Ways to Update Your LinkedIn Status

I advocate/recommend that you become more active on LinkedIn, especially if you want to stay connected with your network and garner the attention of recruiters and potential hiring managers.

People have asked me HOW to update their status on LinkedIn, so here are four easy ways you can update your LinkedIn status and share information .

If you read my earlier post on 10 types of status updates for job seekers, you know what you need to do.

Update Your LinkedIn Status Daily

You can tell people what you’re doing (event’s you’re attending), share a profound thought or quote, or you can share the something written by someone else (LinkedIn Influencers, content from blogs or online newsletters/updates).

In Your Visibility on LinkedIn: What You Need to Know, I share more information about changes LinkedIn has made and how to change your newsfeed settings.

1. Write Your Own Status Update

When you log into LinkedIn, you end up on the home page which looks something like this today. (LinkedIn has been making changes to the design/layout of your home page).

2. Share Articles You Find On LinkedIn

If you are following Influencers on LinkedIn or have set your Pulse news feed to share the right information, you easily have access to loads of information to share. Just scroll through your home feed and look for an interesting article. (Remember, on LinkedIn people prefer updates on industry and company news, or tips/hacks to make them better at their jobs.)

3. Share An Article You Find Elsewhere

Every website provides sharing buttons (almost) so you can share the article on many different social media sites. Just click on the icon to share it to the social media platform and you’ll be on your way. If you don’t see the icon you are looking for, let’s say LinkedIn, usually there is a more or plus button and you’ll find the platform. A best practice is to add your thoughts/comments/questions to the introduction of the post so your network gets a better sense of why you are sharing the article.

This is what the next screen will look like once you’ve clicked the icon.

You can share the article as an update AND as a group discussion, as you can see below.

This is what your share would look like in the LinkedIn group.

Buffer It

If you find lots of great articles and you don’t want to share them all at once, you can space out your status updates by using a scheduling tool like Buffer.  Buffer is a free app that lets you auto schedule or set the date and time you want a post to appear. You can link it to Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+ and now Pinterest. But as a free user, you are limited to you can connect to one per each social network- one Facebook, one Google+, one twitter, and one LinkedIn. Here’s the time saver tip: if you find five great articles in one day, you can space them out and share only one per day by using Buffer. Your work is done for the week!

Liking & Commenting Seen As Updates

You should also take a look at this from LinkedIn:

Visibility of Updates and Links You Share

Who sees my shared updates?

Last Reviewed: 04/28/2015

When sharing an update, you can control who sees it by using the Share with dropdown menu below the share box. You may have to start typing in the share box to see this menu.

If visibility is set to Public, your update may appear:

• On the homepages of your 1st-degree connections
• On the homepages of your 2nd or 3rd degree connections if re-shared, commented upon, or liked by your 1st-degree connections
• On your Recent Activity page – learn how to see your activity
• On LinkedIn Pulse

You can select who can see your activity from the Profile section of yourPrivacy & Settings page.

Whenever you like something on LinkedIn, it will show up in your network’s newsfeed.

Likewise, when you comment on a status update or group discussion, it will also show up in your network’s news feed.

Sharing an article or posting a discussion on a group also updates your network.

As I was scrolling through my newsfeed, I saw very few updates from connections I know are job seekers. Just remember, out of sight, out of mind! Keep visible. Keep connected