The LinkedIn playbook for recruitment personal branding

Set yourself up for success on the world’s biggest professional network. This playbook breaks recruitment personal branding on LinkedIn down into the habits that matter: your profile, your connections, when and what to post, how to get reach, and how to measure whether it is working.

It is a guide, and all advice in it is purely that.

Why it’s worth the effort

LinkedIn now has over 1 billion members. Only 1% of them ever post content. By creating and posting any form of content, you will instantly be in the top 1% of people using LinkedIn.

The world of LinkedIn can be overwhelming, so this playbook simplifies the best practices to help you get the most from your efforts.

Setting up your profile

Your profile is your shop window. Don’t overlook how it can make or break your success on LinkedIn. It is the point where someone decides whether to contact you, so if it isn’t good, any work you put into creating and posting content will be less effective. See it as your personal homepage.

Make it public

Make sure your profile is set to public. Click on your profile picture and set the toggle at the bottom left to “anyone”.

Tidy your URL

The default URL LinkedIn gives you has numbers after your name, like /darrenwestall-224092b2/. Change it to something that looks better when shared and is more memorable, like /darrenwestall. You’ll find this at the top right of your profile under “Edit public profile & URL”.

Headline

Make sure your headline has more than just your job title. A personalised explanation helps people get to know you in a “people buy from people” world.

The character limit is 220, but only the first 40 characters are visible when you comment on someone’s post.

Banner

The default LinkedIn banner doesn’t add any value to someone visiting your profile. Use something that looks good and tells visitors who you are and what you do. Personal banners are 1584 x 396 pixels.

Profile photo

Pick a photo that looks like you now, not ten years ago. Avoid distractions in the background. Wear what you’d wear to work and choose an expression that represents you. First impressions count.

About section

Write about how you help people, solve problems and add value to your ideal customer. Be creative and give people a reason to connect with you. This is your chance to show your market why you should be the one they contact for help.

Use your first sentence carefully. The rest of your text is hidden under a “…see more” link, and if your first sentence doesn’t make a viewer want to click it, it’s not good enough.

Include the best ways to contact you at the end. It’s the call to action that makes the difference.

Contact information

It is so simple, yet often forgotten. Keep your contact details up to date (email address, phone number, website) so people can get in touch in the way they prefer.

Featured section

Pin your best content. Make sure profile visitors see your best content first by pinning it to your profile. Click the three dots at the top right of any post you’ve published. The first three pinned items are the ones that stay visible.

Pin your website pages. Use the “link” option in your featured section to give your network direct access to your landing pages, live vacancies, testimonials and so on.

Choose your media. It is important to show your audience what you do. Think of this section as evidence that supports what you do and brings it to life. Paiger Links lets you add a custom image or GIF to your media that links directly to your website.

Building your connections

The strength of your LinkedIn network is incredibly important. A strong network has both quantity and quality, so make sure your connections are relevant and develop your network regularly.

With an upper limit of 30,000 connections, you have scope to build a big network. But don’t add people for the sake of it. Irrelevant connections are less likely to engage with your content, which dilutes its reach.

Try to connect with 10 to 15 people every day who would add value to your network.

The benefits of building connections

LinkedIn is unique in that each time you connect with one person, you also connect with everyone they know, and everyone those people know. That’s extremely powerful.

People are more likely to trust people they are familiar with, so building connections today benefits your ability to network in the future.

LinkedIn actively pushes your content to your new connections. The key is to get those new connections engaging with your content so they keep seeing your posts. Encourage conversations in your comments and engage with any content they publish.

Nurture relationships with your connections

Engage with your network and focus on building relationships. Having two-way conversations with the people who interact with you is crucial.

Comment on other people’s posts, but be thoughtful when you do. One well-thought-out comment is better than 100 “I agree”s.

LinkedIn is aware of messaging activity too. Chatting privately with someone on LinkedIn makes them more likely to see your future content. Momentum and consistency will keep your network and reach expanding.

Interact with posts. Answer questions. Offer advice. Be helpful and generous with your expertise. The more you give, the more you get in return.

When to post

Consistency is key

Maintaining a regular posting frequency is critical to success. Aim for a consistent rhythm rather than posting three days in a row and then going silent for a week.

Start with three posts a week, on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Use Tuesday and Thursday to comment on and engage with your network’s content.

