Why Young Women Should Post on LinkedIn: An Anti-Cringe Crash Course

Isa, how do you even start to post on LinkedIn?

– too many people, to me, in weird and wonderful scenarios (including pre-Covid house parties..?)

Now, whether or not this is something I’m okay with being my core personality trait (unsure), there’s a lot to be said for getting your name out there, especially as a woman just starting out on the career ladder.

But, why should you post on LinkedIn?

Here’s a couple of reasons why I think posting on LinkedIn is a great thing for young women to do:

• Updates your network (and potential interested parties) about what you’re up to. You never know who’s paying attention! A lot of my opportunities have come about because seeing a post of mine has encouraged someone to get in touch.
• Normalises being proud of your achievements – something that women are statistically much less likely to do. However you dress it up, self-promotion is a part of career progression, and an important part of closing the pay gap. A disclaimer that posting on LinkedIn doesn’t need to come across as “bragging” or ego – you are in control of your words and what impact you want to make.
• Helps to build your professional identity – for your career, but also for yourself. Writing about your lessons, goals and aspirations helps you to reflect on your progress and gain confidence in your own skill set and abilities.
• Makes your LinkedIn more “human” and personal. I was nervous about posting about starting out coding, but have since had 10+ people in my network contact me to say they are starting to learn, based off of my content. Sometimes that personal connection is really important in giving others the confidence to try something new!

Sounds good? The next step is actually writing something.

I’m not a professional, but as we just said, hearing from someone you know can sometimes make all the difference!

Here’s my advice & experience:

1. Get over yourself (..!) – no one is as invested as you are. The main roadblock for most people I have spoken with is the idea of judgement. Ironically, these same people themselves generally have a positive perception of others posting on LinkedIn. If other people can do it, so can you, and you have a lot to offer! It also gets easier the more you do it.
2. Link to relevant organisations using @. This helps to increase the exposure of your article.
3. Use relevant hashtags – but not too many. LinkedIn will often autosuggest hashtags dependent on what you’ve written. Use some of the most relevant ones to improve engagement but don’t #use so #many that your #post feels #artificial and #awkward.
4. Bring out your personality. It’s cliche, but ultimately, we like to listen to stories and hear authenticity. Over-the-top clickbait or corporate content doesn’t tend to do well; your audience will be interested in you and how you’re doing!
5. Photo content tends to perform better – especially if it has you in it. If you feel comfortable with this, it makes your post more personal.
6. Keep it simple. Most of the time, your post doesn’t need to be incredibly long or complex. Think about what kinds of posts tend to grab your attention on LinkedIn, and where appropriate, mirror their length / content.
7. Most importantly: create value. Whether this is what you learned, your story, giving thanks to others, an offer of help… think about how your post could help others around you. If you’ve have me on LinkedIn, you’ll notice that most of my posts include an offer that I’m more than happy to chat about the subject with anyone interested. You’d be surprised how many people take me up on it!

Here’s an example:

All together, that looks something like this ->

In this short post, you get an idea of where I’m at:

• Developing my research skills, especially quantatitive data analysis
• Working in a remote environment to achieve project goals
• Positive experience at the Constitution Unit and grateful for their support
• Looking forward to my next chapter at ClassOf2020

Feeling good?

We’ve covered why it’s a good idea to get comfortable with “self-promotion”, and how you might go about it.

This concept goes beyond LinkedIn, and I would encourage you do to further reading on why it’s important to own your achievements.

Got any questions? Drop me a message and let me know if I can help. And, if you’re ever feeling nervous, link me your post and I can show some support!

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