You haven’t been on LinkedIn in 5 months.
Your profile is outdated (or just needs a lot of help).
You don’t know who is connected with you.
If any of the above statements apply to you, consider making an active, useful LinkedIn presence your New Year’s resolution. LinkedIn is a great place to stay in touch with people, meet new people and read and share great content. It’s also a place to hone your social media skills.
Another reason to make LinkedIn your resolution this year? You can ramp up your presence in about 15 minutes a day.
We got the 15-minutes-a-day idea from an agent who spoke at a conference years ago about carving out time – and making it a habit – for social media. She scheduled 15 minutes a day into her calendar. That turned into 15 minutes twice a day. She went on to build a vibrant social presence that expanded her business opportunities.
This agent started with 15 minutes a day. Here’s how you can, too. To make it even easier, download the LinkedIn mobile app so you can get these steps done while you’re waiting for an appointment or watching the game on Sunday.
Day 1
Optimize your LinkedIn profile. (You may need more than one day to do this, depending on the current state of your profile.) Start by updating your photo and your title. Write a brief summary from the heart that describes who you are and why people should work with you. Here are some more ideas to optimize your LinkedIn profile.
Day 2
Keep working on your profile. It’s okay if this takes a few days or a few weeks! Don’t give up, just make sure you spend 15 minutes. Every. Day.
Day 3
Once your profile is ready, start looking at other profiles. Search for your current clients and business partners. Find your State Auto reps. Find people you know in your community or industry groups. Send them invitations to connect. Basically, spend this 15 minutes stalking everyone you know and clicking the Connect button for the people you like.
Day 4
Read the content on your LinkedIn home page. Not your profile page – this is the page you see when you sign in. You will see content posted by the people you’re connected with. Note who is posting and what they are sharing (probably mostly articles). Note new jobs, awards, and other updates from the people you know.
Day 5
Today, you’re going to graduate from reading and move on to interacting with the content you see on your home page. Find two posts you genuinely find interesting, and “Like” the posts.
Day 6
Look at the posts on your home page again, and maybe like one or two … and then find one you really like. You like it well enough that you might think, “That’s a good article.” Now, don’t just think it – type that into the Comments! You might add, “Thanks for sharing.”
Day 7
It’s been one week. Are you a little more comfortable with LinkedIn? It’s time to share a post of your own! Find State Auto’s Company Page by searching for State Auto at the top of the page. Choose something we posted recently, and click Share to post for your connections to see. (Note: Or, go to your agency’s Company Page if you have one, or another organization. The point is to share a post.)
Day 8
Have you noticed all the articles people share on LinkedIn? Choose one you’ve read recently (make sure you’ve actually read it). Copy the link and paste it into your LinkedIn status update. Add your own thoughts about the article, such as “This is a must-read for the insurance industry,” or “Great article with risk management tips for startups.”
Day 9
Check your notifications in the top right corner of your LinkedIn page. Has anyone invited you to connect? Have you received any likes or comments on the content you posted? Accept invitations from people you want to connect with, and click Ignore for those you wish to, well, ignore.
Day 10
Take a fresh look at your profile. Anything else you want to add? Go back to your home page. Read, like, share … you get the idea.
Keep it up!
They say it takes 21 days to form a habit, so don’t slow down after day 10. Continue with 15 minutes a day until you don’t need to remind yourself anymore. Let us know how it goes in the comments below.
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