Once you start to see traction, you’ll naturally want to post more. Build up to daily posts. And weekends? With Paiger, scheduling posts ahead of time is simple.

Posting times

The best posting times depend on your audience. Generally, 90% of LinkedIn activity happens between 7:00am and 9:00pm.

Think about your audience and when they are likely to be online. What is their time zone? When will your candidates look for jobs? That is likely to be outside their usual working hours. When will your clients be online? A nurse, for example, is going to be online at different times from a construction worker.

For simplicity, the rule of thumb is to post between 8:00am and 11:00am in your time zone.

Again, consistency matters. Aim to post at around the same time each time, as it conditions the algorithm to serve your content reliably to your audience.

What to post

You don’t need to overthink the content you create. Focus on how you can add value to your audience: give genuine advice and share knowledge, insights and opinions.

Try to avoid being promotional all the time. It can be tempting to talk about your services, but doing it repeatedly without adding any other value can do more harm than good.

Use the conversations you’re having as inspiration. Has someone asked you a question you could turn into a post? What pain points are they experiencing right now?

Share your success stories and your struggles. That personal touch shows you are human and helps your audience relate to you.

Is it a good idea for a post?

Test your idea against these three questions. If it answers “yes” to at least one, it’s a good idea for content.

• Is the concept new, or a fresh perspective on an existing idea?

• Can your audience act on the idea right away?

• Will it make a significant difference to their work and life?

The foundations of a well-written post

• Write like you talk. Be you, be real, be human. Avoid complicated language and jargon.

• Start with a hook. Your first one or two sentences need to grab attention. Use a bold statement, an opinion or a question to create interest.

• Keep sentences short. Aim for a maximum of 12 words per sentence and break your post into short paragraphs.

• Use white space. It makes your post easy to read.

• Aim for around 1,000 characters. That is the optimal length for most posts. There are exceptions, covered below.

• End with a conclusion, question or call to action. It encourages engagement.

• Use emojis with judgement. They can enhance your message and add personality, but judge whether they suit your audience and industry.

Types of post to use

Text and image

These are the most straightforward posts to get right. They are ideal for storytelling, adding personality and grabbing attention.

Keep your images relevant. Avoid generic stock photos and use genuine ones. GIFs can also be effective. Photos with people in them, such as a selfie or a picture of your team, can bring higher engagement, because people are interested in people. Designed images in your brand’s colours and themes can increase brand awareness.

Don’t add images for the sake of it. You know the ones we mean: a random picture of you flexing at the gym when your post is about something unrelated. It does you no favours.

Text only

Text only is excellent for longer, meaningful content. Sometimes words are enough on their own and don’t need any visuals, and that simplicity can work well. Text only can be impactful for storytelling or educational content.

Text-only posts are less common, so when they are done right they stand out from the crowd.

Video

Videos are a great way to add value in a format that is easy to digest. Post them directly to LinkedIn rather than linking to YouTube or Vimeo.

The most engaging videos are between one and two minutes long. Keep them to three minutes at most, as people are likely to lose interest after that. Make the first few seconds interesting enough that people keep watching.

A video of yourself talking about something that adds value to your audience is better than a promotional video. Use conversations you’ve had with candidates and clients. For example, share the market information you’ve been giving out on one-to-one calls with your whole audience.

Add subtitles. They make your video accessible to people with hearing impairments and to the many people who watch without sound.

Keep the accompanying text short, at no more than 500 characters, so it doesn’t distract from the video. Keep it relevant: touch on the topic, pique interest and encourage people to watch.

Document posts

Often called carousels, these are great for educational and informative content. They are created from PDFs and appear as slides when posted.

Keep the accompanying text short so it doesn’t pull attention away from the document.

The number of slides can affect engagement. Aim for between 5 and 15, with 12 being optimal. Anything over 20 is likely to be too long.

Use your brand style. Stick to the correct colours and fonts to stay professional and build brand awareness.

Polls

Polls can gather opinions, spark conversations and capture leads, but they need to be done well.

The simplicity of your question is key. Make it broad enough to engage a wide audience without being vague or generic. Getting that balance right is essential.

Explain your poll’s context and objectives in the accompanying text. Telling people why you are running the poll increases buy-in and encourages them to take part. Again, keep this below 500 characters so people don’t lose interest before they vote.

