I’m sure we don’t need to convince you of the benefits of having a big LinkedIn network that’s totally engaged and crackling with activity. But sometimes, it can get to a stage where you feel like you’ve exhausted every possible opportunity available within your LinkedIn network… which just means you need to spend some time making new connections!
Here are four of the best LinkedIn hacks that will bring a constant stream of new faces (and new opportunities) into your recruitment network.
1. Use the ‘two cents’ methodology
The ‘two cents’ methodology is an idea that legendary growth hacker came up with years ago, and it’s something that works particularly well on LinkedIn since it’s primarily a business-to-business social platform.
The two cents methodology works as follows:
Step one: Look for the current top performing posts in your industry.
Now that LinkedIn allows hashtags, this is a lot easier – just type ‘#recruitment’ (or another hashtag that’s relevant to your specialism) into the LinkedIn search bar and click ‘follow’ so you can always stay on top of what people are talking about in relation to your expertise.
You can also look through the ‘what people are talking about now’ section to the right of your feed, which will bring up a lot of opportunities, but these are much less likely to be relevant to your niche – and relevancy is super important here.
Step two: Read the content!
Step three: Leave a valuable and informed comment – in other words, leave your ‘two cents’ in the comments box. Don’t just leave any old comment that you could’ve posted anywhere, but one that shows you’ve actually read the content and have some value to add.
If someone reading your comment supports what you’ve said, they’ll ‘like’ your comment (in which case, it’s likely to appear in the newsfeeds of their entire network, giving you lots of additional exposure) and you could also send them a connection request – if they don’t send you one first!
2. Make yourself visually stand out
Whilst providing a genuinely valuable contribution to discussion is what’s really important when social selling on LinkedIn, there are a few additional things you can do to make your ‘two cents’ stand out from all the other comments.
One great tip from LinkedIn expert Andy Foote (or should I say ‘...ANDY FOOTE…’) is to edit your LinkedIn name so it looks a bit different and cuts through the noise. Andy uses capital letters and dots in his LinkedIn name purely because it’s eye-catching to other users when he’s leaving his ‘two cents’ in the comments, or when he’s included in a mass tag. If you’re interested in trying something a bit different visually with your own name, LinkedIn tagline, or even the body text of a status update, use this tool to do it.
3. Post native LinkedIn content
Posting ‘natively’ is when you create content that doesn’t require you to click and leave the LinkedIn platform in order to see it: everything remains ‘native’ to newsfeeds. An example of native LinkedIn content would be uploading a video or publishing a LinkedIn Pulse article.
Unsurprisingly, the LinkedIn algorithm prioritises native content, as it keeps users busy on the platform for longer, so you’ll get a much, much wider reach if you post content in this way.
You’ll already be well aware of how popular video is on LinkedIn – we all absolutely lap it up! But in order for your videos to be successful, you need to follow these LinkedIn video do’s and don’ts and make sure you post natively every time.
In contrast, if you were to upload your video to your YouTube channel first and then share it to LinkedIn rather than uploading the video directly to the platform, you’ll receive just a fraction of the reach.
Posting LinkedIn Pulse articles is also a great option, as you’ll reach wider audiences on search engines by piggybacking on LinkedIn’s strong SEO and start appearing in relevant Google searches. For more tips on how to maximise engagement with using LinkedIn Pulse, read this blog (which, incidentally, is also a LinkedIn Pulse native content post!).
4. Use thank-you tags
Receiving lots of likes and comments on a LinkedIn post is brilliant, but are you really making the most of them? Thank-you tags are when someone likes your LinkedIn post or leaves a comment and you manually tag them to say ‘thank you’. This is a great trick for maximising the interactions you get and making yourself visible to as many LinkedIn users as possible.
This works because, whilst the LinkedIn algorithm doesn’t necessarily show your network every post you ‘like’ or comment on, it is very likely to show them posts you’re personally tagged in. This hack is a personal favourite, as it’s such a subtle move that can make a seriously big impact on your LinkedIn network growth. Give this trick a try and you’ll see what I mean!
Once you’ve got your LinkedIn network growing again, time to start hunting for those purple squirrels! Download the eBook below to get the ball rolling.
