LinkedIn is a great tool for professionals who know how to use it to build connections with other top professionals and increase their influence within their industry.  In addition to building a network of professionals you admire, you can also make yourself more visible to employers who may be using LinkedIn to search for talented employees.  For those who can use this platform to their advantage, they have more opportunities available to them through their connections and visible influence on LinkedIn.

However, if you’re new to the social networking site, it can be difficult to know how the elements of LinkedIn can be utilized to your advantage. On LinkedIn, the more active you are, the better—but, where do you start?  To open up more opportunities for yourself, start with these steps to become more visible on LinkedIn:

Keep your profile updated

Once someone has found you on LinkedIn, you’ll want to be sure that you are representing your best self on your profile.  For starters, your profile should have the most up-to-date and accurate information; this includes a new job, a promotion, or recent volunteer work.  Plus, you can put your profile over the top by adding as many details as possible and going the extra mile to fill out your profile page.

Continue adding new people

To keep expanding your professional network, LinkedIn has some useful tools that can help you connect with the right people.  To begin, make sure that you are always adding new people that you meet through your work or through networking events.  Plus, when viewing another person’s profile, you can see if they have a common connection with you—a good opening, if you’d like to pick their brain or keep up with their career.  Once you are connected on LinkedIn, you can keep up with each other’s posts, and eventually find a way to help each other out.  Additionally, this increases the number of connections you have on LinkedIn, which can help show that you are an active user with a substantial professional network.

Engage with other users

On LinkedIn, any action you take shows up in the news feed of your connections, including liking or commenting on a post.  By engaging in these small ways, not only do you stay top of mind in the news feed of your connections, but you can also engage with the larger LinkedIn community by commenting on posts and participating in a thoughtful dialogue.

Post updates frequently

In addition to engaging with other posts, be sure to share articles, videos or success stories that interest you as well.  By sharing your thoughts on professional matters in your industry, you can present yourself as someone who is active and informed in their field, and people will begin to look to you for your opinions.  Not only does this make you a thought leader in your industry, but you can also potentially help your connections by posting something that may be helpful to them.

Write posts on the platform

If you have an opinion or perspective on a professional matter, LinkedIn is a great place to share your thoughts.  By publishing an article directly on the platform, you can increase the potential visibility to others who may not be connected with you on LinkedIn.  If your post is shared enough, it may give you a lot more reach and potential connections.  Additionally, when you publish a post on LinkedIn, your connections will get a notification, increasing the amount of people who will read it.

Keep it professional

No matter the issue at hand, be sure that you always keep it professional.  In addition to the presentation of your profile and your tone when communicating with others, this also includes the subject matter of the content you engage with.  Keep in mind that LinkedIn is not Facebook, and it is best to separate your activity on these different social platforms.  For touchy subjects or heated debates, be sure that you avoid discussing such matters on this professional site, and stick to topics surrounding your career and your industry.