LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network with over 722 million members. While many people use LinkedIn to network and search for jobs, it can also be an extremely powerful tool for building an engaged community around a brand, business, or common interest.
In today’s digital age, developing a strong online community provides numerous benefits such as increased brand awareness, customer loyalty, and word-of-mouth marketing. For business owners, entrepreneurs, thought leaders, and creatives, having an engaged following on LinkedIn can lead to major opportunities like partnerships, speaking engagements, and increased sales.
But building a thriving community on a platform as large and crowded as LinkedIn is easier said than done. Where do you start? How do you stand out and get noticed? What kind of content should you share? In this comprehensive guide, we’ll explore proven tips and strategies for effectively developing your community on LinkedIn.
Why Build a LinkedIn Community?
Here are some of the key reasons you should make community-building on LinkedIn a priority:
Increase Brand Awareness & Loyalty
A vibrant LinkedIn community serves as a megaphone for your brand message. When your followers actively engage with your content, share it with their own networks, and leave comments, it exponentially expands your reach. This level of brand exposure and word-of-mouth promotion is difficult to achieve through traditional advertising and marketing channels alone.
Additionally, when people publicly follow you on LinkedIn, it’s a form of social proof and endorsement. It signals to others in your industry that you’re a leader worth paying attention to.
Thought Leadership & Industry Expertise
Consistently sharing valuable insights, tips, and best practices positions you as a trusted leader in your field. You essentially leverage your community as a platform to showcase your knowledge. Followers will come to see you as an authoritative voice to turn to for industry news, career advice, and more.
Customer Insights
An engaged following provides a direct line for you to interact with your target audience. You can take advantage of this access by regularly asking your community for feedback on your brand, products, or services. Their insights allow you to tap into customer needs and improve the user experience.
Partnerships & Collaborations
Expanding your LinkedIn network increases visibility among industry peers, many of whom are potential partners or collaborators. Leaders from related companies or organizations may reach out to work with you on projects like co-authoring content, speaking engagements, business ventures, nonprofit initiatives, and more.
Passive Candidate Sourcing
For employers and recruiters, a thriving LinkedIn community serves as a recruiting pipeline. When talented, passive candidates observe your company culture and values in action online, they may be prompted to inquire about job opportunities. Your followers essentially become a pool of qualified potential hires.
SEO Benefits
Active LinkedIn profiles with robust engagement tend to rank highly in search engine results. This gives you a SEO advantage – sending more relevant traffic back to your website, blog, or landing pages.
Networking Opportunities
From online connections to real-world events, community-building opens doors to meaningful networking. For example, someone who follows your LinkedIn profile may mention you when an exciting job opportunity arises. Or a virtual meetup on LinkedIn could lead to an invitation to speak at a live conference.
How to Build Your LinkedIn Community
Now that we’ve covered the many advantages of developing your LinkedIn community, let’s explore some proven steps to actually making it happen:
Craft a Compelling Profile
Your LinkedIn profile serves as the foundation for your community. To draw people in, make sure it is professional, polished, and friendly while highlighting your expertise. Include a quality headshot, an engaging summary section, rich work experience details, and customized LinkedIn background photos.
Define Your Niche
Rather than taking a generalist approach, become known for something specific that aligns with your brand, business, or interests. This could be a topic like “leadership development for introverts” or “sustainable manufacturing practices.” Positioning yourself as a niche thought leader makes you stand out.
Create Share-Worthy Content
Original, valuable content is the fuel that powers your community. Share a mix of articles, videos, Q&As, podcast clips, blog posts, and more centered around your niche. Respond to current events and trends with your unique perspective. Ask intriguing questions that spark discussion.
Engage With Your Followers
Traffic and leads are generated by actual human engagement, not vanity metrics like the size of your network. Regularly interact with followers by responding to comments, asking for input, and sharing user-generated content. LinkedIn’s analytics can help you identify your most engaged audience segments.
Post Consistently
Stay top of mind with your community by maintaining a steady content cadence (e.g. weekly or 2x/week). But vary your posting schedule to see what gains the most traction. Try sharing at different times and days – early morning often performs very well.
Use Hashtags Strategically
Include relevant hashtags in your posts to reach people beyond just your direct connections. Identify hashtags used by your niche/industry and join related LinkedIn Groups to discover what’s trending.
Go Live
LinkedIn Live videos have high engagement compared to simple status updates. Go live to announce important news, discuss trending topics, or educate your audience. Live videos also remain discoverable as recordings after you finish streaming.
Follow Company Pages
By following companies you admire or are connected to, you can gain exposure to new audiences. Engage with brand’s content and community managers often follow back. It’s a great networking tactic.
