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Why use LinkedIn for business?

LinkedIn has been around for ages and the service achieved maturity by now.

After Microsoft acquired the platform it has become the go to site for many business people.

After Twitter went rogue under Elon Musk and rebranded as X even more people flocked there.

LinkedIn has gained critical mass and positions itself as an alternative or addition for both Facebook and X/Twitter.

It really is one! It’s much more civil, reliable and it actually gets you work. I get most of my clients via LinkedIn these days!

How I use LinkedIn for networking

I’ve been on LinkedIn for many years until I finally got serious about my LinkedIn presence.

I was increasingly wary of social media and networking due to fake news and political trolling.

Nevertheless I decided to use LinkedIn in a strategic way.

LinkedIn is my main social networking for business venue right now. It has paid off.

I didn’t buy ads to get there. I optimized my organic reach by engaging on the site regularly throughout the week.

Most of my clients in recent years came over LinkedIn or at least checked me out there.

Given my extensive industry experience and social proof no wonder that it worked that well.

It may take a while until people endorse and recommend you though.

Just working is not enough. Networking is also needed!

How do I engage on LinkedIn? I mostly do these things to enhance my organic visibility:

• reacting to other people’s content they share (daily)
• commenting on other people’s updates (daily)
• resharing other people’s most insightful shares
• sharing my own content with a LinkedIn specific intro (monthly)
• referring to other people in my LinkedIn posts
• endorsing other people for specific skills they excel at
• congratulating people I follow on important achievements

As you see there is nothing fancy or complex about that kind of engagement as long as it’s genuine and on-topic.

Do you need more specific or actionable advice? Read by below how I interact with a select few people.

How do I interact on LinkedIn?

OK, so the mere fact of engaging and commenting on LinkedIn won’t suffice.

Many people try to automate that using ChatGPT and similar tools.

Bland generic comments are the result. When you respond you don’t get a human to react.

That’s not how it works. You can’t build trust and relationships by faking it or sending auto DMs.

I choose the people I interact with based on

• my interests
• the business I am in
• and whether they engage in a genuine way.

Sometimes I engage with influencers who never respond. Yet I get quickly disillusioned with such one-sided communication.

So at the end of the day I focus on a few but meaningful connections.

To my surprise over the years I got relatively close to Google’s John Mueller.

Apparently I’m one of the few people who does not annoy him or try to gain his attention to get 15 minutes of fame.

So I see when he comments on something even when I don’t follow that individual or company.

He also likes some of my comments nobody else likes.

Likewise I interact a lot with Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Roundtable, just because I want to stay on top of search news.

Barry always responds when I have a meaningful tip or important question.

For over twenty years he’s the go to source for industry news so it’s no wonder, is it?

I’ve also grown very fond of industry legend Gabriella Sannino over the years so we communicate a lot on LinkedIn.

I commented a lot on her posts as I appreciate her down to earth approach to marketing that is beyond mere hypes and trends.

We also started working together for the Level343 blog in 2024 due to our online friendship.

So you see it’s not some kind of voodoo or “get rich quick” scheme. It’s just human interaction on a business platform.

As you see I’m using a very simple social networking approach that is just about being friendly and supportive.

Do you want to embrace more advanced techniques? Check out the resources list below.

LinkedIn marketing resources galore

Now I present you this LinkedIn marketing and SEO resources list.

As a follow up I will write a post on how I do optimize my LinkedIn profile.

Also take note that this list doesn’t not contain the typical LinkedIn SEO advice!

There SEO is solely meant as Google optimization.

In SEO2 we deal with search holistically.

Thus LinkedIn is treated as just another search “engine”. It’s business people search.

How to use LinkedIn & LinkedIn profile optimization

• How to Use LinkedIn Effectively
• The Beginner’s Guide to LinkedIn Marketing
• 10 Ways to Improve Your LinkedIn Profile in Under 5 Minutes

LinkedIn marketing & SEO

• This Is How To Build The Best LinkedIn Marketing Strategy For Your Business
• 5 Ways to Weave LinkedIn Into Your Marketing Mix
• LinkedIn Marketing: Comprehensive Guide for 2025
• How To Boost the SEO of Your Organization’s LinkedIn Page
• 15 LinkedIn® Profile SEO Tips for Getting Found
• LinkedIn SEO: How to Get your Profile Ranking

Using specific LinkedIn features

• How to create an effective LinkedIn Business Page in 6 steps
• Why LinkedIn Groups Can Be Great for Businesses (and How to Create a Successful One)
• How to Use LinkedIn Sales Navigator for Better Prospecting
  

Take note that I didn’t add all LinkedIn resources I know but selected them very carefully of the course of several months.

There are not that many serious LinkedIn marketing resources out there.

Most LinkedIn SEO posts are just short and often outdated tidbits. It took me considerable research to pick these resources.

Social Media for business done right

Last but not least consider reading my social media hopping post.

It explains that and how you shouldn’t waste your time with social media and networking.

Use is to propel your business to new heights instead.

You can’t abandon social media as a business person.

Yet you can’t work for social sites as a user generated content slave for free either.

Do you want to know more about me? Well, you can view my LinkedIn profile.

I update my profile it sporadically. Make also sure to read my blog to stay on top of my latest content.

In case you want to connect with me make sure to tell me why.

I don’t just collect “connections” for the sake of numbers.

Despite using LinkedIn for over a decade LinkedIn I haven’t reached the limit of 500 connections by itself.

Once you reach the 500 is like a threshold for the algorithm. You finally get treated with respect.

It only happened after I made a conscious effort to engage, socialize and help!

Only once I set out to actually break it I did.

* Creative commons image by smi23le