Are you wondering how to find some effective ways to engage with people on LinkedIn?

Too many people think of social media as one-way communication. Remember the “social” in social media and look for ways to engage with people on LinkedIn and other social sites.

The point of LinkedIn is to help people in the business world connect with each other. This means that you should spend at least some of your time liking, commenting on and sharing the information that others post.

It’s important to find a good balance between sharing valuable information posted by others and sharing your own posts.

 

React to, Comment on and Share the Activity of Others on LinkedIn

  • At least a couple times a week, skim your LinkedIn newsfeed looking for pieces that you believe would be of interest to your LinkedIn connections.
  • Another option is to identify a handful of key clients, referral partners and influencers in your field. Regularly go to their LinkedIn profiles and review their recent activity on LinkedIn. The activity could be posts they created or shared, or it could be something they liked, reacted to or commented on.
  • Rather than simply clicking “like”, select one of the other reaction options, such as celebrate, support, love, insightful, or curious. Doing that will mean more to the person than simply liking the post.
  • Then comment on their activity. Share your opinions, perspectives or add value to the reader in some other way. Please note that commenting on a post will lead to more people seeing the post than just reacting to the post.
  • Another option is to share the piece that the person has written themselves or perhaps has shared from another source. To do this, click on the word Share. Provide some introductory remarks about why you think this piece would be of interest to your connections.
  • Tag the person by typing the @ symbol before their name. Click on the box that comes up with their photo and name in it. Then, click on Share.
  • One of the benefits of sharing information in this way is that your LinkedIn connection is honored that you noticed this item and took the time to share it. Another benefit is that you didn’t have to come up with something to share when you might be having writer’s block.
  • Please note that you don’t have to be connected with someone to react to, comment on or share their activity. Depending on their settings, you often can tag these people even if you aren’t their connection.

 

Ways to Engage Your LinkedIn Connections

  • There are several ways that you can engage with your LinkedIn connections, such as sending them a personal note via LinkedIn’s internal messaging.
  • Also, by tracking on your notifications, you will see when a LinkedIn connection gets a new job or has a work anniversary. You can congratulate them in two ways. The first way is publicly – by clicking on the notification. The second way is to write a private note via LinkedIn messaging by clicking on the “Say congrats” button.

 

How About You?

What approaches have you used to engage with others on LinkedIn?

About Joyce

Joyce Feustel helps people, especially those ages 45 and older, to become more comfortable using social media, especially Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Twitter.

She works with business owners, business development professionals, leaders of nonprofit organizations, job seekers, consultants, and many others. Find her at www.boomerssocialmediatutor.com.