3 Ways to Use LinkedIn Like a Pro

Woooohooooooo! You've taken the leap and created your LinkedIn profile. I'm sending you a big high five - you're all set for an exciting and rewarding journey. 🥳

Now, how can we make the most of this adventure?

Just like brushing your teeth, LinkedIn isn't a quick one-day thing you can do once and forget about afterwards. The people that make LinkedIn a habit and are the ones that boost their presence with employers and become standout career switchers. 💫

Let's dive into three habits to build your brand as a Salesforce professional on LinkedIn. And my biggest tip? Start early! I wish I could wave a big neon sign right now...

Once you get into the weeds of the Salesforce course and hands on projects, you might find that you simply don't have the time for building your LinkedIn presence from scratch. That's why building good habits now = much less work in the long run. It's also much easier to be your genuine yourself and build relationships on LinkedIn when you're not in a rush to find a new job.

Start today, maintain small habits, and your efforts will pay off at the perfect time. 🌱

We've divided each habit into three exciting levels:

1. 🏁 Start by... These are basic steps you can do from your first day of LinkedIn.
2. 🎯 Aim towards... These tips will help you discover the benefits of LinkedIn beyond the basics. Try get to this stage within a week of using LinkedIn!
3. 🏆 Become a pro by... These tips will turn you into a standout. When hiring managers are scrolling through countless candidate, it's the pros that do something different that catches their attention. Try practising pro-level habits within a month of using LinkedIn!

‍

Are you ready?!‍

Psst... If you want the juicy tips on what to do, scroll to the bottom. It's okay. We won't judge you. 😉

‍

1. Connecting with Salesforce professionals

Send connection requests to people you genuinely want to meet, learn from or follow in their career. It's a much more effective way to spend your time compared to mass pressing 'Connect' to anyone that has Salesforce in their title.

🏁 Start by: Connecting with people you already know. This can be your colleagues, the NextWork team (definitely do this one!), friends, and any Salesforce students and professionals you already know.

🎯 Aim towards: Making strategic connections within the Salesforce community. What is your personal goal for being on LinkedIn? What questions do you have about Salesforce or your career switch? Once you figure that out, you'll quickly find out who are the people you should connect with.

• For example, if your goal is to figure out how to successfully switch careers into Salesforce, can use LinkedIn to find people that's done the same career switch before.
• If your goal is to pass the cert in the shortest time possible, you can look for people that have passed the cert to ask them what they'd do differently if they could start over.
• Personalise your connection requests with a quick message on why you'd like to connect.

🏆 Become a pro by: Maintaining a regular presence on LinkedIn.

• Accept incoming connection requests (that you trust) and send out new ones every week. Make it a habit to log in to LinkedIn and send out one new invite before dinner on Tuesday nights.
• There's no need to spam your new connections with messages, but you can start to share articles or events they might enjoy.
• If someone gives you valuable advice, act on their suggestions and update them on the results.

‍

2. Following dream Salesforce companies

🏁 Start by: Following Salesforce companies that inspire you or align with your career goals. Just by following, you'll see their latest Salesforce projects, news, job openings, and events.

• Don't know where to look for Salesforce companies? Start with the companies that sponsor or speak in Salesforce events (like Dreamforce, the Salesforce Sydney World Tour, or Kiwi Dreaming). These companies are the most passionate about Salesforce and talk about it on LinkedIn too.

🎯 Aim towards: Engaging with the company - like, share, or comment on their posts. Did one of their projects interest you? Was it awesome that they won an award last night? Tell them! This shows your genuine interest in their work, and smaller companies especially will start noticing your name. You can also create job alerts in a company's LinkedIn page.

🏆 Become a pro by: Building strong relationships with these companies. Attend their events and connect with the Salesforce professionals that feature in their posts! Ask questions you are genuinely curious about.

‍

3. Sharing your Salesforce learning journey

Tell the world who you are as a Salesforce student!

🏁 Start by: Adding "Salesforce Administrator Course" in your profile's education section. Include NextWork as the school, so people know you are learning with a recognised training provider.

🎯 Aim towards: Making a post about your journey to study Salesforce! If you'd like some guidance with writing this, we have a handy template ready for you on the first day of your course. 😉

🏆 Become a pro by: Creating posts throughout your learning journey - what did you learn this week? What did you find challenging? Is there anything your network could help you with? The Salesforce community LOVES supporting people that are starting their Salesforce career. Consistent posts are the perfect log book to show employers your dedication to learning and taking initiative outside of the course!

‍

😉 Bonus: Making great posts

Posts are truly what keeps you at the top of people's minds. Every time you show up on people's newsfeed, you're reminding them that you're an awesome Salesforce Admin they can hire, learn from, or recommend to other employers.

🏁 Start by: Posting with just words. Say what you want to say, and hit post!

🎯 Aim towards: Adding photos and videos to get people's attention. You don't have to show your face, graphics can work too! Add Salesforce-specific hashtags to put your posts in front of people outside of your network.

🏆 Become a pro by: Getting people to share and engage - make people comment, repost, save or send to others. Posts that give value to the reader are more likely to get high engagement. You can:

• Share insights from Salesforce-related books, courses, or videos.
• Create study notes for the topics you thought were challenging.
• Highlight key takeaways from Salesforce events that people didn't have the time to attend.

‍

⏳ In Summary ⌛️

• Connecting with Salesforce professionals: Start by connecting with people you already know. Aim to build strategic connections, and become a pro by maintaining your new relationships.
• Following dream Salesforce companies: Start by following Salesforce companies that inspire you. Aim to show your genuine interest through likes, shares, and comments. Become a pro by forming strong relationships - attend their events, or personally connect with a team member.
• Sharing your Salesforce journey: Start by adding 'Salesforce Admin Course' to your profile's education section. Aim to make a post that announces you're doing a Salesforce course. Become a pro by consistently sharing what you're learning.
• Bonus tips for posting: Start with text-only posts. Aim to add visuals and relevant hashtags. Become a pro by offering value to encourage comments and shares. 🌟

‍

And that's wrap! 

‍

Every step you take in LinkedIn puts you that much closer to your career switch and changing your life. Start small today, maintain these habits, and your efforts will pay off at the perfect time. 🌱