Want to learn how to conquer LinkedIn?

I know what you’re thinking. “I’m a writer, not a business. I don’t need LinkedIn.”

Yeah, well, if you write books and want to make a living at it, guess what? You just started a business.

I mean, who writes books, pays for conferences or workshops, editors, and graphic artists and then doesn’t expect to make money?

I hope that’s not you.

Listen, while Instagram keeps climbing the chart, growing and expanding you need to know this: you still need LinkedIn.

So, let’s get started.

LinkedIn is an excellent venue to post information about yourself and, yes, about your books. Here you can connect with colleagues and learn and share your expertise. Also, if you write nonfiction or do any kind of consulting, this is your place.

However, let’s look at the numbers first. These stats are from Omnicore.

LinkedIn Statistics

These numbers are accurate as of May 29, 2019:

• Total number of users: 630 million
• Number of monthly active users: 303 million
• Active users from the US: 177 million

LinkedIn Demographics

Now, look at who uses LinkedIn.

• 40 million students and recent college graduates on LinkedIn.
• The number of men on LinkedIn rose above the number of women, with a 57% to 43% ratio. There used to be an even number, but that number now fluctuates.
• 23% Millennials (18-24 years old) use LinkedIn.
• There are 87 million Millennials on LinkedIn, with 11 million in decision-making positions.
• 49% of LinkedIn users earn more than $75,000 in a year. This figure is courtesy of the Pew Research Center and is from 2018.
• 51% of US college graduates use LinkedIn. This number also comes from a report from Pew.
• 90 million LinkedIn users are senior level influencers, and 63 million are in decision-making positions. This figure comes directly from LinkedIn.

Let’s Interpret the Numbers

Yes, you probably thought that Millennials were spending their time on Instagram, WhatsApp, and Snap. Wrong.

They have to eat and pay rent, right? So they spend time finding a dream job. And while they are at it, might find a book to read, an editor to hire, etc.

If you have a paid account, you can buy advertising.

Let’s Get Started with LinkedIn

It’s hard to believe that you wouldn’t have a LinkedIn account already. If you don’t, go to LinkedIn.com and sign up. Just enter your email address and create a secure password, and you’re on your way.

Make sure that you upload a professional photograph for your avatar, upload a LinkedIn banner image, and go through the lengthy process of completing your profile.

After entering your About section, focus on the Experience section. Be careful with the titles you give yourself because the most recent title will appear in your top profile section.

The top portion of your LinkedIn profile should look like this:

LinkedIn enables you to include your education, volunteer experience, skills and endorsements, and recommendations.

Include your history of volunteer work. I believe that showing commitment to your community is always a good thing.

Under accomplishments, you can add a variety of items. LinkedIn includes a publications feature, so add all of your books.

If you have time to join a group, do so. However, adjust your notifications so that you don’t receive an email every time someone adds a comment.

Before leaving this page, remember to edit your public profile & URL. For example, instead of my LinkedIn public URL being LinkedIn.com/FrancesCaballo19385758493873628494 it is LinkedIn.com/in/FrancesCaballo/.

Edit your LinkedIn URL by clicking or tapping “edit public profile & URL” in the upper right-hand corner. If you want a new profile in another language, you can do that here as well.

Time to Conquer LinkedIn for Business

 When you click or tap the arrow next to the word Work in the upper taskbar, select Create a Company Page. Like I said above, if you write a lot of books, you have a business and deserve to have a business page.

LinkedIn Company Page

 Once you select the option to create a company page, you’ll see four choices.

Make your selection and proceed.

You will add your company name and select a LinkedIn public URL. Then you will provide some company details, a logo, and your company’s tagline.

Once you complete this information, click Create Page.

The next item you see will be this pop-up:

Click “get started.”

My situation may be different from yours. My company name is ACT Communications. I only use that business name when I bill clients. For years now, I brand myself as do a lot of social media consultants. Here, my brand is Social Media Just for Writers.

My business website is simply FrancesCaballo.com.

There’s a lot to cover about LinkedIn, so let’s take our time with it. This platform takes a lot of time to set up. It’s nothing like Instagram. So let’s take our time so that you can truly conquer LinkedIn for business.

Want to know all of my best social media marketing tips? Get a copy of Social Media Just for Writers.

Well written, well researched – well thought out. This book is a must have!

Ryshia Kennie 

Author of this blog: Frances Caballo is an author and social media strategist and manager for writers. She wrote several social media books including Social Media Just for Writers and The Author’s Guide to Goodreads. Her focus is on helping authors surmount the barriers that keep them from flourishing online and building their platform. Her clients have included authors of every genre and writers’ conferences. Not sure how you’re doing online? Sign up for her free email course.

Online Book Marketing Strategies for Writers

I’m overwhelmed by indecision. Let me start again. I don’t know which of the many social media scheduling apps to use going forward.

I’ve used SocialOomph (SO) or years. Seven years to be exact. I started with Hootsuite but switched to SocialOomph back in the day when tweets indicated which scheduling app my tweeps were using.

The big guns were using SO.

Recently, SO revamped and improved its website, but it still doesn’t include scheduling for Instagram. In today’s world, can we really put up with an app that doesn’t include scheduling Instagram posts and stories?

No, at least I can’t. So, I’m exploring options.

Actually, let’s explore the options together.

Today’s Top Scheduling Applications

AgoraPulse

AgoraPulse is popular and expensive. It starts at $79/ month but includes Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube.

It features a Chrome extension, Facebook ROI calculator, queue categories, and an inbox assistant.

Nice features but not what I need even as someone who has social media marketing clients.

Crowdfire

Crowdfire has a free account, and if you pay annually, the Plus version works out to $7.48/month.

You can use it for Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Pinterest. It supports video posts, has a chrome extension, you can schedule with a calendar view, and it will track mentions. And it has even more features. Nice.

But for $7.48/month you can only link one account per social network. This is all you need. But it won’t work for me.

Scheduling Apps that Better Fit Your Budget

Later

I like Later even better than AgoraPulse and Crowdfire. Use it to post to Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest. It offers an Instagram hashtag analytics feature, will tell you the best time to post, monitors groups, and will suggest hashtags. You can schedule photos and videos and Instagram stories.

You can use its free plan or pay $9/month for additional features.

I really like it.

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