LinkedIn is recognised as the largest online talent network, so we know it’s an ideal recruitment tool. But did you know it can also help with staff retention

Here at Narrative Marketing, we’ve seen first hand what happens when companies incorporate LinkedIn employee engagement into their HR strategy. By supporting your staff with the enhancement of their personal profiles, activities and visibility on LinkedIn, not only are you demonstrating to them that they’re valuable to the business, but you’re also optimising your company’s presence on the most important B2B social media platform in existence.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that by encouraging your staff to have optimised LinkedIn profiles, you’re handing them on a plate to competitors. If you value your staff and make that clear to them, they won’t jump ship.

Below are some learnings from our work with clients on you can use LinkedIn to improve your HR strategy, plus a couple of tricks you can do right now to improve your LinkedIn profile…

 Does your LinkedIn profile measure up? Click here to find out.

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photo credit: COD Newsroom

What is LinkedIn Employee Engagement?

If you’re looking to boost your company’s digital presence while engaging employees in the process, a LinkedIn Employee Engagement Program (LEEP) could be the answer to your prayers.

Significant time and resource is required to implement a fully integrated employee engagement program, and it often takes months to see the results of all that internal work, externally.

A LEEP produces immediate results as staff work through the steps and engage week in week out with the platform; the more each individual puts in, the more they and the business as a whole gets out.

The overarching goal for a LEEP is for all employees to attract new followers and customers by representing the company as a cohesive team

A comprehensive LEEP will help to position staff as industry specialists, which has a positive knock-on effect to the business.

What are the outcomes?

As well as driving benefits for the business, a LEEP also provides direct benefit to the employees who participate, as a way of giving back and appreciating their hard work.

In fact, it’s a win win situation, a symbiotic benefit: For individuals, LinkedIn is a platform that can champion you as an expert in your field; this adds value to the business as ‘the employer of experts’.

By providing staff with social media training to enhance their personal profiles, activities and visibility on LinkedIn, you:

  • increase your company’s personal position as an industry leader;
  • improve culture and ownership of company values/brand;
  • engage employees and make them feel part of the “bigger picture”;
  • contribute to increased staff retention.

And that’s just the obvious HR benefits; the marketing benefits are outlined elsewhere on the blog.

“The only thing worse than training your employees & having them leave is not training them & having them stay.” Henry Ford

How does it help staff retention?

I’m glad you asked! As well as feeling valued by the employer, staff can also support each other by providing endorsements and recommendations on LinkedIn, which help to build team spirit and foster a collaborative working environment.

When your peers recognise your great work, not only does it feel good, it helps to build a more credible LinkedIn profile and get the attention of clients.

Changes to the LinkedIn algorithm have made the skills and endorsements that appear on your LinkedIn profile more important than ever. So, here’s a couple of simple things you can do right now to boost your LinkedIn SEO:


Ready to update your LinkedIn profile? Use our FREE checklist.

  • Add a relevant skill to your profile and prioritise it 

If you haven’t added any skills yet, click the ‘Add new profile section’ drop down on the right hand side of your profile. Or if you’ve added skills already, you can scroll down to the Featured Skills & Endorsements part of your profile and click ‘Add a new skill’.

As you start typing, you’ll see suggestions appear. Select a skill that’s relevant to you. Now order your skills according to which ones you most want to promote. The skills you place at the top will be prioritised by LinkedIn’s algorithm, for example in search results and in endorsement suggestions to your connections.

Make sure your settings allow you to be endorsed.

  • Ask a colleague that you’ve worked with to recommend you

Don’t jump into LinkedIn and recommend someone straight away. Discuss it with them offline first and, ideally, write the recommendation together, ensuring you cover all the points you want to publicise. When it’s ready, you can submit it on LinkedIn. Once it’s live, it cannot be changed, though it can be hidden if it’s not doing you any favours.

“An organisation’s ability to learn and translate that learning into action rapidly is the ultimate competitive advantage.”

Remember: Relationships matter. The companies that are visibly supporting and training their staff, particularly in the digital space, will win the day. Make sure you’re ahead of the game by consulting our free LinkedIn checklist by clicking the banner below.

Incorporating LinkedIn into your HR strategy will also get you brownie points outside of your team. Join forces with your marketing guys to develop a LinkedIn content strategy that will improve brand visibility, develop thought-leadership and improve morale.

Share job postings, information about exciting new hires, and blog posts written by staff members on what a great place your business is to work – job’s a good’un!  

Want to know more about using LinkedIn Employee Engagement? We offer small business training workshops in Adelaide and other major Australian cities, including LinkedIn Training.

For more tips and tricks on how to boss at HR and the best marketing strategies being used right now, check out our free Be The Drop podcast – a new episode featuring an insightful interview with business professionals and corporate storytelling superstars is out each week:

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