How to standout on LinkedIn

(Much) more than just a way to share your CV with the world, LinkedIn is a key tool for freelance lawyers and paralegals. Sharing content on LinkedIn is a great way to connect with opportunities, stay in touch with your network, reinforce your expertise and maintain your professional reputation.

If you’re brand-new to LinkedIn, read our guest post from Martin Thomas to take you through the basics. If you’re already using the platform but want to do more, read on for our pointers on some of best the content and features for 2023.

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Keep your connections alive

LinkedIn is a professional network, and in these recent times of restricted opportunities to meet in person, it’s an important tool for keeping professional relationships alive. As well as making sure you connect on LinkedIn with every new contact you work with, tap into other ways to connect.

Joining professional groups, and being an active participant, is a simple way to meet new people who could go on to be useful collaborators or future clients.

Using LinkedIn Reactions helps to keep your name in front of people that you know less well or may’ve lost touch with. LinkedIn frequently adds new reaction options, so keep an eye on what’s available and vary how you respond.

Messaging using LinkedIn is easy, and again, there are improvements being added all the time. One of the newest features is the ability to video meet with a connection 1:1 through the LinkedIn Messaging service. That said, it’s generally considered good practice to move conversations with a new contact over to your email or mobile once you’ve established a relationship, so that you strengthen the connection.

Get into good habits

LinkedIn rewards users who share new content regularly by giving their content greater prominence. So if you want to stand out, make a commitment to contributing regularly. To make this happen, experiment with the following approaches to see what works best for you:

• Check your feed once or twice a day, adding a comment or new post each time
• Set yourself a goal of contributing something new at least once each week
• Plan a longer blog-style post once or twice a month.

Whatever your approach, make sure that the time is booked in your diary as any other professional commitment would be. And remember to keep your core profile up to date with new experiences and recent engagements.

LinkedIn tends to launch new features gradually, so some of the tools we mention may reach you later in 2022. Enjoy experimenting!