Back in 2004, a buddy of mine named Dave sent me messages letting me know about this new social media platform called LinkedIn. He explained that it would be all about connecting with people.
And instantly in my mind -because I’m a part of career management -my first thought was, here is a tool that will help with keeping in touch with people.
The number one reason I love LinkedIn is that it’s the place where people think about you from a career perspective. It’s not the same as other platforms, but you can leverage this tool to help so that you can grow that awesome career as a tech leader.
Why You Should Be On LinkedIn
As a leader, you may be thinking about what you need to do to perpetuate your brand? What do you need to do to help recruit? And you might be wondering about what you are doing to help share your company’s story, which could lead to customers. If you’re in that unique position as a leader and you’ve got a voice, use LinkedIn to help you do that.
Show up and be authentically yourself and help people to understand who you are. Leverage LinkedIn and recognize that it’s a massive opportunity for you to make those connections with people.
Being Authentic On LinkedIn
I am so big on people being authentic about their leadership style; it makes a huge difference. It helps to reduce the attrition of unwanted people.
Downstream you’re worried about attrition; you’re concerned about people leaving the company. But here’s the thing. Early on, when people are considering joining your company, they’re going to check you out on LinkedIn. Guaranteed.
And actually, if they haven’t checked you out on LinkedIn, then that’s a problem, and you don’t want to hire them because they’re not doing their due diligence to see if you guys sync up.
But if they’re doing their due diligence, they are seeing videos of you talking about who you are, your interests, what you’re passionate about, or the cool things that are going on in your company.
Sharing this type of authenticity can tip the scales in your favor to help you recruit the right person who will make a big difference in your company.
How To Create LinkedIn Articles
One of the things you can do to help people consider your company is to write articles. When they are researching the company, they’re not considering the company as a whole; they’re also considering you as one of those pieces.
Write articles regularly. And when I say regularly, you get to determine what that might be. Some people write a weekly; some people do it twice a month, etc. But the point is to start writing the articles and share what helps people understand who you are. The more authentic than you are, it’s going to make a big difference.
You can get started creating a LinkedIn article by going to where you would typically start a post but switching it to an article instead. Articles are great because you can add photos, create a headline, and write more. And then, when you are done, it shows up as a post on your LinkedIn feed.
LinkedIn + Lunch
Here’s the deal. You’re going to be eating lunch, probably sitting at your desk at home. So take a few minutes while you’re eating lunch, pop into LinkedIn, either from your phone or computer. Take a few minutes to catch up and see what’s going on. Connect with your coworkers, write, send messages, connect with people in your network.
And if you’re not going to do that at lunchtime, my question is, when are you going to get it done?
Use some of that time during your lunch to make sure you are connecting and showing up authentically.
If you want to talk more about how you can leverage LinkedIn as a tool to help you grow that excellent career as a tech leader, get in touch with me. Let’s schedule a time to chat, and I’ll tell you about what it is that we can do for you. It’s a fabulous tool.
I look forward to hearing from you and wish you much success in your excellent career.