LinkedIn can be a divisive platform, often seen as place where too many recruiters and humble-bragging ‘achievers’ hang out. But used correctly, LinkedIn can be an incredibly powerful tool for attracting new clients without spending a penny on advertising.
“The thought of posting on LinkedIn literally filled my stomach with ice and gave me a serious case of the ick.”
Those are the words of The Industry Leaders Co-Founder, Rob Barratt.
“But then I thought ‘there are 800 million users on here – there’s got to be a way to make LinkedIn work for me’. So I looked into how LinkedIn’s algorithm works and discovered there are a few hacks known by only a handful of creators, that can have you using LinkedIn like a pro.”
The result was hundreds of hours of research can help an entrepreneur or executive build a bigger, quality network, and attract more organic leads to their business in just one hour per month.
And if you don’t have time to read the article, you can download this free infographic to guide you on how to use LinkedIn in the best way possible in just 60 minutes a month.
The key to getting the most from LinkedIn is understanding how it works. Put simply, the point of LinkedIn’s algorithm is to help users find each other based on their work history, education, and interests.
If it sees you have any of these three things in common with someone else, you’re likely to appear as a suggested contact for each other and – if you do connect – you’ll see more of each other’s content in your feed.
And, when it comes to finding people who are likely to be interested in your products and services, this is a serious hack.
After all, say you run your own business, you’re probably going to want to see content from people you share common interests, right? This will help you grow a sustainable and useful network around those interests and see each other’s activity ranking in your LinkedIn feed.
But, how do you make sure you’re attracting more potential customers and less spammy Inmails from recruiters or people trying to sell to you?
The key is to focus your time in the right areas, and you can do that in just 60 minutes a month. Here are three tips for doing just that, plus a bonus infographic to help guide you through.
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Post When Your Followers Are Online
First and foremost, if you’re sharing content or posting anything from your account, you should only be doing that when your followers are online.
Why?
Because they’re likely to be the ones that LinkedIn serves your post to when determining whether it should be shown to more people. It makes sense then that, in order to get more engagement on your post from the get-go, you want it to be shown to people who are, um, more likely to engage with it!
So post when your most loyal and devoted followers are likely to be online, thinking about:
- What time of day are they likely to be commuting?
- When have you seen them commenting on other people’s posts?
- Is there an unwritten rule for when people in your industry head out for coffee or zone out completely?
According to data from Hootsuite, the best times to post are 7.45am, 10.45am, 12.45pm, and 5.45pm (all EST). The best days are Wednesday for B2B businesses and Monday and Wednesday for B2C businesses.
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Engage Back With People
If someone’s taken the time to comment on your post, it’s common decency to take the time to either thank them or – better yet – keep the conversation going by asking them a related question.
LinkedIn’s algorithm likes this kind of engagement and will reward your post with greater reach.
I’ve done this with some really influential people on LinkedIn, which has led to incredible connections and having opportunities to interview Silicon Valley CEOs like Jen Dulski and even having free books sent to me.
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Engage With Other Posts
But not just any post: leave thoughtful, interesting comments on posts from clients, people you want as clients, or influencers. The latter is probably the most valuable form of engagement you can have if you’re looking to build your own following.
That’s because being the first to engage with a post that’s likely to be seen by hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of people, means that your comment will be seen by a very large number of people – far larger than a post from your own account.
It’s a very effective tactic for getting your knowledge in front of people and building a following via the back door.
How to Spend One Hour on LinkedIn
And that’s it.
Getting big opportunities from LinkedIn doesn’t mean spending lots of time on the platform.
You’ll get even greater results by spending an hour a week or even an hour a day following the same steps. But I’m laying this out for time-starved entrepreneurs as THE BEST way to spend your time on LinkedIn in just one hour per month.
No more doom scrolling or feeling inadequate as a rival business owner posts about their latest ‘success’.
No more wondering where the time went.
Make sure every minute you spend on LinkedIn counts and build your business.
If you’re interested in the full research, you can read more about how LinkedIn’s algorithm works, here.
Rob Barratt is the Co-Founder of The Industry Leaders and is passionate about helping small business owners get the attention their business needs without spending a fortune on ads.
After creating and selling his first business, Rob found out first-hand just how hard it is for entrepreneurs to get the word out about their businesses.
This realization lead Rob to create The Industry Leaders and offer opportunities for entrepreneurs to get published alongside industry leaders and appear on podcasts.
