How to Leverage LinkedIn as a Freelancer

Different ways to leverage LinkedIn for growing your network and acquiring more clients as a freelancer.

As of 2020, Linkedin had expanded to over 740 million active users. Today, the site has grown from a network for executive corporate leaders to a platform for almost anyone in any industry. All demographics, interests, and industries are fully represented on the platform. Besides being a professional portfolio for most active users, the number of corporate pages and B2B companies with professional pages has grown to millions.

If the growth of Linkedin has captured your attention and you plan to explore its potential as a professional freelancer, here is your guide. Well, before getting started with creating your profile, here are things you need to know. A blueprint on how to make the most of LinkedIn as a freelancer in any industry.

Your LinkedIn Profile Headline is your Business Banner

Professional companies stalk leads through LinkedIn by looking at their profile headlines and determining whether they are potential prospects. When someone goes through your profile, LinkedIn will notify you. You can check out their LinkedIn profile headlines and note whether they could be a potential client. The headlines tell you the profession of a user, the industry they are working in, and their current employer. A common way to connect and communicate with people who viewed your profile is to send them a note inquiring if you noticed they looked at your Linkedin profile, what services or partnerships they were looking for, and that you are looking forward to connecting with them. However, remember for anyone to find value from just looking at your profile, the profile has to speak for itself through the following:

1. A professional headline

2. A customized URL

3. A summary of your skills and abilities

4. Experience

5. Endorsements

6. A section about projects undertaken or volunteering experience

The best way to craft your LinkedIn profile headline, summary, and experience is to treat it like crafting an ad copy. Ad copies are excellently written by creative writers to produce a call to action. The copy is usually persuasive and straightforward. As a freelancer looking to sell your services to the world, you need your headline and summary to represent yourself in the best way possible. Remember, your main target is to stand out - so write a few of them and choose your favorite.

Finally, do not forget to upload a professional profile photo.

The Linkedin Summary

The LinkedIn summary will tell your prospects who you are. For example, you could be a freelance writer offering copywriting services. Note that in summary. A summary is more similar to a book blurb. Usually, it will be located on the top-left part of the profile. Potential clients looking for collaboration will consider the summary as your introduction and figure out whether you are the right one for collaboration.

Be authentic, and creative, and look forward to fully showcasing your skills in the best way. Since you are a freelancer, tell your prospects what services you will offer them, what problems you are solving within your industry and why you are their best fit. Also, remember to leave behind contact details on how they can reach you.

Here is a quick layout of how a LinkedIn summary should look:

• Your elevator pitch - is more like a movie logline and should be one line

• Highlight your services in bullet point format (at least 3 - 5 lines)

• Highlight your skills in bullet point format

• List down examples of projects/results you have achieved

• Craft a creative call to action bottom line

‘LinkedIn Testimonials’ or Endorsements

This section allows people you have worked with or under to review your profile and rate your reputation in the form of a testimonial. This is much of social proof of work and evidence of results. According to “The LinkedIn Endorsement Game’ the endorsement section is associated with either of the following believes and attitudes:

1. An endorsement increases a person’s career opportunities

2. Endorsement reaffirms that one has knowledge and authority in their industry

3. An endorsement increases one’s reputation and level of trust

The endorsement allows prospective clients to gauge the reputation of users behind Linkedin profiles.

How to Use LinkedIn to Find Jobs

First, tap into ways of growing your network across people within your industry. The LinkedIn algorithm ensures that when one of your connections likes your post; the post will appear on the connections of your like connection. You can also grow your network by joining groups and engaging with LinkedIn updates. Active user establishes themselves as knowledgeable, confident, and authoritative in their field of study.

As a freelancer, you must also connect with potential prospects who will hire your services. Some companies are actively recruiting on LinkedIn, and you could send a connection request to any of their leadership team, human resource specialist, or founders. Other users within your network could also update you on jobs and opportunities within your industry. This would be even more beneficial if your network comprises users within your industry.

To unlock even more value from your network, look forward to sharing engaging content. Be consistent in your posting, you could also build a content calendar for this and schedule all your posts.

You can also head to the Jobs on Linkedin section to explore employment opportunities and firms actively recruiting.

Bottom Line

Engage with your network to gain the same level of engagement. Respond to comments, and messages and also comment on other posts on the LinkedIn newsfeed. The more engagement you deploy, the more active your network will be. This will bring in more clients, future prospects and give your profile a level of professional popularity.