3 Overlooked LinkedIn Features That Boost Visibility By Up To 246%
If you've been on LinkedIn for the past year or more, and have no clients, partnerships, or job opportunities to show for it, you're likely under-utilizing this platform.
LinkedIn is not your everyday social media. And it's a whole lot more than a job board or learning platform (even though LinkedIn Jobs and LinkedIn Learning are great features too).
LinkedIn is perhaps the number one asset you should have in your toolkit as a professional, not just when you're representing your employer in a role like sales or business development, but beyond this, for growing your career and the breadth of opportunities you have access to.
Where many people go wrong is that they create a profile, and then forget all about it until it's time to look for a job and put their green banner up. They'll probably check in every now and then when their name is shouted out by their boss or when the company celebrates them every six months, but beyond that, there's no presence, authority, visibility, or credibility developed.
So when it's time to set yourself up and promote your services as a freelance professional, or look for your next job opportunity, you're stuck and have to start from scratch because you failed to build your visibility consistently beforehand.
To help you establish visibility and thought leadership (both of which help you stand out from your competitors as a professional) there are three LinkedIn features you need to be familiar with, which many people unfortunately under-utilize:
LinkedIn Carousels is a feature that allows you to showcase your expertise beyond posts in a deep, meaningful, and practical way. It allows you to explore a topic further and be very hands-on with your audience. You can literally upload a PDF that you've created, such as a list of tools and resources, prompts, helpful tips, step-by-step guide, etc. It will then convert into a carousel that people can scroll through.
This boosts your value in the eyes of your audience, especially when you're answering a problem that they have directly, and it positions you as a thought leader.
You can take inspiration for how to design and format your LinkedIn Carousels by browsing through and studying your favourite creators on LinkedIn, especially those who already work within your industry or field.
And you don't need to worry about being a designer because you can literally create carousel templates from Canva's vast library of templates, and tweak according to your style, industry, and brand.
Quick tip: if including multiple pages, try to make it one small idea per page so that it's easily digestible and it entices people to click reading for more. LinkedIn Carousels have been proven to boost engagement by as much as 246%, according to a Buffer experiment, so this will help you bring more eyeballs to your profile.
This is another underrated gem. When you create a LinkedIn profile, you need to view it as your portfolio, or better yet, your storefront. That doesn't mean everything should scream 'buy now.' But what it does mean is that it should look enticing enough for people to want to consider checking out what exactly you do even further.
LinkedIn has a section called 'featured' that sits nicely towards the middle of your profile as visitors scroll down.
Use this space to showcase items like:
This section is valuable real estate, so handpick three to five items to display here as proof of expertise and credibility, and choose wisely.
Another gem which is not directly on your profile, but is connected with it, is LinkedIn's SSI score (this means Social Selling Index). To find out yours, simply copy and paste this URL into your browser: www.linkedin.com/sales/ssi
Ensure you're logged into your LinkedIn profile on the same browser first.
When you view the SSI page, it should look something like this:
This data is invaluable, because it reveals the health of your LinkedIn's profile and presence. The higher your score, the better, as it indicates that you're more visible, have a higher likelihood of building strong client and partnership relationships (even as a job-seeker), and have a strong personal brand.
You'll also notice a section which shows that you're in the top X percent of your network (you fill in the X). Look at the four metrics and see where most improvement is needed, and aim to be in the top 10%.
Using all these tools help to gradually establish you as an industry thought leader.
The "featured" section of your profile is valuable real estate, so use it wisely
Ready to transform your LinkedIn profile? Which feature will you begin with today?
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