The LinkedIn platform is very different from other social media platforms. While Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook prefer more personal and causal tones - LinkedIn is business-oriented and professional. This can be great for entrepreneurs trying to reach career-focused audiences - but it can also make developing a strategy more difficult because what works for other platforms will not work for LinkedIn.

We don't want growing organically on LinkedIn to be difficult for you. So here are 5 ways you can start.

1. Complete your Profile

Don't skip anything when creating your profile! You might come across some things that feel redundant or not worth your time, but research shows that complete profiles receive two times more visitors than incomplete profiles.

Now that we've convinced you to build your page, here are the things you have to gather in order to complete your profile: your logo, a description, your website URL, the size of your company, which industry your company falls into, what type of company it is, and where it's located.

Notice how a complete profile looks more put together? That's an added bonus! Visitors will not only see your page, but they will also have a good impression of it (and, as a result, your business).

2. Be Consistent

While LinkedIn may be very different from other social media platforms, there is one factor that most have in common: consistency matters. Don't let your audience forget your brand by taking long absences from them. Keep yourself on their minds by creating a schedule and planning to post at least once a week.

Once you've made that schedule, make sure that every post contains:

• Valuable Captions: be known as the business that provides either entertainment, inspiration, or education.

• Notable Images: try to capture attention. If someone can easily scroll past your image, then you should change it.

• Hashtags: this will help you reach a larger audience as well as the right audience. People looking for hashtags you use are the people who will purchase a product/service from your business.

3. Repurpose Content

Content you've used before may have gathered great numbers, but you're worried your audience will be annoyed if you repost it. Well, we're here to tell you: don't worry!

LinkedIn's algorithm makes it very likely that your audience didn't see that post the first time you shared it. In fact, research shows that only 2-6% of your followers have seen your post in their feed. So, if you have an old post that received great engagement - share it again! If it worked once, it can work a second time.

4. Interact With Others

This is especially true for colleagues and employees. When you interact with others, your content's reach will be amplified and boosted. While LinkedIn is designed to be a professional social media platform, it is still a social media platform - so the algorithm rewards pages that are social.

How can you amplify this reach even more? By asking your colleagues and employees to repost what you shared. Talk to them before you schedule your content, notify them when it will be up, and encourage them to share it on their own personal pages. If you don't talk to them beforehand, you will likely find that they missed what you posted.

Tip: encourage your employees to complete their own profiles so that their shares will reach even more people.

5. Practice Cross-Channel Promotion

You should never only have one social media platform for your small business. So we're here to tell you: don't just rely on LinkedIn.

LinkedIn is a great platform, and you might be doing well on it, but this can only improve once you've extended your reach beyond it. You can do this either by adding a link to LinkedIn on your website, including the same link in your emails, or directing traffic from other social media platforms toward your LinkedIn page.

And if LinkedIn is the only platform you're currently on, here are two blogs we wrote listing the best ways you can progress from the platform based on whether you're primarily a video or image creator.

Need More Tips and Guidance?

This November, we are starting a course called Social Media Marketing for Small Businesses and Entrepreneurs | Holiday Selling Edition. This course will teach you how to grow your business and increase sales using social media - and we will make sure to focus on the most prominent platforms: Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

Enroll in our course now to save your seat! Click the button below: