Are you a dietitian that thinks LinkedIn is just a place to find jobs? It’s time for a mindset shift.
LinkedIn can help dietitians attract high quality clients, grow their private practices, amplify their brand story and so much more.
In this article, I offer several examples of how showing up on LinkedIn can help your career as a dietitian–even if you have no intention of job hunting any time soon!
Grow your dietetics network.
There is immense value to building and maintaining your network regardless of where you are in your career.
As dietitians, we spend a lot of time earning our credentials but the credentials are just the beginning.
You need to plug your credentials into a supportive network for your career to flourish.
Your network is a source of community, a repository of ideas, a fountain of inspiration and, frankly, the key to a fulfilling career.
So, hop on Linkedin and send some connection requests. You can start by connecting with me, Christianna Gozzi.
Find clients for your nutrition business.
Consumers are on LinkedIn paying attention to and engaging with nutrition content. They might be looking for a provider for themselves.
Or, they could be looking to bring a credentialled nutrition professional into their workplace for a series of corporate wellness presentations.
These consumers, or potential clients, are likely to have an income or budget for your services and/or insurance benefits to use to cover your services.
Additionally, LinkedIn is a great place to connect with allied professionals who can refer their patients to you for nutrition counseling.
Highlight accomplishments and share your dietitian journey.
We MUST toot our own horns from time to time. LinkedIn is the place to share milestones in your career, highlight a lovely customer testimonial or share an award you were nominated for.
This is not self-indulgent. It is critically important that dietitians talk about the impact we are making so that allied providers, prospective clients and future dietitians know how important we are.
LinkedIn is also a wonderful place to highlight your teammates, employees and other colleagues. I always enjoy seeing clinical nutrition managers post about the accomplishments of their team and department.
I love sharing my career change story on LinkedIn. In fact, my best performing posts are those in which I share something personal about my career journey or growth as a business owner.
Connect with quality brands in the nutrition space.
Brands know that LinkedIn is the place to find trusted voices in the food and nutrition industry.
If you are working Instagram making free content all day to attract your dream brand, consider a more targeted approach on LinkedIn.
Your dream brand most likely has a business presence on LinkedIn. Engage with their content and connect with the people who work there so they see your content directly.
Share your thought leadership in your niche.
If you haven’t been on LinkedIn in a while, or have only been using LinkedIn to find jobs, you might be surprised at the volume of conversations happening about nutrition science, nutrition policy and the profession of dietetics.
This is your opportunity to join and lead those conversations. Show up as an advocate for your profession and inspire other dietitians to do the same.
Additionally, this is your opportunity to become known as a thought leader in your specific niche of nutrition.
Boost your SEO and Google E-E-A-T as a nutrition blogger.
Google search indexes LinkedIn. Use this to your advantage to show up in search results on topics you want to be known for.
Enhance your Google E-E-A-T by showing your expertise and experience outside of your website. Leverage LinkedIn to remind google that you are a true expert with helpful content to share within your niche.
Create content on SEO for keywords that compliment keywords on your website to continue building content clusters and linkages across the online space.
Showcase the job you love doing as a dietitian.
You don’t have to be unhappy in your job to use LinkedIn to grow.
Use LinkedIn to talk about your job in dietetics. Share behind the scenes, share job postings and feature your team.
The more dietitians talk about their jobs, the closer we inch toward transparency.
You can also use LinkedIn to make lateral moves to grow your career within your current company. LinkedIn might provide you with a way to connect with decision makers inside your organization in ways that you can’t at work because you work in a large or siloed organization.
Research new areas of opportunity in dietetics.
Maybe you want to move into a new area of dietetics. Or maybe you want to move outside of dietetics while still using your credentials and skills.
Use LinkedIn to learn about the countless opportunities for dietitians to establish in industries you never even thought of.
And leverage LinkedIn to establish yourself as a thought leader in a new area so opportunities come to you!
Want more support?
My online course, Networking for Nutrition Professionals is designed to help dietitians and nutrition professionals grow their careers and businesses through the power of LinkedIn. Join the waitlist and receive a free copy of Content Creation for Career Growth on LinkedIn.
