21 ways to raise your profile on LinkedIn

Many barristers spend time on LinkedIn.  It’s a good strategy; LinkedIn is one of the most powerful social media business platforms available.   If you’d like to learn how to use LinkedIn to raise your profile, connect with clients and grow your practice using LinkedIn, read on.

“Your network is your net worth” @portergale

LinkedIn can help position your practice squarely in front of clients who need your expertise. But without a strategy to connect with clients you might waste a lot of time scrolling.  Here are 21 tactics to reach more clients who need your expertise.

21 ways to use LinkedIn to raise your profile

1. Allocate a 30-minute slot in your schedule every week to your LinkedIn promotion strategy.
2. Commit to connecting with at least 3 new high-quality connections every week.
3. Write a standard template to make a new invitations to connect. (An example is at the end of this list.)
4. Send something of value to your new connection when they accept your invitation. For example a pdf of your recent opinion piece.
5. Track the time of day when your connections engage with your posts and carve out 15 minutes to review your feed.
6. Show interest in what your connections write by “liking” their posts. Your network will also see what you are reading.
7. Take engagement up a level by sharing posts and adding your considered view.
8. Connect your LinkedIn account to your Twitter account. Every time you post on LinkedIn Twitter will push our your content to a wider audience.
9. Set up a LinkedIn Ad, targeting a specific job role, age group and jurisdiction. You can reach potential clients from all around the world with a LinkedIn Ad.
10. Publish a 1500-word article on LinkedIn showcasing your area of expertise.
11. Create a LinkedIn Sales Funnel to keep you in regular contact with potential clients, so you are front of mind when they need you.
12. Add eye-catching imagery to your posts and use a consistent theme for all your images.
13. Add an expert article to the Publications section of your LinkedIn profile and make it available for download.
14. Accept the “import email contacts” to LinkedIn and deselect those who are not relevant to your practice.
15. Include your professional contact details in your profile. Don’t make it hard for potential clients to speak to you directly.
16. Create and moderate a Linkedin group around a theme directly related to your practice area.
17. Write about how you help your clients in you profile. Your education, awards and scholarships are a given.
18. Use hashtags for topics. Use @tags to attract the attention of someone specific.
19. Insert website links to articles which will interest your ideal client.
20. Don’t use an anonymous profile. It’s creepy. Be visible.
21. Write in your own voice. Be human. Be you. It’s who your clients will hire.

A sample LinkedIn template for first-time connections

If you intend to grow your network quickly, a template for your first contact will save you time.  Spend your time personalising the second message, when your new contact has accepted your invitation.  Here’s a template to get you started:

Dear [Insert first name]

I write about [insert your area of expertise] here on LinkedIn.
Would you be open to connecting?

[Insert your name and surname]

Looking for more help?

If you’d like to receive tailored practice development support to help you raise your profile, connect with clients and grow your practice using online tools such as LinkedIn, sign up below to receive next month’s issue of our newsletter.

By Heidi Smith
Creator of Jurilogical.com