In the previous recipe, we looked at a few ways that you can expand your network. We will now look at a few ways to increase your popularity. Once you become popular on LinkedIn, you will automatically gain credibility, and your relationship with your connections will improve significantly.
There are ways by which you can popularize yourself, and one of them is active participation in a few target groups.
In this section, we will discuss how to increase your popularity by active participation in a few target groups.
LinkedIn has a number of corporate, university, and interest groups of which you can become a member. Apart from the corporate and university groups, which I assume you would already be a member of, identify a few interest groups (the number is up to you) and participate in them on a regular basis. This would also showcase your commitment and knowledge to the members of the group. By participation, I mean that you can either help the other members of the group by sharing your knowledge, latest news, or relevant articles, or by answering the queries of other members. Let's understand this with an example.
Let's consider that you have identified five interest groups to participate regularly in. One of the groups is Global Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace.
You can ask a question, share an article, and share your own knowledge or opinion about the subject, as shown in the following screenshot:
You can also answer a query or give your comments on the posts of other group members, as shown in the following screenshot:
Tip
Once you identify your target interest groups, make it a point to contribute towards each group page at least twice a week.
Now, we will discuss how to increase your popularity by using the Answers feature.
LinkedIn has come up with an interesting feature known as Answers. Using this feature, you can ask questions of your connections and the public and also attempt to answer questions in your area of expertise, as follows:
Click on Answers on the More tab on the LinkedIn toolbar:
You can now ask a question, as shown in the following screenshot:
After clicking on Next, add details to your question and categorize your question. If you are interested in asking questions of only your connections, check the box shown in the following screenshot, or else your question will be posted to the public:
Now you can send the question to at most 200 connections. Note that by using this feature you can reach out to 200 connections at once. However, if you send a direct message by using the Inbox tab on the LinkedIn toolbar, you can send a message to only 50 connections.
To answer a question, it is advisable that you first browse through New Questions From Your Network, which is located on the Answers home page:
If you don't find a relevant question, browse and select through the list of areas located on the right-hand side of the page, and then select a question to answer.
Now, we will discuss how to increase your popularity by sharing status updates regularly.
Just like Twitter and Facebook, where we share everything about our lives with our followers, we can use the LinkedIn status updates to share what's happening in our professional lives. We can share news and article links, blog links, or updates about our work or projects. It is a good idea to regularly share updates so that you frequently appear in the eyes of your connections.
On your LinkedIn home page, you will see the following box to share an update:
The steps discussed in the preceding section will help you to gain credibility on LinkedIn and on the web. Slowly, you will be able to strengthen your network and leverage its potential in real life.
The type of groups you join, the type of questions you answer, and the type of status updates you share all determine the type of people you attract towards your network, so please use them carefully.