Article 10 best practices to maintain your online presence on LinkedIn

If you’re reading this, you already know being active on LinkedIn could be fantastic news for your business.

The main thing we love about it is that, in time, a strong LinkedIn presence can translate into work opportunities starting to come to you, rather than you having to spend time actively approaching endless potential clients, and, let’s face it, never even hearing back from most of them.

When you’re getting started with this kind of marketing, though, it can feel like an uphill struggle. You see everyone else posting great things and getting lots of engagement and you’re not convinced that you can do the same.

But we’re here to tell you you most definitely can. You can create a solid presence on LinkedIn on your own terms, without dedicating hours and hours to it every week, and it won’t be long before it all starts paying off.

All you need is a few pointers, and that’s why this blog is chockablock full of all the wisdom we’ve amassed over our years on the platform.

1. Have a realistic posting plan

If you’re feeling a bit lost in the big wide world of LinkedIn, the first thing you need to do is sketch out a rough map to guide you on your way. You need a plan for what you’re going to post and when.

You don’t have to have all your posts written in advance and know precisely when you’re going to share each one, unless batch-writing everything for the month ahead and scheduling it in advance works for you. If it does, then more power to you!

But even if you want a more relaxed approach, it’s a great idea to plan out how often you’re going to post and, loosely, what your topics are going to be.

Just remember to make it realistic! If you’re new to marketing your business in this way, you definitely shouldn’t be committing yourself to posting every single day, like those LinkedIn influencers you follow do, because it’ll take up far too much of your time (you’ll get quicker with practice), and you’ll soon give up.

Make a plan that’s realistic for you and your schedule. If that’s once a week, great. If it’s two or three times, marvellous. Even once every fortnight or once a month is better than nothing at all when it comes to growing your network.

It really doesn’t matter what feels right for you at this point, but getting your plan written down in black and white is a huge step in the right direction.

2. Don’t stick to it religiously

All that being said, there’s no need to stick to your plan like glue. If the topic you’ve planned for a certain day feels wrong once that day has arrived, then mix it up and post about something else instead. Or don’t post at all if it doesn’t feel right.

If you’re suddenly struck by inspiration because of something you’ve seen, done or experienced, write about that and save your planned post for another day.

It’s also a great idea to have a stock of ready-to-go posts stored away. Posts you can just copy, paste and publish without having to think too much about it for those days when you just don’t have time.

There will also be days when you’re feeling particularly creative, have a lot to say and the time to say it, and those are the perfect days for adding to this stash of posts, so you’ve always got a backup should you need it.

3. Keep the sales-ey-ness to a minimum

The majority of your posts should be about sharing your wisdom without asking for anything at all in return.

At the end of the day, though, we’re all on LinkedIn because we’ve got businesses to run, so we do need to sell our services, and you have to shout about what you’ve got on offer now and again.

Just make sure any posts that are clearly aimed at selling your services are nicely cushioned between plenty of posts that aren’t.

Come up with a series idea

4. Struggling for ideas?

Lots of people find that posting about the same thing on a certain day every week is a really helpful way to come up with content.

It can also be a great way to build engagement, as people will know to look out for your post explaining tricky grammar points in Greek, or whatever it may be, every Tuesday, for example.

These series are usually most effective when they contain nuggets of knowledge that might come in handy for your target audience, as they make it very clear just how well you know your stuff.

5. Hang around after posting

Don’t just post and go off and do other things, forgetting all about it. Hang around for a little while once you’ve said your piece, preferably using the time to interact with things other people have shared, so you can respond to any comments promptly.

It’s always good practice to try and respond to all the comments you receive, and if you can respond to them fairly quickly, that’ll look good in the eyes of the algorithm.

But that’s not an excuse to spend your days endlessly scrolling on LI. Be disciplined with yourself if necessary, restricting yourself to only logging on twice a day, for example, if you find you’re spending more time than you should lurking on the platform.

6. Comment on other people’s posts

Posting your own content isn’t the only way to maintain or improve your presence on LinkedIn.

Commenting on other people’s posts is a really important way of contributing to the conversation, improving your connections and getting your name out there for the online world to see.

So if you’re not feeling particularly inspired to post, that’s absolutely fine. Try sticking to focusing on writing meaningful comments for a while, so you don’t totally fall off the LI radar whilst you’re figuring out what it is you want to say.

7. Review your profile every few months

Don’t forget to give your profile a spring clean every so often (roughly every six months is a good idea) to make sure everything’s up to date.

If you struggle to remember to do this, pop a reminder on your calendar so you’ve got no excuses.

8. Give yourself a proper break every now and then

If you’re taking a holiday from your business (which we hope you do regularly) then make it a holiday from LinkedIn too.

It’s easy to get a bit bored of LI and lose sight of why you’re bothering to market your business in this way, so taking a break from the platform will mean you come back with your batteries recharged, ready to use this tool in a more intentional way .

9. Don’t take yourself or it too seriously

Take a deep breath and say it with us: It’s just social media.

Yes, it can be a really useful marketing tool for your business and growing your network can be hugely beneficial. For a lot of people, making good use of LinkedIn can be a game changer.

But in the scheme of life, the universe and everything, it’s really not that important. So if you catch yourself worrying about it too much then it’s time to take a step back and reevaluate. A bit of perspective will go a long way.

Have fun with it! Try experimenting with new formats or trends and seeing what works for you and what doesn’t. And if a post falls on totally deaf ears, try not to stress about it. Just have a think about what you can learn from it and move on.

10. Just do it

If you’re feeling nervous about starting to post on LinkedIn, then the main piece of advice we have for you is just to jump in.

If it’s any comfort, if you’re new to posting then very few people are likely to see the first few things you share. And by the time you’ve built more of an audience, you’ll have got into your groove.

Take the leap, rip the plaster off and just get posting.

We’re very much looking forward to seeing you pop up on our feeds!

Struggling to find the time to market your business?

LSP.expert is designed to make the day-to-day running of your business so much more efficient, you’ll free up time to work on your business, rather than just in your business.

Take advantage of our 30-day free trial and see the difference it could make for yourself.