​Towards the tail end of last year, I asked my network what time of the day they’d find themselves scrolling through LinkedIn. With over 40% of you stating that they are a bit of a “serial scroller” when using the website, it got me thinking, are we managing our time as efficiently as we could?

LinkedIn is sold to us as a professional networking platform but at its core it is still looks, feels and acts like a social media site. With distractions at every turn it’s vital you manage how, why and when you use LinkedIn, just like with any other social media website. My hope is that following this article you will be able identify where you could be wasting time and subsequently create some new habits to become highly productive.

IDENTIFY THE PURPOSE

Most people spend more time on social media than they’d care to admit. But ultimately there’s a fundamental reason you’re using this platform. Job hunting, creating content, posting within communities, they’re all valid reasons you open up the tab on your browser or open up the LinkedIn app. How often though do you find yourself being distracted by a post, image or video that catches your attention?

So, take a moment. Define your purpose for using the platform and focus in on ensuring this is the reason you use LinkedIn. Work out who you might discover on this platform, what you want them to understand and know about you / your business, and what information you want to discover.

CREATE A SCHEDULE

You’ve got your purpose, however, one disadvantage of social media as a whole is how easy it can be to get pulled away from productivity. One of the best ways to manage your time is to create a schedule – a time of the day you log into LinkedIn and carry out your tasks. Be it morning, afternoon or evening you’ll find a plethora of blogs telling you what time of day is best to use the platform.

You should learn to manage your LinkedIn usage and plan this by scheduling your tasks during specific times of the day. An example would be setting a certain timeframe for points through the day to respond to notifications alongside a block of time to create new content, comment on existing threads and communicate with new members of the community. The above is just a suggestion, something that suits me, but you may find a different schedule or approach will suit your specific purpose for using LinkedIn.

In creating a schedule, I’ve found it easier to stay in touch with my network, engage in discussions surrounding changes in the industry and also discover information vital for my own personal development – the benefits are huge here!

CHECKLIST

Now this may be something that some of you look at and think….bit OTT. Creating a checklist or to do list for those tasks is a must for me.

With LinkedIn being such a big part of a recruiter’s life, I ensure that I know exactly what tasks need to be completed during the allotted time I’ve given myself. For instance, during the half hour slot I give myself in the morning I know that I’ll reply to all messages, create a new piece of content and interact with group notifications.

We use checklists for the majority of other tasks in our work and personal life, LinkedIn is no different!

SET YOUR GOALS

Set goals in line with your purpose for using LinkedIn. Be it reaching a certain number of connections, the amount of exposure your content is going to get or how much content you are going to put out there. Create a goal around this. It’s a lot easier to track how effective your time is being spent if you have something to hold it accountable to!

CONSISTENCY IS KEY

When you consistently execute your online tasks in a detailed manner, this can help you significantly. Once you determine a routine and devote yourself to the perfection of your daily responsibilities, you progressively improve your performance. Like a daily exercise routine, if you do your work more habitually, it becomes more natural to you. In addition, your network will always respond more positively when you are consistent with your approach.

(As a side note, I’d urge anyone reading this to pick up a book called Atomic Habits by James Clear. Many of the points I’ve made stem from the lessons learnt in this book!)

I hope the above helps my network in creating more opportunities on LinkedIn. I’m hearing too often about how the website can be see as a burden however this truly depends on how you make use of it. So do let me know how you’ve utilised these tips and if it’s helped in increasing productivity both online and elsewhere for you!

If you are using LinkedIn for jobhunting, please do get in touch. The digital job searching environment can be overwhelming and there are some simple tips and tricks I can share with you to help you find your next dream job.

(For any recruitment needs within the highways or transportation sectors please feel free to contact me at anytime on 02393 876 011 / 07714 267 579 / luke.clifford@carringtonwest.com)