3 Ways LinkedIn Beginners Can Find Success

LinkedIn has over 467 million users with over 71% of users located outside of the United States. The majority of users are men (56% to 44%), and over 90% of business-to-business marketers use the platform to distribute their content.

It’s a platform designed for professionals, and it’s a must-have social media account.

But beginners often get lost outside of trying to add their high school and college friends to their network.

You can start finding success on LinkedIn if you:

1. Stand Out by Niching Down

It’s great to have a long resume, but if your title is just an insurance broker, that can mean a lot of things. You might offer home insurance, personal insurance, commercial insurance, auto insurance – dozens of different insurance products.

But let’s assume you really like auto insurance, and this is the product that you sell most often.

Listing yourself as an auto insurance broker will position yourself directly into the auto niche, and this will make you stand out from all of the other insurance brokers.

Your profile might receive fewer hits and searches may also be lower when you niche down, but you’ll also attract people that are highly targeted and looking to hire you.

Take this time to also spice up your profile. You can add media, and don’t be afraid to put a call-to-action inside of your profile. Ask users to contact you if they need your help. LinkedIn profiles should be viewed as a sales page that will attract highly targeted leads.

2. Connect with Others Strategically

Your network is everything in business. If you don’t build a strong network, you’re not going to be able to leverage the real power of LinkedIn. You’ll want to connect with people in your industry.

And these people should include:

• Classmates
• Colleagues (current and past)
• Friends

You’ll want to connect with others within your industry, too. The goal is for your network to be filled with industry-related individuals. These are the people in your network that will be most valuable.

When you meet someone in the industry, add them on LinkedIn.

Send messages that are meaningful, too, if you don’t know the individual well. You can also opt to use the “Get Introduced!” tool, which asks other connections you have to connect you with people in their network.

3. Stay Active on the Site

Don’t give up. A lot of users will start to give up on their profile, so they will leave the site for months at a time and wonder what happened to their progress. You need to remain active, start reaching out to others and keep tweaking your approach on LinkedIn.

You’ll find that if you stay active, over time, you’ll slowly start to expand your network.

Sooner or later, people will start finding you through LinkedIn’s search, and all of your hard work will start to pay off.

Don’t forget to tell others that you have a new profile on your other social media accounts. Use Facebook, Twitter and other accounts to lure people in your existing network to your LinkedIn.