Partner With Influencers
Partnering with recognized LinkedIn thought leaders in your space provides a credibility boost while expanding your reach. Collaborate on co-authored posts, contribute comments on each other’s articles, participate in a live discussion, or get featured in their content.
Join LinkedIn Groups
LinkedIn Groups connect people around professional subjects and interests. Join at least 5-10 relevant Groups to tap into new communities. Add value by answering member questions and posting your best content.
Give Back
Demonstrate your commitment to service by volunteering skills/expertise, highlighting important causes, mobilizing your community for good, and more. These inspiring acts also attract new followers.
Best Practices For Community Content
Now let’s drill down on the essential element of creating stellar content to engage your LinkedIn community. Here are some proven best practices:
Educate, Don’t Promote
At least 80% of your content should be educational, focused on empowering your community with valuable insights and skills. Promotional posts about your brand, products etc should be no more than 20% of what you share.
Variety is Key
For maximum impact and reach, create content in multiple formats like articles, infographics, videos, stories, live talks, Q&As, slide decks, polls and more. Different people consume information in different ways.
| Content Type | Benefits |
|---|---|
| In-depth articles | Educate with detailed analysis and tips |
| Infographics/visuals | Communicate key data quickly |
| Videos | Personable and engaging |
| Q&As/AMAs | Directly interact with your community |
Respond To The News Cycle
Staying on top of current events and trends allows you to quickly share your perspective while it’s most relevant. Your followers look to you for timely insights.
Ask Questions
Content posed as an open-ended question prompts community discussion. It shows you want to hear people’s thoughts vs. just lecturing them.
Spotlight Other Voices
Invite respected guests to contribute guest posts on your LinkedIn profile or company page. Featuring external perspectives shows humility and expands reach.
Get Personal
People connect with the personal side of thought leaders – not just impersonal business personas. Occasionally open up about your own story, challenges, lessons learned, and passion for your work.
Adopt A Distinct Tone
Inject your writing with a unique voice and style. Share your thoughts conversationally like you would with a friend. Avoid overly formal, corporate language.
LinkedIn Tools To Boost Community
LinkedIn offers many built-in tools to help mobilize and manage your community. Let’s explore some of the most useful options:
LinkedIn Groups
As mentioned previously, joining relevant LinkedIn Groups allows you to tap into established communities around professional subjects and interests. You can post content, polls and questions while interacting with like-minded Group members.
LinkedIn Company Pages
Company Pages operate similarly to individual profiles but specifically represent brands and organizations. Creating a Company Page amplifies your business identity and presence on LinkedIn.
LinkedIn Showcase Pages
Showcase Pages provide a hub to highlight your brand’s key products and services. For example, a software company could use Showcase Pages to demo each solution in their suite.
LinkedIn Events
The LinkedIn Events tool allows you to publicize conferences, webinars, and other in-person or online events. Attendees can easily add Events to their calendar and stay up to date.
LinkedIn Newsletter Tool
This integrated newsletter tool makes it simple to publish and distribute regular email newsletters to your LinkedIn connections. It’s a reliable channel for driving ongoing re-engagement.
LinkedIn Polls
Posting polls is an organic way to get quick feedback from your audience. Thoughtful poll questions also spark dialogue around your niche topics.
LinkedIn Analytics
Robust analytics provide the data you need to fine-tune your community-building approach. See content performance, follower demographics, engagement metrics, and more.
| LinkedIn Tool | Use For Community-Building |
|---|---|
| LinkedIn Groups | Tap into established niche communities |
| LinkedIn Company Pages | Amplify brand presence and identity |
| LinkedIn Showcase Pages | Highlight products/services |
| LinkedIn Events | Promote online and offline events |
| LinkedIn Newsletter Tool | Re-engage your community through emails |
| LinkedIn Polls | Gain quick feedback from your audience |
| LinkedIn Analytics | Fine-tune your approach using data |
Over To You!
There are no shortcuts when it comes to building a thriving community on LinkedIn. It requires commitment over the long-term. But by consistently showing up and delivering value, you’ll gradually cultivate an audience of passionate followers. Not only will they support your brand, they’ll help spread your message far beyond your immediate network.
Are you ready to start engaging and expanding your community on LinkedIn? The strategies and best practices outlined above are a great place to start. Don’t get overwhelmed trying to implement them all. Focus on a couple areas first like improving your profile and posting one quality piece of content per week. Build momentum gradually.
Most importantly, remember that community-building is not a solo effort. Involve your own team and partners in the process whenever possible. And interact with your followers like they’re real people, not just data points. Building authentic relationships truly sets thriving communities apart on LinkedIn.