Did you know LinkedIn accounts for 64% of all website traffic from social media channels? If that’s not reason enough to spend more time cultivating relationships there, consider this: 100 million professionals in the United States use LinkedIn (40% on a daily basis!) And here are two real whoppers for you: A Sales Guy Consulting found that 72.6% of salespeople using social media outperformed their colleagues who were not using social media. What’s more, 54% of salespeople can track at least one closed deal back to social media engagement.* I could go on and on, but I think you get the idea. LinkedIn is an extremely powerful tool that you need to be taking advantage of as a small business owner–especially if you are in B2B!
The vast majority of LinkedIn profiles I check out have a few things in common.
— They look like online resumes.
— They have no personality.
— They look like they were published once upon a time and never looked at again.
The vast majority of LinkedIn members I speak with have one thing in common.
—They’re not getting any results.
Sad? Yes. This is downright depressing as far as I’m concerned. As they say, “if you keep doing the same thing, you’ll keep getting the same results.” So let’s do something about this.
Here are five LinkedIn marketing tips you need to know…and do something about!
- Start accepting every invitation to connect–yes, even those from folks you don’t know and/or don’t like. Every new connection expands your network. Huge networks open doors.
- Join groups. Lots of them. Once you join LinkedIn groups, you can conduct highly targeted searches within those groups and find super hot prospects!
- Send personalized invitations to connect. This is the first step to creating and developing relationships that impact your bottom line. When you ask someone to accept your invitation, be sure to tell them how you found them and what value you can offer them. Maybe it’s some helpful advice, or an introduction to someone you think they should know. It could be lots of different things. But you need to offer something. Otherwise you risk just looking like a taker and it’s no fun to connect with someone that wants to suck you dry.
- Start offering solutions. Those who offer solutions to other users’ problems are the same people that secure sales as a result of their LinkedIn activity. It will not work if you post self-promotional content. It WILL work if you look for questions related to your expertise and answer them. As a result of doing so you’ll be seen as an authority in your field, and one that is genuinely interested in helping others succeed. Those are the same people that get the sale.
- Show up for the win. In the offline world you’ve got to show up to networking events if you want to get any attention from the members. It’s the same thing on LinkedIn. You’ve got to show up–often. In an ideal world, you’ll post a status update, connect with 5+ new prospects and cultivate 1-1 relationships via private messages every single day. On a weekly basis you’ll share and comment on content within your groups.
Do you need help making LinkedIn work for you? Contact us for more info and learn how to:
– transform a boring, ho-hum profile into a story that deeply resonates with your ideal connections and makes them want to do business with you.
– become equipped with a captivating elevator speech that illustrates how you’re different and why your ideal clients should hire you instead of the other guy.
– learn how to quickly grow a massive online network filled with the connections you want most.
Be sure you take a minute to connect with our founder Stephanie Nivinskus on LinkedIn, too.
Remember: The fortune is in the follow-up! Download our FREE Networking Follow-Up Plan NOW!
*sources: https://www1.investis.com/~/media/Files/I/Investis-V2/pdf/publications/Investis-Audience-Insight-IQ-Q3-2013.pdf, https://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/social-activity_b45692, https://venturebeat.com/2014/04/18/linkedin-reaches-300m-members-chasing-the-next-3b/, https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/social-media-metrics-ceos-cares-about
