Whether you’re a pro, or your LinkedIn sits dormant, there’s always new ways to look at using the platform to develop your professional career.

LinkedIn has changed the way that we network. With an online portal offering to connect millions of professionals in-real-time at the click of a button – it could easily be thought of as a Facebook for professionals.

Sixteen years post-launch, LinkedIn has changed a lot since inception. . From a simple networking platform for professionals, to an all inclusive array of compelling blog content, community interaction, and yet another way for businesses to find a unique corporate-focused voice. As this platform has become a more essential professional and personal marketing tool, LinkedIn has become established way of networking (and of course, self-marketing), sitting alongside traditional face-to-face, and other digital networking.

So how can we utilise LinkedIn to its full advantage? Here’s some pointers on what is happening on the platform, and how you can be even more involved:

Career Development

Glorified digital resume? We think not… LinkedIn has quickly grown into one of the number one places to seek advice, support career development, and guide us on our professional journey. Alongside plenty of other user-generated content available for development, LinkedIn features a space called ‘LinkedIn Learning’ an on-demand learning suite, where you can “learn the most in-demand business, tech and creative skills from industry experts.”

From topics related directly to career development, to marketing, and leadership –LinkedIn Learning features thousands of video courses to support you in your career. They’ll also recommend topics based on your profile and offer learning from industry experts with real world experience.

Blogs

Along with ‘LinkedIn Learning’, LinkedIn hands the power over to it’s users, and businesses to create a plethora of user-generated blog content. Through LinkedIn Articles, you can write compelling content directly within LinkedIn, and share it with your networks. This is a great place to let the world know all about your skills if you’re looking for a job, or a place to develop yourself profile and opinions professionally. If you’ve got blogs hosted elsewhere, then no worries, simply post them as you would on any other platform – and encourage people to join in on the conversation!

Linkedin Groups

Groups within the LinkedIn platform are a great place to share your story, blog posts, up-skill or connect with like minded individuals in the wider community. Whether you’re looking for particular advice that your regular network may not be able to answer, a second opinion, or to simply browse through what the community is saying – think of it like executive coaching, driven by the community around you. If you’re a contractor, this can be a great place to seek out new work.

Community Engagement

If you’ve logged into LinkedIn recently, you’ll see all kinds of conversations happening, comment threads full of people discussing trending topics, connections announcing their new positions (and people congratulating them), or even inspiration career advice that’s gone viral. These are the moments to add yourself to the conversation. Comment on a connection’s post about their new position, join in on that discussion around someone related to your career – treat it as a community, make your voice heard, and be active as much as you can.

Business Marketing

If would be easy to say that most people think of LinkedIn as a space to support your career development, and that’s correct – but, it’s also a great place to market your business. Companies can create their own company page, and speak to the masses. It’s a great place to reach audiences that differ from Facebook, or Instagram. Come at it from a professional stance, share company highlights, project the skills of your business through blog posts, and encourage interaction. You can even use LinkedIn Ads to market your business, targeting specific audiences within professional situations; for example, you can directly target people work in HR, or Marketing.

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And while we’ve got you, be sure to follow Wellineux on LinkedIn!

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