ICYMI: Getting the Most from LinkedIn for Professional and Practice Development

August 6, 2024

LinkedIn has changed over the years. It launched in 2003 and was purchased by Microsoft in 2016. Currently LinkedIn has more than 1 billion members in 200 countries worldwide. A decline in use on platforms like X (f/k/a Twitter) and trepidations with TikTok have seen many professionals at all levels of their careers showing up on LinkedIn. The following are some tips, features and more you – and your firm or organization – can take advantage of on this professional social platform.

Tips

Get a Personal URL

After taking the time to create a great profile, you want to share it. Your LinkedIn profile URL doesn’t have to be www.linkedin.com/in/samplesally45u87! you can customize it so it is easy to say and type. In LinkedIn, go to Me – View profile and on the right side of the page click “Edit public profile & URL”. On the right side at the top of the resulting page, click the pencil icon to edit your custom URL. If you have a common name you may have to add some characters, like JD or lawyer, to get your personal URL. While you are there, in this same area of the page you can edit who can see what in your profile. After you have updated your personal LinkedIn profile URL make sure to add it to your email signature block to invite people to learn more about you.

Add Your Volunteer Activities in the Right Place

There are lots of Profile Sections to add to your LinkedIn profile. The primary ones include Education and Experience. Many lawyers put their bar associations and professional organizations in the Experience section. However, a better place to add this information is in the “Background” section under “Volunteer Experience”. You don’t have to have a leadership role, but by using this section you can leverage those organization’s networks. When you type in the name of the organization, for instance “North Carolina Bar Association”, make sure to type until you see it show up in a drop-down menu. By selecting the organization from the menu, it will enhance your visibility to others with the same affiliation.

Add Featured Content

In your profile, you can now add “Featured” content to showcase your posts, articles, documents, media, and websites. Click on “Add Featured” and choose what you want to feature. If you add posts the list of options seems to based on an algorithm so you won’t see all your previous posts show up. Pick one that seemed to resonate with your connections (or one that deserves more attention) and click the star to add it as a Featured post in your profile. Not sure what content to feature? Check your stats to see what was popular.

Bookmark Posts

Sometimes you see a post in your news feed that you want to read later or comment on, but in our on-the-go mobile world you don’t always have time. Simply click the ellipses symbol at the top right in the post and then click “Save”. To find the item again go to your LinkedIn home page and in the left column towards the top click “Saved Items” to see your private repository.

Automatically Generate Captions for Videos

LinkedIn will now automatically generate captions for videos you upload to the platform. You can add or edit the captions before publishing the video. There is a 15-minute time limit for videos uploaded to LinkedIn.

To add a video to a post, click on the video icon in a new post. Click on the pencil icon on the video. When the “Select/Edit your video” screen pops up scroll down to see your options. You will be given an option to upload a thumbnail (a static image). You should do this to entice someone to click on the play button. Toggle on “Add auto captions” and “Review captions before viewers can see them”. Then click “Done” and then “Post”. You will be notified by email when the video is ready. You can then review the automated captions and edit them.

If you prefer you can upload an SRT file for your video transcript instead. If you want to add stickers and text to your videos you will need to do so from the mobile apps for iOS or Android.

Scheduling Posts

You can now schedule multiple posts in LinkedIn to go live on a schedule. This is especially useful if you have devoted a block of time to posting on social media and want to set the content to go out on a schedule.

In LinkedIn go to “create a post” and then in the toolbar at the bottom of the pop-up window click the clock icon. You will have an option to “Schedule for later” and change the data and time. On this screen you can also click on “View all scheduled posts” if you need to make any changes.

Add Your Website to Your Profile Information

Add your firm or organization website to your profile. Log in and click on the pencil icon in your profile information. Scroll all the way down to Website and add your URL and the text that you want to appear. Et voila, your website will appear at the top of your profile page. Don’t forget to add your contact information as well. A new feature is the Custom Button. You can put in a link to your blog or website and save it. If you want to see (and control) how your profile looks to people who are not connected to you and what can be found through a visitor who is not logged in to LinkedIn via a search engine go to your profile, click on the pencil icon next to “Public profile & URL” on the right, and adjust the visibility and shared information.

