Networking as a self-employed person, 5 tips for a successful LinkedIn profile

While much has been said and written about networking, its importance is still underestimated by many. To win self-employment contracts, a good and professional LinkedIn profile is invaluable. Not only can it lead you to those specific assignments, it also provides tremendous opportunities to connect with other professionals who can help you achieve your business goals.

Why is LinkedIn important for you, too?

Networking sounds easier than it is and that is why LinkedIn is invaluable. It gives you the opportunity to put yourself and your company in the spotlight with an audience that you would not be able to reach in other ways or would find it much more difficult. Moreover, by making connections, you can also come to the attention of their network again and so the ball gets rolling all the way to online visibility. Creating a professional and successful profile may require your time and attention, but the return you get for it is many times greater. It would be a missed opportunity not to go along with this.

Making the right connections

The more extensive your networking on LinkedIn, the greater your chances of getting new self-employment assignments. Therefore, once your pages are fully up to par, make it a point to expand your network by adding connections. It's okay to think of making connections broadly; people you've already worked with, friends, family, fellow students, previous clients and the like are all useful contacts. A professional page without connections would be a waste of time and effort.

Keeping abreast of the news in your industry

Every industry or sector is subject to innovations and developments, including yours. LinkedIn is a perfect medium to keep abreast of what's going on and participate in discussions about it. By following groups, hashtags and people within your industry you can stay completely up to date without having to spend too much time searching. A good tip is also to post something new yourself or share an opinion on a topic. After all, active accounts with a lot of interaction score better with the online audience than dormant accounts.

Networking is cooperation

You may assume that you have created and maintain your LinkedIn profile in order to get a freelance assignment, yet this should not be the only intent. Networking is also a form of collaboration. You do something for your audience, such as share an interesting opinion or set up a webinar, and your network thinks of you when they are looking for a professional for a particular assignment. Are you offered an assignment you can't take on yourself? Share it on your page to help the client and other self-employed people and in the future you can also get great assignments for which other self-employed people do not have the time or know-how.

Invest time in contact and communication

Having a network on LinkedIn will pay off little if your connections have no form of communication with you. Make time to take a moment to post a reply to people who responded to your post or to reply to a message you received. If you don't do this, you run the risk that people will also prefer to ignore you in the future. Especially for clients, it is a real turnoff if they do not receive a response from you. Even if an assignment is not in line with your work, it is better to give them a friendly response. Their next assignment might be the ideal assignment for you and you don't want to miss it.

You can and must be seen

Being immodest is allowed on LinkedIn; in fact, it is important that people see and notice you. Have you completed a nice project, have you introduced an innovation in your industry, is there an important announcement on the agenda? Share this with your network.

Let an expert help you set up your LinkedIn pages.

Creating and maintaining a professional, businesslike and attractive LinkedIn profile is best a difficult task and therefore not for everyone. Social media experts are specialists in formatting the pages on the one hand and in guiding you in maintaining them on the other. Enlisting professional help is a good idea for those who know themselves to be insufficiently knowledgeable about the whole social media thing.