Complete Your Profile
Someone’s trust in a company is generally based on their perception of it, and our team plays a role in that. Employees with fully filled-out profiles appear more reputable than people with information gaps. A completed profile shows professionalism and engagement with the platform.
This includes:
- A headline, either simply stating your position or eye-catchingly describing yourself.
- An eye-catching “About” section describing the kind of work you do.
- A fleshed-out “Experience” section showing your entire professional work history.
- Any schooling, including additional notes, under the “Education” section.
- Any licenses or certifications you may possess, including the date(s) they were acquired and when they expire.
Some may also find it beneficial to include Honors, Awards, Organizations they’re involved with, Languages they speak, etc. It’s better to err on the side of providing more information than less, as it helps you appear more credible.
Your Profile Picture
LinkedIn isn’t like Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. It’s a professional networking social platform, and your profile picture should reflect that.
While official Bridger Group headshots are preferred, for those without one, here are tips for taking/choosing a professional profile picture:
- People want to know what you look like right now, not how you looked a few years ago, so choose a recently taken photo.
- No suit and tie required, but make sure you appear professional and tidy.
- Make sure you’re standing or sitting with proper posture.
- For more accurate coloring, better contrast, and to avoid harsh shadows, take the photo in soft natural lighting. This 8-second video offers helpful tips on lighting position.
- Traditionally, headshots have the camera angled ~30° down at the subject.
- Add depth to your picture by slightly angling your body to the side.
- Ask for help and have someone else take the picture for you, if possible. A well-taken selfie is sufficient, but people can tell when someone else has taken the photo.
- You should be the only person in the photo. Your Facebook profile photo can feature your kids, dog and spouse, but keep your LinkedIn picture focused on you.
- Choose a higher resolution image (a minimum of 400 x 400 pixels, but larger is generally better) to prevent it from appearing blurry. If necessary, you can use LinkedIn’s built-in editing tools to crop or edit your photo as necessary.
Your Header Image
The header image on your profile is a great way to make your profile a little more “you,” but remember you’re still representing the company. Avoid anything controversial, but you can use high-resolution images to reflect your personal interests or company pride.
Free stock photo websites like Unsplash or Pexels are useful for finding high-resolution photos, renderings and graphics. When choosing one, check it meets or exceeds LinkedIn’s minimum requirement of 1128 x 191 pixels. Like with profile pictures, LinkedIn’s built-in editing tools allow you to crop and edit your header image, if necessary.
Making the Most of Posts
Consider the Post Type
People love to tout the effectiveness of video (which is valid!), but it isn’t the only kind of effective post. Videos, carousels, and text posts tend to do the best overall, but LinkedIn loves a good single-image post with a personable image. Whether it’s you at a conference, on vacation with your family, or your dog sitting at the desk in your home office, LinkedIn will promote content people connect with. Try experimenting with different post types!
Factor in Engagement Time
Longer post means more time reading it, right? Not always. If content isn’t engaging enough, people may skim it briefly before deciding they aren’t interested, then scroll away. But when users take time to read/engage with your post, scroll through comments, and engage in the discussion, it can give your content a nice boost in LinkedIn’s algorithm.
Stay Authentic
Think about your own experience. If you’ve read enough posts, you can probably identify the “LinkedIn persona voice” pretty easily. After a while, it starts to become background noise. But when you find a post where the author writes in their own voice, it’s more likely to catch and hold your attention. You want to sound professional in posts, yes, but make sure your unique voice still comes through. People tend to prefer “real” over “right.”
Avoid AI
For every step AI takes toward becoming more “undetectable,” AI detection technology is a mere half step behind. If LinkedIn thinks your post is AI-generated (especially written content; sometimes imagery gets a pass), it might suppress it in the algorithm. That means less engagement, fewer total views, and fewer unique accounts reached. Keep it real, even if your writing isn’t perfect.
Be Consistent
This tends to be the hardest part for people. People don’t expand their LinkedIn reach by making one thoughtful post on LinkedIn and then not logging in for two months. Even if you don’t want to be the next big “LinkedIn influencer,” try to strive for at least one post per week.
Engage With Other Content
LinkedIn isn’t about shouting into a void. Take some time to engage with other people’s content. It’s especially helpful to find and Follow a thought leader on LinkedIn whose specialty interests you. The algorithm will gradually pull you into spheres with similar content to engage with. Commenting, reacting, and reposting can really help supplement the other things you share on the platform.
Beyond these surface-level interactions, try to engage consistently with the same people’s content. Whether it’s a coworker, a friend, or a thought leader you enjoy, work to facilitate back-and-forth conversation.
Engage with Company Content
There are three major actions employees can take to help their company on LinkedIn:
1. Associate yourself with the company page.
By connecting yourself to your organization or company in the “Experience” section of your LinkedIn profile you’re creating another potential touchpoint with prospective clients, candidates, or employees. Typing your employer’s name in the “Company or organization*” box should cause the page to pop up, which you’ll simply select and hit save.
2. React and comment on company posts.
Just like any other social media platform, LinkedIn uses an algorithm to determine which posts to show to more people. Posts with higher engagement do better in LinkedIn’s algorithm, especially with engagement levels that stay consistent or steadily increase over time.
Some ways you can interact with company posts include:
- Adding a comment about the post itself
- Responding to other comments in the thread and joining the conversation
- Using a comment to tag another LinkedIn user or company page using the “@” symbol
- Adding a reaction to the post (likes are the “lowest ranking,” with the other more “specific” engagements having more impact)
- Send the post directly to someone on LinkedIn through a direct message
3. Repost company posts to your personal LinkedIn account.
This drives engagement and raises impressions on the original post, as well as increasing brand awareness by showing it to more people who don’t already follow the company’s page. When reposting, be sure to add your own caption with your thoughts to provide context for your network. Just reposting is okay, but adding content is more helpful for post reach.
Over time, these efforts increase general awareness of the company, ideally making it top-of-mind when other users need our services or are looking for new employment opportunities.
Notes For Engaging on LinkedIn
As previously mentioned, LinkedIn is not like the other social networking platforms you may use. The way you engage with content, especially the content created by the company, may be different from how you engage with content on other platforms.
- Writing tone should be a bit more professional, or at least less “lax” than on other platforms. Also, try to refrain from using all-caps, excessive emojis, and excessive punctuation (i.e. exclamation points, questions marks, etc.).
- When engaging with content from other companies or LinkedIn users, it’s critical to remain courteous. Unlike Facebook, on LinkedIn many consider it unprofessional to post about controversial political, religious, or business-related topics using inflammatory language to provoke a response. When in doubt, it’s best to not repost or engage
Be aware: if you engage with someone’s LinkedIn post, there’s a chance your LinkedIn connections could see that interaction on their home feed. Refrain from using profane language, even when commenting on posts of someone you’re friendly or familiar with. Your actions on LinkedIn, however you mean them, can and will reflect back upon you and the company you represent. Be mindful of the content you choose to engage with.
