Tayo Fabusiwa is a recent graduate of Law, from the prestigious Obafemi Awolowo University in Nigeria.
An avid writer, illustrious researcher and community volunteer with keen interests in Finance, Corporate Law and Career Development, he is the Founder of Legal Pages, a virtual career resource and networking platform for Law Students and young wigs in Africa (with over 30,000 online and offline followers).
LinkedIn is arguably the fastest growing professional social media platform with more than 500 million users and over 10 million active jobs. The sad thing however is that only a few students and prospective professionals have keyed into the amazing opportunities this platform offers.
I’ll also talk about networking and linking up here on..
My objective is to expose to you some of the opportunities abound on this platform, from my experience and using a few brands as well as case studies.
The platform has 303 million active monthly users, 40% of which visit the site daily.
- 90 million senior-level influencers and 63 million decision-makers use LinkedIn.
- 92% of Fortune 500 companies use LinkedIn.
- 46% percent of the social media traffic to B2B company sites is from LinkedIn.
- 97% of B2B marketers use LinkedIn as a content distribution channel.
These stats should give you an idea that there’s a lot of benefits of capitalizing on this platform. I know a lot of persons who, through this platform acquired their current jobs, internships, scholarships, investments and so on!
So let me share some of my personal experience on this platform..
I run a platform called Legal Pages, wherein we share vital career information. To be honest, starting it was quite daunting as there was a lot to be done. SO, I NEEDED A TEAM! One of the ways I got together a very competent team to run this platform was through VISIBILITY on LinkedIn! Now we have a team of 67 from 6 countries in Africa; and gross following of about 80k! I have also leveraged on the platform to connect with a host of professionals within and outside my industry!
Like the stats I shared earlier shows, a lot of employers, influencers, professionals etc. are on that platform — and it’s easier to access them there compared to some other social media platforms.
Whatever your industry is, there’s some space for you to thrive on LinkedIn—for your business, personal development, company, whatever!?!
I must also commend how well City Scope Africa has capitalized on the platform to promote its core mandates. They have also amassed a large number of following there on
This is all made possible by VISIBILITY!!!
If you really want to make the best of your situation, whatever level you currently are, coming out of your shell and selling yourself/brand is not negotiable — VISIBILITY. And this is part of what LinkedIn has to offer!
I particularly remember on a post I made some time ago about one of my achievements — before posting it, I actually had doubts on whether to put it up on LinkedIn, as I thought it wasn’t so relevant than goodness I did.. because
1. The post got a lot of traction and engagements
2. It promoted my personal brand
3. People became aware of my interests
4. I was offer a couple of opportunities almost immediately after then..
I’ll give some tips on how to capitalize on LinkedIn and I’ll also talk about the types of content you can share. Then I’ll conclude by adding any other thing that might be relevant!
HOW TO CAPITALIZE LINKEDIN
- If you ain’t on the platform yet, I think you should consider joining the bandwagon. I think I’ve preached enough about the benefits. Simply visit www.linkedin.com, select join, and create an account. You can also download the app from your respective App Store!
- The next thing I also advise is to completely fill your profile!
Before you start networking or sharing content, you might need to craft your profile in such an attractive way — so that when people check you out (recruiters, potential clients etc) they see what you do, and how you fit into the opportunities they have.
LinkedIn is like your “Online CV” — so do well to include as much as your experience…
In filling your profile, it’s important to put a profile picture.
Stats shows that you have a better chance of getting views from having a profile picture.
People say different things about the way a professional picture should look. But really, I feel it depends on your industry.
- But it’s not a bad idea to give a little smile
- Avoid a busy background
- A high-quality picture will be great too
- Please, pouting or showing off “selfie games” might not exactly fly?
Headline
Your profile headline comes just below your name. Although it is often used for stating one’s job title and company name, it could also be used in job search. Never be shy to prompt potential employers that you seek a particular role on your headline. However, you must so drat it in such a way that you don’t come off so desperate and unprofessional. Also, there is 120 words limit. Make sure to use relevant keywords to attract employers to your profile.
Summary
This another part people often overlook. Your summary is found under the headline. Updating it is a way to imprint a good first impression as it is your personal introduction. The summary is to be tailored in line with your passion, educational background, marketable skills, experience, goals and career.
There are several styles to be employed in drafting a summary. If you feel you have ample experience and skillset, you may write on those things you’ve acquired in pursuance of your career and any other relevant accomplishments. Otherwise, you might choose to focus on your personality and passion.
Regardless of the style of writing you wish to adopt, it is important to ensure that your summary is catchy, clear of errors and filled keywords to top employers search lists.
Experience
The experience section of your profile is the place to reveal relevant work and voluntary experience you’ve attained. As much as you will like to express every single experience you have, it is always important to put out those ones that will impress employers. A profile with a list of irrelevant experience might put off an employer and any other viewer. Also, make its concise and specific.
Let’s look at a few more stats about this platform
- LinkedIn currently has over 610 million members.
- The platform has 303 million active monthly users, 40% of which visit the site daily.
- 90 million senior-level influencers and 63 million decision makers use LinkedIn.
- 92% of Fortune 500 companies use LinkedIn.
- 46% percent of the social media traffic to B2B company sites is from LinkedIn.
- 97% of B2B marketers use LinkedIn as a content distribution channel.
These stats should give you an idea that there’s a lot of benefits of capitalizing on this platform. I know a lot of persons who, through this platform acquired their current jobs, internships, scholarships, investments and so on!
Like the stats I shared earlier shows, a lot of employers, influencers, professionals etc are on that platform — and it’s easier to access them there compared to some other social media platforms.
