As a clinician, you take your work seriously. You’re committed to your patients, peers, and our mission to eradicate ageism. What you may not realize is how powerful it can be to share your commitment for your profession online, especially via LinkedIn.

Sure, people use social media for entertainment, but they also use it to stay informed, feel connected, build relationships, and create career opportunities for themselves. It’s certainly not mandatory to engage more deeply with LinkedIn as a clinician. But if you do, you can become an advocate for your network and your profession in general.

Curating the “right” content for your LinkedIn profile and connecting with the “right” people can feel intimidating, but it’s actually quite simple. Just consistently dedicate 10 minutes every day to using LinkedIn in one of these 3 ways.

1. Showcase Your Clinical Expertise

Being engaged, not just “active” (see below), on social media can help position you as an expert and leader in your industry. It can also build your credibility as a clinician. If others see you as a trusted source, they will want to turn to you for clinical advice or inspiration.

LinkedIn is a particularly good platform to distinguish yourself as a professional. It's projected to reach 66.8 million users in 2022, so it’s a key place to build a complete profile. Before you start raising your visibility by posting and commenting, take care to fill out these profile basics:

Include a recent professional photo. You’ll definitely get more attention if you have a profile with a picture (and consider adding a FOX image as a background!)
Write a compelling headline. That means doing more than providing a job description. Use the space to promote your area of expertise.
Create a personalized summary. Use this section to show your personality, values, beliefs, and goals.
Fill out your experiences. Make this section more than an abbreviated resume. You can even include media samples.
Get endorsements and recommendations. As a clinician you’ve touched many people’s lives. Ask some of your connections to vouch for your skills.

Once your LinkedIn profile is complete, go beyond just being active. LinkedIn “activity” can actually be pretty passive (for example simply liking or sharing a post). Instead engage by:

Sharing FOX content and adding comments or questions.
Sharing industry articles and sharing their messages in your own words.
Posting FOX videos or photographs and adding context.
Posting tips and techniques for your speciality and explaining the benefits they brought you and your patients.

Simply sharing content is valuable, but if you take a few minutes to comment and give feedback on what you share, you’ll build authority.

Don’t forget: when you engage in a meaningful way on LinkedIn, FOX leadership sees the time and effort you’re putting in, too. That can go a really long way if you want to grow as a clinician or take on a non-clinical role at FOX.

2. Build and Grow Your Professional Network

Being active on LinkedIn and engaging in conversations is a great way to build and grow your network with FOX colleagues, industry leaders, potential patients, caregivers, and influencers. You never know who you’re going to talk to and where a simple, “Hey, thanks for connecting!” could lead.

Spend 10 minutes each day engaging with other people’s posts by congratulating them on a new job, work anniversary, accomplishment, or even their birthday. People you’re connected to will see your activity and think of you for jobs, business opportunities, referrals, and your great expertise. The more you engage, the more you appear in the feeds of your LinkedIn connections and stay top of mind to your network.

You can also grow your network by:

Following industry influencers and leaders. If you admire someone in your field, they’re probably on LinkedIn.
Personalizing connection requests. When you send a request to connect, use the opportunity to include a thoughtful note.
Joining LinkedIn Groups. There are plenty of specialty groups you can join. Your clinical tips and techniques can help others — and theirs may help you. Don’t hesitate to ask for advice!

3. Share Your Passion With Others

As a clinician, you’re always educating patients, caregivers, families, and the larger community. Strengthening your LinkedIn presence is just another way to educate others on who you are, what you do, and how you do it. And it can be fun! So share your passion and your purpose — and build authenticity and trust — by:

Telling stories about your practice. Sharing specific stories builds empathy, compassion, and understanding.
Collaborating with others. A wonderful side effect of telling your stories is that other clinicians may offer creative solutions for challenges they share and understand. And that adds up to a sense of friendship and community.
Seizing opportunities that come as a result of your LinkedIn engagement. Speaking, writing, or any other engagements — whether on FOX’s behalf or on the behalf of other organizations — inspire others. We love to see our clinicians take opportunities to showcase the great work they do.

What FOX Clinicians Say About Their LinkedIn Engagement

Need more convincing about starting or stepping up your LinkedIn engagement? We get lots of positive feedback from FOX clinicians. Here’s some of what they say:

“Social media has been a great way to feel connected to a large practice with a common mission. I can feel the heart and culture that is FOX in pictures and stories.”

“I grab great quick clinical nuggets on LinkedIn that I am able to apply in my sessions that week. I am able to direct my team to them easily for inspiration on the fly.”

“Success stories on LinkedIn from across the practice inspire me and help keep me connected to my ‘Why.’”

“Connecting with FOX colleagues and leadership on LinkedIn reminds me I'm in the right place and attracts others who want to experience this culture. Work and therapy should be fun!”

(FOX Regional Director Laura Black, PT)

“LinkedIn allows me to make and keep connections with colleagues locally and nationwide. It means a lot to know so many names and personal stories of clinicians across the FOX footprint. It also allows me to advocate for our practice and our professions simply, yet effectively.”

(Maureen Colket, MA, CCC-SLP)

Find FOX on LinkedIn — and add your voice to our online community of clinical advocates.