3 Ingredients To Increase Your Confidence On LinkedIn

My husband and I switched up our usual Thai takeout restaurant recently. With the coconut curry soup starting off dinner with a bang, our anticipation of the upcoming flavors continued as we rounded the corner to each of our entrees. Much to our taste buds’ surprise and disappointment, not one, but both of our dishes were clearly missing at least one critical ingredient: salt.

Have you ever had flavorless wide flat noodles (sen yai) or glass noodles (woonsen)? If I knew what mushy plastic tasted like, I would tell you it would be comparable. Let me preface by saying, we’re no experts of Thai cuisine, but it was obvious other necessary spices were missing in addition to that key ingredient that can make or break a dish. Luckily, we had salt, soy sauce, and chili sauce on hand to give the dishes a fighting second chance.

And that’s exactly it: These tasteless dishes needed another chance to give us a different experience.

I know what you’re thinking, “Lindsey, why are you telling me about bad Thai food?” The answer is simple: Your LinkedIn experience is lacking a few key ingredients too that are holding you back.

In training thousands of people from young professionals to seasoned executives on how to use LinkedIn the right way, I have assumed the role of permission granter. You have permission to improve, to try something new and to win on LinkedIn. If you feel like you’re missing the salt, here are three key ingredients to give you another chance at increasing your confidence:

Craft

You have permission to craft your professional story on LinkedIn through your profile.

More than just a resume now, your LinkedIn profile is the appropriate place to help your viewers hear your voice when they read about you—Why do you do what you do? How did you get to where you are? How can we help you?

Think about the projects you’ve completed, the post you shared that got a lot of engagement, the video you spoke in, that awesome team picture…These elements give your profile life as they create a visual experience for viewers.  

Collaborate

You have permission to collaborate with others on LinkedIn.

The entire platform of LinkedIn is built around you and me and 700+ million other individuals. People make up the network. Here are a few ways to collaborate:

• Share your crafted LinkedIn profile write-up with a trusted colleague and ask for feedback; there’s a good chance you forgot something awesome about yourself that needs to be included

• Share an interesting article publicly that your network could benefit from reading; ask a question to encourage comment engagement

• Share an observation or idea with someone new who you want to make a genuine connection with; reach out to ask if they would be open to connecting for a call

We are not meant to do life alone and you are not meant to do LinkedIn alone either.

Cultivate

You have permission to cultivate real relationships on LinkedIn.

Many business owners I’ve trained admit they, “only prospect by phoning.” I don’t suggest they stop reaching out via the phone, but I do encourage them to meet their prospects (and clients) where they’re at—and more often than not, they are on LinkedIn.

To stay relevant and top-of-mind, you have to show up consistently. You have to choose to cultivate real relationships with people and you can use LinkedIn as another tool in your belt to do exactly that.

• Take the additional 15 seconds to personalize the congratulations message

• Take the chance of standing out in someone’s inbox by sending an audio message

• Take the opportunity to share an article they may find valuable via a private message

Continually craft your LinkedIn professional story through your profile. Collaborate with others for feedback and new opportunities. Remember that relationships take time, so nurturing and cultivating them is critical.

Let me help ensure you don’t forget your salt: Download our free Rock Your Profile Guide to give yourself a refresh.