Recommendations
This is that part of your profile that ensures viewer confidence. Recommendations display what you are to certain persons, usually the positives. Since they come from another person, they serve as a reliable source in confirming your aforementioned skills, abilities as well as work ethic. You can ask a friend or workmate to draft up a recommendation for you. Also, if you recently connected with a professional on LinkedIn and have worked with them one way or the other, you can also go ahead to request for a recommendation; it wont hurt.
One question people often ask is — what kind of content can I put up on LinkedIn?
This is a very dicey one I must say, but usually, it’s advisable to publish contents which showcase what you do and what could benefit others (directly or indirectly), among others…
Industry News and Research
You can share updates or your research on trending or controversial topics within and outside your industry — for example, if you find tax pretty interesting, you might wanna give an opinion on the recent plan to up VAT to 7.2%. Others who are interested will surely jump in on it.
Quick Tips/ How-tos/ DIYs
You can share beneficial posts which could improve or even inspire others
Updates
You can also update your network on a recent event you attended, award you got, landmark you attained etc. Someone might just have an opportunity for you!
Business updates
You can actually market your business on LinkedIn. But don’t come off as too desperate. Adding very captivating contents to go with your marketing will help your brand too
I’ll share with you ways you can get free LINKEDIN PREMIUM for about 4 months!!!
Like I’ve previously explained, with a free account, you can:
- create a professional identity
- portray your curriculum vitae
- create a company profile
build and leverage on a professional network
- give and receive recommendations and endorsements on your skills
find all sorts of jobs and even recruit talent
- share and interact with other users’ contents
- view profiles and get views on yours too
But with LinkedIn premium, you can enjoy even more exciting features like:
- unlimited access to over 15,000 professional courses on LinkedIn Learning
- sending Inmails
- access to list of everyone who’s viewed your profile in the last 90 days
featuring your job applications right on top of the pile
- create a quick CV with the LinkedIn resume builder
- getting your profile suggested to other users with similar interests
securing the premium golden badge on your profile
Premium package generally comes at various prices, but you can also upgrade to a premium account for free, gaining 4 months access or even more. Are your taste buds watered enough? Well let’s jump right into it. There are two methods to get legit premium access on LinkedIn. The first method gives you 1 month while the second gives 3 months free access.
Method 1:
Upgrade your free account for 1 month premium trial. You must have already come across this option somewhere on your profile. To activate 1 month free trial, follow https://premium.linkedin.com. You can also access your free month trial via the LinkedIn Learning App. Select “Start my free month”, then “Try for free” under the premium column (not under the basic column – basic will only give you premium features on LinkedIn Learning and not LinkedIn itself). The rest is a piece of cake.
Kindly note that this will however require you to enter your payment details while subscribing with this method. Once again, for the procedure to cancel your subscription, follow https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/50/canceling-your-premium-subscription?lang=en
Method 2:
For the second method which gives you 3 months free premium access, you’ll need to have a Microsoft account (Outlook or Hotmail email address). Click https://signup.live.com/ to create one. If you already have or have create one, visit https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/dev-essentials/?ranMID=24542&ranEAID=je6NUbpObpQ&ranSiteID=je6NUbpObpQ-9OHiC2A9aPt8zJTX5gB4SA&epi=je6NUbpObpQ-9OHiC2A9aPt8zJTX5gB4SA&irgwc=1&OCID=AID2000142_aff_7593_1243925&tduid=(ir__y1vbft1hkkkfrlspkk0sohz30n2xjluiwcobpghm00)(7593)(1243925)(je6NUbpObpQ-9OHiC2A9aPt8zJTX5gB4SA)()&irclickid=_y1vbft1hkkkfrlspkk0sohz30n2xjluiwcobpghm00 and select “Join or access now”.
Login with your Microsoft account (this is the only way to access the features ahead).
Once you are in, you will be redirected to the “Visual Studio Dev Essentials Benefits” page. On that page, find and select the “Get Code of Linkedin Learning” box.
Next, select the Activate button that pops up.
A Linkedin Learning page will open in another tab. Click on “Activate your offer”. And just like that, you’ll get both Linkedin Learning and LinkedIn Premium for 3 months.
Even after your premium subscription is over from the above methods, you’ll get an offer regarding reactivation of another one-month trial extension for Linkedin Premium for free. This reactivation is suggested about one week after the expiration of your previous free premium access.
You can find the reactivation offer on the sidebar of your LinkedIn feed (on desktop view) and via your LinkedIn registered email.
That’s still not all, you can actually subscribe to one-month free LinkedIn Premium trial in every 12 months. So, literally, there’s an unlimited number of months you can experience free LinkedIn Premium.
I’ll advise that you only begin your premium access when your profile is completed. If you’ve also not been active with your LinkedIn account, this is the best time to be.
I’ll also prefer you start with the 2nd method — well, I have no particular reason, but it’s what I did back then too..
So that should actually be the end of this session but I forgot to talk about another important aspect of LinkedIn, the JOB SEARCH ENGINE!
LinkedIn has an amazing job search portal which you can you to find fresh jobs which are also relevant to you!
This should actually be a push for you to get visible, especially on the platform. Create an account, fill your profile, send connection requests, share posts, like and comment on others posts — be active.
Also, LinkedIn (to me) shouldn’t be about the “fanfare”. We now have a lot of people who only want to get/receive or amass large following without having a mind of also giving back – and it’s quite sad. If you find an opportunity, also do well to share with your network! If you find a jobseeker who makes a post on his/her current job search, liking such post could help them reach even more people — this is because on LinkedIn, whenever you like a post, everyone on your network will be notified. This way, you might just help such a person connect to his/her potential employer/client.
You don’t need to have an opportunity to give an opportunity!
Thank you.
Session moderated by:
Oluwatomisin Olowoyo, Principal, CSA Academy