Having a strong LinkedIn presence with many connections and followers is crucial for building your professional brand and expanding your network. But getting those initial followers can seem daunting when you’re just starting out with a new profile. Here are some tips and strategies to help you attract more followers and build your LinkedIn community.
Optimize your profile
The first step is making sure you have an optimized, complete LinkedIn profile. This makes you more findable and gives people a reason to connect and follow you. Some key profile elements to focus on:
- Professional headshot photo – Use a clear, high-quality photo of yourself in business or professional attire. Avoid casual selfies.
- Headline – Summarize your expertise or focus in a few compelling words. Don’t just state your job title.
- About section – Share your background, skills, accomplishments and goals in an engaging “about me” overview.
- Experience – Detail your work history with descriptions of responsibilities and achievements.
- Skills – List key skills, expertise areas and competencies.
- Education – Include all colleges/universities attended and degrees obtained.
- Links – Add links to your website, blog, portfolio etc. to showcase your work.
- Recommendations – Request recommendations from managers, colleagues, clients to build credibility.
A fully fleshed out profile signals you’re a serious professional worth connecting with. Take the time to add details and examples that bring your background to life.
Increase your connections
The more LinkedIn connections you have, the wider your potential follower base will be. Here are some ways to connect with more professionals on LinkedIn:
- Import contacts. Use the LinkedIn contact importer tool to pull connections from your email account.
- Connect with coworkers and classmates. Search for anyone you’ve worked with or went to school with and send connection requests.
- Follow companies you want to work for. Employees of those companies will see you’re interested.
- Join LinkedIn Groups. Connect with other members who share your professional interests and industry.
- Connect after in-person meetings. Send connection invites after networking events, conferences, client meetings etc.
- Accept incoming requests. Respond promptly whenever you receive connection invitations.
Relationships are everything on LinkedIn. The more people you connect with, the larger your potential following grows.
Engage with your network
To encourage your connections to follow you, you need to actively engage with them. Here are some ways to interact with your network:
- Congratulate connections on work anniversaries, promotions, new jobs etc. This shows you pay attention.
- Comment on connections’ posts and articles. This helps spark ongoing conversations.
- Like and react to connections’ posts. This builds rapport through quick engagement.
- Share connections’ content. Reposting useful articles or posts exposes their work to your network.
- Recommend connections for jobs, projects, volunteer opportunities. Helping others builds goodwill.
- Offer help and advice to connections. Being a trusted resource makes people want to keep up with you.
When you regularly interact and engage with your connections, they will be more inclined to follow you back in return.
Post valuable content
Posting relevant, useful content is crucial for attracting engaged followers. Consider sharing content like:
- Industry news and trends
- Job openings and hiring tips
- Advice and best practices
- Examples of your work and achievements
- Company updates and announcements
- Upcoming events and conferences
- Links to interesting articles and resources
Provide value and help people do their jobs better or advance their careers. Useful content that gets interaction will get noticed by your connections.
Post at optimal times
When you post can be just as important as what you post. According to LinkedIn, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday tend to see the highest engagement. The most popular times are:
- 7-8 AM: People check LinkedIn early in the workday
- 12-1 PM: Lunch hours drive engagement
- 5-6 PM: Users are active toward the end of the workday
Experiment to see what timing works best for your audience based on the level of interaction you get.
Join the conversation in Groups
LinkedIn Groups centered on topics like industries, professions, interests, colleges etc. are a great place to demonstrate your expertise. Ways to get involved include:
- Answer questions and offer advice
- Share resources and best practices
- Start engaging discussions
- Post relevant news and articles
Active, insightful participation in Group conversations can lead members to follow you and stay updated on your posts.
Leverage hashtags
Using relevant hashtags in posts makes them discoverable to people searching those hashtags. Some hashtag tips:
- Put hashtags at the end of your post so they don’t distract readers
- Try both broad and niche hashtags like #marketing and #contentmarketing
- Search hashtags to find ones popular in your industry
- Click hashtags in other posts to identify trends and ideas
Leveraging trending hashtags and keywords can help the right people find and follow your content.
Partner with influencers
Influential thought leaders in your field can give your profile a major visibility boost. Ways to work with influencers include:
- Repost their content and tag them
- Collaborate on projects or content campaigns
- Ask to be interviewed or quoted for articles
- Invite them to guest post on your company blog
- Request endorsements and recommendations
Getting influencers to actively engage with your profile and content exposes you to their wider follower base.
Run LinkedIn ads
LinkedIn advertising lets you target prospects based on location, industry, job role and interests. Some top ad options include:
- Sponsored content to promote posts
- Message ads to drive conversations
- Dynamic ads to reach warm leads
- Text ads to increase awareness
- Follower campaigns to grow your audience
Ads let you get your profile and content in front of a wider range of relevant professionals to increase followers.
Ask for follows, recommendations and endorsements
Don’t be afraid to explicitly ask your network for follows, recommendations and endorsements. Most people are happy to help out. You can request:
- Follows in your email signature or messaging
- Recommendations from managers, colleagues and clients
- Endorsements for your skills from connections who’ve worked with you
Some well-placed requests and nudges to your network can give your profile a boost.
Follow a regular content schedule
Consistency is key when trying to organically grow your audience. Setting a regular posting schedule – like daily or weekly – helps in a few ways:
- Followers come to expect and look forward to your content
- It becomes a habit to regularly check LinkedIn
- Consistent posting keeps your profile active and engaged
Regular, fresh content is the best way to stay top of mind and on followers’ radar.
Monitor analytics for insights
Pay attention to your LinkedIn metrics and analytics to identify trends and opportunities. Key stats to analyze:
- Follower growth over time
- Most popular post topics and types
- Highest click-through and engagement rates
- Demographics of your followers
- Traffic sources driving followers
These insights help you refine your content and follower acquisition strategies for greater impact.
Leverage social media cross-posting
Linking and cross-posting your LinkedIn content on other social platforms can widen your reach. You can easily share LinkedIn posts on:
- Personal and company blogs
This exposes your content to new audiences and drives more followers back to your LinkedIn profile.
Conclusion
Attracting engaged followers takes time and focused effort. But using the right mix of optimization, engagement, content, partnerships, advertising and analytics can put your profile on the radar of professionals in your field. The more value you consistently provide, the more your follower base will steadily grow.
Stay patient and persistent, and your LinkedIn presence will become an impactful showcase of your knowledge and expertise for current and potential new connections.