The Rise of The LinkedIn Nurse Influencer
Nurse Influencers know how to harness the power of popular social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok to build their personal brand and social influence. But what about LinkedIn?
LinkedIn is an incredibly underutilized tool for many nurse influencers… but it shouldn’t be! As the world’s largest online professional network of more than 930 million members, LinkedIn can be an untapped gold mine of connections and opportunities.
A Powerful Networking Platform
As a nurse influencer, LinkedIn has the power to grow your audience exponentially. The best way to get the ball rolling is to grow a relevant, active network and to post consistently. Engaging with like-minded nurses and other healthcare professionals and posting content relevant to them has the potential to reap big rewards. It is important to build your network strategically so that your content stays relevant and ends up in the feeds of the right people.
Through the added features of hashtags, pages, and groups, you have the ability to reach a large number of your target audience all in one place. Promoting your brand on LinkedIn also establishes you as a professional in your industry and allows you to reach nursing leaders that may be unlikely to see your content on other platforms. This is especially important if your professional goals involve big-picture, systemic change in nursing or healthcare. In fact, it may be one of the only positive and professional ways to get executives' attention on social media.
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Building Your Professional Brand
Branding goes far beyond a logo or color scheme. It is a reflection of you and what you bring to the world. What do you want people to think of when they think of you? How do you want people to feel?
Most nurse influencers want to be seen in a positive and professional light. As a social media network focused on professionals, the impression you leave on LinkedIn can do wonders for your personal brand.
Only 1% of LinkedIn users post on a weekly basis, a percentage much lower than any other major social media platform. This creates a huge opportunity for nurse influencers to post content and be seen more readily. Posting frequently on LinkedIn would automatically make you part of only 1% of users, making you and your brand shine more brightly.
How the LinkedIn Algorithm Favors Influencers
The LinkedIn algorithm operates off of engagement, known on LinkedIn as “impressions”. The more impressions a post gets, the more the algorithm will start to push your content out to a wider audience.
The LinkedIn algorithm also determines a person’s interests based on the groups the person is in, the pages they like, the hashtags they follow, and the types of people they are connected with. As you build your network, this will work largely in your favor, ensuring that your content is being reached by your target audience more easily.
Here are some of the key benefits of becoming a nurse influencer on LinkedIn:
1. You can network with an audience of nursing leaders, who in turn have influence. If your goal is to ultimately create large-scale change, you are more likely to find your audience on LinkedIn. Industry professionals see LinkedIn as a professional forum to share ideas, talk about issues, and publicize innovation.
2. Being an influencer raises your business opportunities. As people enjoy your content, your reputation as an industry leader grows, which builds trust in your brand. This will grow your audience and encourage others to want to collaborate with you.
3. Being an influencer increases your opportunities for engagement. According to LinkedIn, InMail response rate is three times higher than a regular cold email. Reaching out via LinkedIn is more likely to yield a response, opening doors for partnership and collaboration with people you may not have reached with traditional email.
How to Become a LinkedIn Influencer
Similar to other social media platforms, there are no shortcuts to becoming a successful influencer on LinkedIn. You have to establish yourself as a leader in the nursing world through the content you produce and the relationships you create. This builds trust in you and your brand. Your content should be high-quality, original, and produced consistently.
Aside from putting out useful content on a dependable schedule, you should also prioritize creating a strong LinkedIn profile. Your profile should be professionally branded and should align with your goals and the message you are trying to convey. It should also showcase your nursing experience and knowledge, which adds to your credibility.
Finally, start making genuine connections with others. Don’t just post your own content; engage with others by commenting and starting conversations. This will not only increase your exposure, but it will also build your reputation as a thought leader within the nursing industry, which ultimately increases your influence.
