The summer is a great time to hit the reset button on your marketing efforts and focusing on LinkedIn should be an integral part of that.

Today, LinkedIn should be an important part of your branding and business development efforts, so spend the time creating a strategy for using it.

LinkedIn has high-domain authority meaning whether you use it once a day, once a month or once a year, it is still either the first or second Google search result when someone searches for you online so that should be enough of a compelling reason to dedicate time to it.

I was using LinkedIn long before I ever “needed” it, meaning that I had the ability to launch my own business because I had been posting on LinkedIn for years and had built a brand and a following. LinkedIn is not just a place for job seekers anymore.

Here are some easy and effective ways that you can take your LinkedIn presence to the next level.

1. Focus more on what you’re posting rather than how much you’re posting. You don’t need to post every day to be successful on LinkedIn. Consistent doesn’t necessarily mean every day. It means posting relevant and useful content regularly. You’re much better off posting strong goal-driven content with intention and purpose (that drives brand awareness, engagement, conversions and leads) several times a week versus lackluster content every day.
2. You want people to stop the scroll when they see your posts and dense paragraphs don’t do that. Neither does having text-only posts without images. Structure your posts for maximum engagement and readability with white space, short paragraphs, headers and bullets. Don’t be afraid to use images – especially images of yourself.
3. Think about supporting and helping others in your posts and building relationships not promoting yourself. Always think show vs. tell. When you do that, you are promoting yourself but in a subtle way.
4. Keep building your network. The more people in your network, the more people will see your content. While you should always be strategic in sending and accepting connection requests, make sure to be active in doing both.
5. Storytelling works. People remember you when you are relatable and human. Every time I tell a story, I have much higher engagement. It’s easy to get caught up in marketing to businesses rather than people, but strong content marketing today is about being human. Stories inspire and motivate people to take action, they make us more relatable, and they help us build connections with others. You can tell stories and still be professional. Here’s how.
6. Create a LinkedIn newsletter, use LinkedIn Live and post videos – stand out from everyone else by using these tools.
7. Engage with your connections’ content (like and share their posts). This helps you get noticed in others’ networks too.
8. Strategically post based on your content pillars and repurpose high-performing content using a content calendar (message me if you want a simple template).
9. Promote your content and events in LinkedIn groups. This is another way to grow your network and visibility.
10. Be YOU. You can add value by simply being you! Maybe that means showing some humor or aspects of your personal life – don’t be afraid to stand out from everyone else. Vanilla is boring.

So, which of these strategies have worked for you and which of these are you going to try?

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Stefanie Marrone advises law firms of all sizes, professional service firms, B2B companies, recruiters and individuals on the full range of marketing and business development consulting services designed to enhance revenue, retain current clients and achieve greater brand recognition. She also serves as outsourced chief marketing officer/marketing department for small and mid-size law firms.

Over her 20-year legal marketing career, she has worked at and with a broad range of big law, mid-size and small firms, which has given her a valuable perspective of the legal industry. Connect on LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, sign up for her email list and follow her latest writing on JD Supra.