Match Made in Heaven: LinkedIn Skills

What are you good at?

What are your strengths?

What subjects do people come to you for advice on?

What area do you feel you best help people in?

The reason I ask is that some of you may know that I’m combining my LinkedIn expertise with First Frame Production’s Ryan’s Smartphone Video Marketing know-how to deliver our first LinkedIn Video Masterclass in Leeds on 25th September.

Why?

Aside from the fact that we make a great dynamic duo, our skills and experience make a good fit. Video is growing on popularity on LinkedIn and is only set to get bigger. It appeals to visual and audio learners, adds personality to your online brand, and is more interactive than your average text post. As a bonus, LinkedIn algorithms seem to love the video too.

Video, as part of a wider marketing strategy, can, if used consistently and ion the right way, catapult you into the realms of thought leadership within your specialism.

In short, video and LinkedIn go hand-in-hand. And that got me thinking…what other skills are the perfect match for LinkedIn?

1. Listening as a LinkedIn Skill

People often ask me ‘what should I post on LinkedIn?‘ and after I’ve advised them to write about what they know I ask them ‘what do your clients ask you about the most?’

Actively listening to your LinkedIn community and network teaches you how to answer their burning questions and satisfy their curiosity. What do they want to know? What do they care about? What are they interested in?

How do you find out this information? You could publish a post asking them for starters! Going deeper than that, keep an eye on questions they publish via their own LinkedIn posts and on other people’s comments. What knowledge are they seeking and what solutions can you provide?

2. Writing as a LinkedIn Skill

We’re not all natural novelists but publishing engaging written content on LinkedIn doesn’t require you to be. Simply start by writing about different aspects of what you do for a living. Write about what you know.

Check out my guide on how to build thought leadership (through written content)

Worried about grammatical and spelling errors? Invest in a handy tool like Grammarly!

Concerned about the quality of your work? Ask a colleague for an impartial second opinion on what you’ve written.

LinkedIn offers a whole host of features such as ‘articles’ and ‘documents’ where you can display a selection of all your longer-form articles and resources that your network can benefit from reading. It would be a shame not to use your writing skills (or practice them) on the platform!

3. Presenting as a LinkedIn Skill

Since video as a skill ties in so well with LinkedIn, presenting lends itself well to the platform too. Being able to convey ideas in an engaging, memorable and concise way on camera is going to stand you in good stead for getting lots of views or comments on your videos.

Incidentally, how to behave on camera (eye contact, posture, positioning etc) is covered by Ryan in our LinkedIn Video Masterclass!

4. Articulating and Explaining as a LinkedIn Skill

Being able to explain things in a way that is easy to understand is an important skill in most situations, and the same goes for LinkedIn. Whether you’re articulating your argument in a comment on someone’s post, communicating an idea as a visual infographic in your own post, outlining a complex concept in a podcast on LinkedIn or simply answering a question someone has asked you in a private message on the platform, being a good communicator is key on LinkedIn.

5. Your Niche Expertise as a LinkedIn Skill

Naturally, sharing information about what you know, no matter, if your specialism is in accounting, health, construction or child development, on LinkedIn, is a given.

But what about showcasing other skills you require to carry out your job or run your business effectively?

For this, LinkedIn offers a ‘Skills and Endorsements’ section on your Profile, that allows you to draw attention to your best skills and gives other people the opportunity for people to ‘endorse’ you and say you are good at a particular skill. The more you publish content on LinkedIn as videos, podcasts, documents, articles or infographics and images about your area of expertise, the higher the chances of people coming to know you as an expert in your field and endorsing you accordingly!

There are certain ways you can manipulate the way your Skills are displayed to your advantage as you will discover if you watch my quick video below:

What other skills can you think of that marry well with LinkedIn? What other talents can you showcase on the platform? Let me know over on (you guessed it!) LinkedIn!