you share someone else’s post, or comment on someone else’s post, tag another person you think might be interested. Add the ‘@’ before their name, eg @kathleenkurke, and they’ll see that you’ve reference them. Tagging others is great for their visibility and it’s great for your visibility. 

Follow companies in your industry. Big companies, small companies. Companies you’re recruiting for and companies you’re recruiting from and companies you wish were in one of those categories. Once you’re following the companies, you can respond to what they post, share what they post, mention them in other posts, and mention what you saw in the post in your call campaigns. When you show up on their LinkedIn page, you’re getting visibility right in their sandbox 

Participate in groups relevant to your marketplace. Not groups create by recruiters for recruiters, but instead find groups made up of people actually doing the jobs you recruit for. Focus on adding value to the group by making connections and referring group participants to other resources to answer their questions. 

Use LinkedIn content as springboard for Connection invites. The standard LinkedIn connection invitation in boring, boring and more boring. But when you reference an article you see on LinkedIn in your LinkedIn connection request, you’re speaking directly to the person with relevance and focus. 

There are SO many high-value ways to spend your time on LinkedIn than I’ve listed here. Enough to fill may days and delay the most important part of our work, which is having conversations with prospective candidates and clients. 

And, there are SO many low-value ways to waste time on LinkedIn. Don’t get caught in that trap. 

By investing one 20-minute block of time to follow the 10-step Checklist, you’ll see value from LinkedIn. Enjoy!

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