 What is the one LinkedIn activity that can move the needle the furthest and the fastest in your business? My LinkedIn expert friends would agree. It is leaving a thoughtful comment on someone else's LinkedIn post. Today, we're discussing this super strategy and how you can put it to work for you and your business. Stick around. And it's Leigh-Anne and when I wake up each morning and open LinkedIn on my browser, I'm faced with a number of decisions to make. What should I do first? Should I check out my notifications or maybe respond to some of the direct messages I've received? Perhaps I should be creating a brand new piece of content. The thing is, none of these activities are going to move the needle as fast as this one. So the question I really should be asking myself is, who can I engage with on the platform by leaving a thoughtful comment on their LinkedIn post? This is what will exponentially increase my chances of being noticed and increase the no-like and trust factor very quickly with that contact. So today, we're talking about the reasons why commenting is so powerful and then more importantly, how you can get started on your own LinkedIn commenting strategy. But before we start, don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel and click on that little bell to be notified of new content. I create content around LinkedIn and personal branding specifically for the hospitality industry and I don't want you to miss a thing. Now let's get started on those reasons why commenting on someone's LinkedIn post is such a powerful engagement strategy. Reason number one, when you comment on someone's post, it puts you now front and center with that person. The content creator receives a notification about your comment and that of course increases your chances of your comment being seen by that person. They'll be encouraged to revisit their content and look at what you have written. Secondly, it then opens a dialogue between you and that content creator. With a very thoughtful comment, you may garner a response from the content creator themselves, making this a powerful strategy for furthering the connection and the dialogue with the content creator. A strategic volley of dialogue can potentially move onto LinkedIn's direct messaging feature or offline altogether. And that is really where we want to be with our LinkedIn activity. Reason number three is when you comment, you also open a dialogue with the other individuals that have commented on that post. Others who have engaged in the post, either with a like or another comment, will see your comment through a notification and be pulled into the dialogue. This opens more doors for discussion and more opportunities to meet like-minded people on the platform. Reason number four, you can then turn your comment into your own creative post, which saves you time on some repurposing. You can repurpose your thoughtful comment into your own post that you can post either today or at a later time. Now you also have the opportunity to further the dialogue with the original content creator by tagging them in the content that you've created and maybe some of the other commenters as well. This again creates more dialogue and more opportunity for you to connect with those individuals. If you decide to repurpose your comment into your own LinkedIn post for on a later day, just save the comment in a Google Doc so it's easy to find. Now that we've seen that commenting is a powerful strategy, we need to find some content in order for us to comment on. The first and most obvious place is your home feed. Scroll the home feed for relevant conversations posted by your first degree connections and, of course, their connections. This is a great way to find some low hanging fruit. You also might want to create a target list of individuals that you would like to listen in on and you can do that through a few ways. You can find these individuals to listen in on either through the search function, maybe even through your first and second degree connections. Once you've identified someone, make a note of that person and revisit their content on a regular basis so that you can find some content to comment on. You may also consider clicking on their little notifications bell. This is a great way for you to be notified of their new content so that you can comment in a timely manner. You can also find these conversations within the LinkedIn groups. Finding those conversations opens up the doors to new connections and maybe some existing ones as well. Check out LinkedIn groups that are relevant to your industry and start listening in on the conversations today. And finally, don't forget about those hashtag discussions. By pulling up a hashtag, you'll see all the conversations relevant to that topic and be able to find content that you can follow and comment on. Once you find some content to comment on, there are a few best practices on how best to leave your comment. First and foremost, make sure that your comment is relevant to the conversation. If you decide to comment on a post, ensure that your contribution goes well beyond the, I like this post or I don't like this post. Add context to your comment, including why you agree or disagree and add any extra contributions to support your position. Secondly, make your comment about your target audience so that those who are listening in from the outside still feel that there's a place for them in the conversation. It also supports your position as a thought leader for your ideal clients and helps boost your no like and trust factor with your intended audience. Thirdly, ensure that your comment is accurate. If you're able to boost the position of your comment with some relevant stats and research, this helps secure and cement your position as a thought leader. Whatever advice you offer, ensure it's moving your target audience towards a solution or towards more dialogue around the issue. And fourthly, make sure that your comment is not self-serving. Commenting is not a place for us to sell our products and services. If the content itself is seeking answers and your product or service answers that request, then of course you can offer your products information. But if it doesn't fit the need, you may risk doing more harm than good. Use some common sense here when offering information about your product or service when leaving a thoughtful comment. I encourage you to try commenting on LinkedIn content as part of your LinkedIn strategy this year. In fact, I encourage you to try a few different things this year. And if you're looking for ways to level up your LinkedIn game and try some different content formats, I invite you to join the Five Days to Five Ideas LinkedIn Content Challenge. These five ideas are some of the best performing content formats on LinkedIn. And I give you simple, actionable steps, an easy way to get started on each one. Head on over to liankolderwood.com forward slash challenge to start your challenge today. Friends, whatever your LinkedIn strategy, I wish you all the best this upcoming year in building your leads and growing your personal brand using LinkedIn. Stay in touch. We'll see you next time. Bye for now.