Don’t list too many answers. Aim for three or four, and make the last one “other, see comments”, which is great for increasing comments.

The optimal duration for a poll is one week. Then repurpose the results: they make a great second post to discuss what you found and spark more conversation.

Increasing post reach

By now you’ve set up a profile that turns visitors into conversations and conversions, chosen the frequency and types of content you want to post, and started building relevant connections. Great work.

When you post, these techniques help maximise the reach and engagement of your posts and increase visits to your profile.

Encourage comments

Encouraging people to comment can boost your reach. Keep the conversation going by replying to comments.

Engage with your network

Build relationships with your network. Engaging regularly with your network’s posts and adding value in the comments makes people more likely to see your content. Others are also more likely to return the favour by commenting on your posts.

Tag strategically

Mentioning others in your content helps when they contribute to the discussion by commenting. Make each tag meaningful and relevant, and use tags to express gratitude or celebrate success.

Tagging encourages engagement and sharing, but be warned: if you tag people and companies who then don’t engage with the post, it can hurt your post’s reach.

Don’t use too many tags. More than eight could trigger a tag penalty, and LinkedIn could mark your content as spam.

If you’re not sure whether someone will engage when tagged, tag them in a comment instead. A tag in a comment that gets no response doesn’t affect your post in the same way.

Use hashtags lightly

Keep to this rule of thumb and you won’t go wrong: three to five hashtags is optimal. Don’t overthink it. Choose hashtags relevant to your post and your network.

Hashtags aren’t critical, but they can help people discover your content when they search for specific terms on LinkedIn. It doesn’t matter where you put them. Include them in your text or add them at the end of the post, whichever works for you.

Measuring success

Your business results

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to success on LinkedIn. Everyone’s targets are different, so set yours, whatever they are, then measure, test and adjust until you see positive change, whether that is new business, new relationships or greater brand awareness.

Track and review lagging indicators, such as the number of inbound messages received in the last three months. These give you the real results. Leading indicators, such as the analytics below, show whether your efforts resonate with the right audience, but the business end is what matters most. Is your investment generating tangible revenue?

Your LinkedIn analytics

LinkedIn gives you some high-level measures, accessible from your profile. Use them to judge whether your efforts are getting the results you want, and check them weekly.

• Profile views. More views is good, but dig deeper and see who is viewing your profile. If they are the right people, that’s great.

• Post impressions. Impressions over the last seven days show how much reach your posts are getting. As you test what engages your audience most, you want to see this rise over time.

• Search appearances. These show how findable you are. Make sure your profile is optimised so the right people discover you.

Review your top posts

Review your top-performing posts over a longer period. We suggest 90 days. That lets you reuse the best ones, perhaps with a different angle or image.

Don’t overthink likes and comments on individual posts. Not everyone who gets value from your content will engage with it, and being overly critical of performance can lead you to give up too soon.

Check your Social Selling Index (SSI)

LinkedIn also provides a performance diagnostic tool called the Social Selling Index, or SSI. It is calculated from four components to give a score out of 100:

• Establish your personal brand. Complete your profile with the customer in mind. Become a thought leader by publishing meaningful posts.

• Find the right people. Identify better prospects in less time using efficient search and research tools.

• Engage with insights. Discover and share conversation-worthy updates to create and grow relationships.

• Build relationships. Strengthen your network by finding and establishing trust with decision-makers.

Once you reach an SSI of 70 or more, each of your posts reaches more of your network.

If you’re starting to take LinkedIn seriously, or you’ve decided to spend more time creating content, check your SSI now and again in a month. Along with your business results and analytics, it is a steer for your future activity.

Final tips

Give LinkedIn three months of effort before you judge how beneficial it is for you and your business. In those three months, at a minimum, build these habits:

• Post three times a week and vary your content types. Stick to two or three content themes to build awareness of the problems you can solve for your audience.

• Send 10 to 15 connection requests a day to relevant people. Building connections while posting regularly is the quickest way to see results.

• Comment on 5 to 10 relevant posts a day, ideally from people you want in your network.

Finally, the right technology makes all of this easier. Paiger’s Personal Brand & Content workflow helps consultants create and keep building their personal brand, so recruitment personal branding becomes part of the working week rather than an extra.