When you think of influencers and influencer-focused platforms, LinkedIn probably isn’t the first thing that comes to mind – but it’s far from just a recruiting and job-searching site. In fact, with its large number of registered users (just shy of 1 billion at the time of writing), LinkedIn has rapidly grown to be a relevant platform for influencers seeking new opportunities and avenues for growth. If you’re wondering how you can leverage LinkedIn for your personal influencer career, then just keep reading. We’ll outline how you can use the platform in conjunction with Instagram, YouTube, or TikTok to boost your content strategy and broaden your horizons as an influencer.
Why should influencers use LinkedIn?
If your content creation career is focused on the more mainstream platforms such as Instagram, then you might be wondering how LinkedIn could be relevant for you in the first place. Far from its reputation for being a rigid or boring platform for ‘regular’ career-focused people, LinkedIn has become a hub for enthusiasts from a wide variety of industries to come together and engage.
More importantly, it’s also become an important place for brands and individuals alike to establish a strong presence and engage with one another, opening up new avenues for connection. This means you’ll find a host of marketing professionals and influencer marketing enthusiasts present on the platform, working to promote and market brands to new audiences.
So what does this mean for the average influencer? To put it simply, it brings you one step closer to the brands and marketers that matter in your industry, giving you a renewed chance at forging relationships. All of this spells potential for collaboration opportunities – if you play your cards right.
How to boost your influencer career using LinkedIn
Taking the next step in using LinkedIn as part of your influencer strategy could be key to expanding your network and scope. Here are a few tips to help you make the most of LinkedIn as a creator.
Use LinkedIn to find brand contacts
One of the most important steps you can take as an influencer is seeking collaboration opportunities, which often necessitates finding the right brand contacts to kick off the conversation. With LinkedIn, you effectively have a hub of all the biggest brand marketers and PR professionals in one place – and thanks to the social nature of the platform, reaching out to connect is par for the course.
One of the best ways to do this is to ensure you follow the brands you’re most interested in on LinkedIn. This way, not only will their posts populate their feed, but you’ll naturally come across posts from people who work with or for them, too. This is because many marketers create content themselves that is reshared by the primary brand page. You’re also free to connect with these individuals or just follow their pages to ensure they stay on your radar.
Another method is to search for the LinkedIn profile of the brand you’re eyeing and look through their employee list. There’s a good chance you’ll come across a few members of their team that work in marketing, influencer marketing, partnership management, or PR. Connect with them to get a direct line of communication for when you’re ready to start the discussion around a potential partnership.
If you’re looking at smaller companies, they may not have dedicated employees that specialize in partnerships and influencer marketing. In this case, it can’t hurt to connect with anyone in the marketing department or even the owner. Sometimes, they wear multiple hats and might handle partnerships themselves, so it can’t hurt! You can find relevant contacts by using a LinkedIn scraper to export the data to your email and automate the outreach process.
Prepare a solid brand pitch
One of the “downsides” of LinkedIn is that it has become hugely popular, meaning that sometimes inboxes can get flooded with message requests and other partnership proposals. This means that you’re going to want to lock down a really quality brand pitch to impress whoever you’re chatting to and let them know you mean business.
One of the ways to do this is to get your message across quickly, so don’t waffle on in your pitch – keep it informative and to the point so the other party knows exactly what you’re here for and why. It’s also good to incorporate some element of your personality in this message so it doesn’t feel like just another copy-paste message that could have come from anyone. Highlight a little about yourself to get you to further stand out.
If you’ve followed either the brand or the marketing professional working for the brand, you may also see some content on their page related to products or initiatives they’re working on. It might be good to include some references to this in your pitch or make your collaboration request relevant to their current marketing activities. This gives added justification to your proposal and lets the brand contact know that you’re invested and paying attention to what they’re up to.
There are many ways to structure a brand pitch depending on your industry and the capacity in which you work as an influencer, so don’t think there’s one right answer to crafting your brand pitch. If you still need a little extra help and inspiration, we’ve got a dedicated article covering tips for brand pitches as well as free templates to get the ball rolling.
Don’t neglect your main profile
You wouldn’t be interested in responding to weird blank profiles with little-to-no information about the sender, so you need to ensure you avoid doing the same! First impressions are everything, so be sure to create a compelling LinkedIn profile that highlights your field and lets connections and brand contacts know who you are. Use a clear and professional profile picture; display a relevant header image; customize your LinkedIn URL; write up a clear and catchy bio; and craft a captivating headline. Ensure that you stand out from the crowd!
Since LinkedIn also offers post creation and sharing, don’t be afraid to use it to your advantage. This doesn’t have to be one specific thing – it can consist of articles, short personal thoughts or musings, or anything you find relevant to your field. Don’t forget about cross-posting! You can share content that you’ve created on YouTube or Instagram, or other platforms you’re active on. This will help show your LinkedIn network what you’re made of.
It’s also commonplace to highlight your achievements and goings-on of your influencer business. Plenty of major creators, including the likes of MrBeast (Jimmy Donaldson), use LinkedIn as a means to share YouTube video milestones and performance, inspiring others and using posts to open up the conversation about strategy and tactics. Don’t be afraid to display your wins and other stats that highlight your value as an influencer!
Finally, don’t ignore the communicative nature of LinkedIn; actively engage with other professionals and influencers in your industry. Like, comment, and share their content to build relationships and expand your network to reach new and relevant figures in your field. This is a key method to finding people you can work with in the future.
Can you make money on LinkedIn?
The short answer is simple – yes, you can make money on LinkedIn. While there are a few direct approaches that can allow you to do this such as selling short courses, engaging in affiliate marketing, or creating dedicated sponsored posts on LinkedIn, these are most commonly reserved for LinkedIn-specific creators.
As a content creator yourself who places a higher emphasis on other platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube, LinkedIn can prove to be an indirect avenue to earning money thanks to the large presence of brands and brand contacts. Successful conversations with these contacts could lead you to more long-term partnerships involving paid campaigns on your main social media platforms – and so, LinkedIn can be a vital accompaniment to your quest to monetize your influencer career.
Conclusion
For influencers, LinkedIn presents a unique chance to grow your existing influencer career by tapping into new networks and opportunities. By taking the time to build a solid profile and craft noteworthy brand pitches that aim to impress, you’ll be able to meet new contacts to collaborate and enjoy business opportunities with. So, before you write LinkedIn off as a non-influencer platform, take a look at the important avenues it provides that can help boost your bottom line in the long run.
