Many professionals know LinkedIn is important, but far fewer feel comfortable using it for themselves. In our latest Coterie Connect Lunch & Learn, LinkedIn strategist Phil Szomszor shared practical advice for building a profile, creating content and growing professional visibility without spending hours online or pretending to be someone you’re not.
The biggest takeaway? LinkedIn works best when you stop trying to game the algorithm and start focusing on helping people.
Why LinkedIn still matters
Despite concerns about AI-generated content and declining reach, LinkedIn remains one of the most powerful professional networks available. The platform is increasingly focused on relevance and genuine engagement, rewarding content that connects with the right audience rather than content designed to chase vanity metrics.
For partner and ecosystem marketers, that’s good news.
As Phil explained, the role is often about influencing, collaborating and building relationships across organisations. LinkedIn provides a natural platform to showcase expertise, strengthen professional relationships and stay visible to the people who matter most.
Four steps to LinkedIn success
Phil shared a simple four-step framework:
- Establish your presence
- Talk about what matters to your audience
- Engage with others
- Grow your network
The first step is surprisingly simple. Many people overlook basic profile optimisation, yet it’s often the first thing a new contact, partner or potential employer will check. A professional photo, strong headline, customised URL and an engaging “About” section can make a huge difference.
Struggling with what to post?
The audience poll revealed the biggest challenge wasn’t technology or profile setup. It was knowing what to publish.
Phil’s advice was to focus on a small number of topics that sit at the intersection of:
- What matters to your audience
- What you genuinely care about
- What you have experience talking about
From there, Phil shares three leaping off points, which can be combined with the themes to create up to 12 content ideas very quickly. One we can all do more often is sharing insight from our partner marketing events
The result is content that’s useful, authentic and difficult for AI to replicate.
The most underused LinkedIn tactic
While many people obsess over posting, Phil highlighted a different activity that often delivers more value.
Commenting.
Thoughtful comments increase visibility, help build relationships and signal to LinkedIn which conversations matter to you. They also create opportunities to engage with partners, peers and potential customers without the pressure of publishing your own content.
Put simply: if you’re not ready to post regularly, start by commenting regularly.
Stop chasing vanity metrics
One of the most refreshing messages from the session was that success on LinkedIn isn’t about going viral.
Follower counts, impressions and likes can be useful indicators, but they shouldn’t be the goal. What’s more important is whether you’re building relationships, supporting your professional goals and connecting with the people who matter to your career and business.
A community approach wins
The conversation closed with a reminder that LinkedIn works best when people support each other.
Liking, commenting on and amplifying the work of peers helps everyone increase visibility. For ecosystem and partner marketers especially, success is built on relationships, and LinkedIn is simply an extension of those relationships online.
Whether you’re an experienced LinkedIn user or someone who hasn’t posted in months, the message was clear: start small, be helpful, and don’t overthink it.
The opportunities come from showing up consistently, not perfectly.
If you want to get more of Phil’s tips and advice, you can follow or connect with him on LinkedIn.
This session was part of Coterie Connect, the community for partner and ecosystem marketers looking to learn from peers, share experiences and build valuable industry connections.
Join Coterie Connect today to receive invitations to future Lunch & Learn sessions, roundtables and exclusive community events.