Post Links in Comments on LinkedIn

At ABA TECHSHOW 2023 Gyi Tsakalakis discussed how to get the most visibility for your social media posts. Though the algorithms can and will change, linking to an outside resource like YouTube, an article, or your blog, will not appear in as many of your followers and connections timelines. To boost your post, consider adding the link in the comments. Why? Platforms like LinkedIn don’t want to send readers to outside websites. The social media management application Hootsuite tested this theory in 2021 to see which posts would get the most engagement, those with links to outside content in the body or those with the links in the comments. On average, posts without links got 6x more reach than posts with links. While link-less posts had fewer shares, they received more reactions and comments. So, if you want to engage folks in your content think about putting your links to external sources in the comments.

Create Graphics with AI

There are quite a few places to get royalty free images to use with your social media posts, though on the free sites you will need to read the fine print and understand the requirements. You can pay for image libraries, though you may still find some restricted usage. Even with all the image libraries available, you may not find the exact image you want to use to convey your message in the blink of an eye. Generative AI image creation tools like Microsoft Designer, DALL-E through ChatGPT 4o, Microsoft CoPilot and many others image creation tools can make this easy and even fun.

Features

Groups

LinkedIn has interest groups you can join. Find and join a group to engage with people across the globe, ask questions and help others out. Consider joining groups that are in an interest area that are reflective of your clients, not just lawyer groups but be sure to not offer legal advice.

Newsletters

Why would you consider a LinkedIn newsletter? If you have built a considerable number of connections, it is a fantastic way to continue to share information and stay top of mind. You can grow your subscribers much more quickly than on an organic opt-in list. You could use this newsletter to keep your connections apprised of recent blog posts, events, comings/goings, and news at your firm as an announcement list or you can share great content. To get started read the Overview and the FAQ and decide if this is the right communication for you and/or your firm.

Publish Articles

Did you know LinkedIn has a blog platform? In addition to enhanced visibility on LinkedIn, you can share your content with anyone. If getting a blog and committing to writing content regularly is a little daunting, you can post more intermittently on LinkedIn without the need to set up a blog. To write a blog post go to the LinkedIn homepage and instead of clicking “Start a post” look below that to click on “Write an article”. You will be taken to a new browser page where you compose your article. There are editing/formatting options that include adding a header image, a headline, hyperlinks, embed videos, call-outs and more. When you publish the article, the only option is to make it public, though under Advanced settings you can turn off commenting. You can create drafts and update or delete your articles at any time. When you publish through LinkedIn you have lots of options to share with your connections or with the world.

Leverage Search

Say you need to find someone who is an expert in legal project management. Do a search for “legal project management”. You will see results for people, jobs, content, companies, and groups. Limit results to “Content” for these keywords and choose options to filter by date, author industries, connection levels, and author companies. This is a great way to find experts in a field, connect with them, follow them, or get an introduction. You can also find groups to join and begin a discussion or ask questions.

Don’t Miss

Showcase Pages

Once you create your firm or organization’s company page you can add Showcase pages. If your firm has multiple practice areas, sub-brands, or different regional services you can create a Showcase Page. The Showcase Page is a “child” of your “parent” company page. It has most of the features of a Company Page, including logo, cover image, followers, posts, events and more. To create a Showcase Page go into Admin Tools and choose “Create a Showcase Page” from the drop down menu. Once created, your Showcase Page will appear as an Affiliated page on your main Company Page.

Analytics

LinkedIn has added better analytics so you can see more about how your posts perform. You must enable creator mode to see the new analytics.

Once creator mode is enabled you can see the new analytics by going to your profile page and at the top of the page click the arrow to the right of “Analytics & tools”. You can see “at a glance” analytics for post impressions, followers, profile views, and search appearances. You can drill into each of these areas. For your post impressions you can get information going back 365 days and view impressions and engagements with content you have posted, as well as top performing posts. You can toggle over to Audience to see how many new followers you have, and information about them such as job titles, industries, location, and more. At the top right of your analytics page click “Export” to download a spreadsheet with all the results so you can further massage the data.

Conclusion

LinkedIn is a powerful platform that allows you to connect with people, amplify your voice, contribute to thought leadership, and showcase your firm and talents. Additionally, you can look for jobs, or post a job and explore other recruitment opportunities, subscribe to online education through LinkedIn Learning with certificates and much more. Take some time to learn all about what LinkedIn can do for your career.