Are you on LinkedIn?
Most people are and most people aren’t using it as a way to generate website traffic and sales. LinkedIn is a virtual dick measuring website, where people like to make current and past jobs sound and look way more important than they really are and were.
Think I’m joking? Take a minute and look up some people that you used to work with in the past. They might have had a very simple data entry job, but their LinkedIn profile will read like they were the VP of the company.
These people are there for an ego stroke. They are wasting their time on LinkedIn because they aren’t using it to make money. But here is the important thing to remember: almost everyone is on LinkedIn, which gives you a great opportunity to build interest in whatever it is that your website offers.
You can use LinkedIn the same way you use all other social media networks when you just stop thinking like the average user. Who cares about what your job descriptions says about that meaningless job you had 10 years ago.
Use LinkedIn to find traffic. People to spend money on your website!
Write a profile description that a 5 year old can read and understand in 10 seconds.
I see so many profiles that are paragraphs and paragraphs of information. Like I mentioned above, most people use LinkedIn as a dick measuring contest and don’t think like a marketer. This is a social media website to use to sell on just like every other one. You just need to be smart and think like an IM person and not someone looking to impress old friends and coworkers. Write a simple summary that explains who you are and what your business does. You want someone to read it and click over to your website. Don’t give them a novel of useless accomplishments. Short and sweet baby! Think like you are writing a blog title or ad copy.
Post updates Monday through Friday.
Just like with Facebook, LinkedIn has a newsfeed that people glance at when they are logged in. If you are already posting blog updates just share your content on LinkedIn as well. You should know that LinkedIn is a 9-5 crowd and weekday activity is best. I wouldn’t waste time even opening up LinkedIn on the weekends. Some people might have different experiences (and if you do I’d like to hear about them) but from my experience there is little to no activity going down during the weekends. I would focus on hitting it hard when the work day starts, during lunch time, and then towards the end of the day. People don’t just stay logged in like they do on Facebook. They sign in and check messages and browse then leave. Try to plan your updates for the time people are most likely to be signing in.
Add everyone you “really” know.
This is important. Add everyone you ACTUALLY know to your profile, even if you don’t ever want to sell them anything. LinkedIn really hates spam and hates when people add so many people they don’t know. Some connections will deny your request and will click the “I don’t know this person” option. If you get too many of these it’s a bad thing, so to help balance out your “slaps” you want to add people you know will actually accept you. Import your email contacts and go wild.
Share your website’s blog posts in groups.
Find groups that you feel will be full of people that would be interested in your website. You have to go easy with this because they will kick you to the curb if they feel like you joined just to spam. Spend a couple weeks talking to group members and making intelligent comments. Share some content that isn’t yours that is current and you will look like you just want to participate. Join a lot of them and put in the time to become a regular. Then in a few weeks you will have a huge audience to introduce to your content. You can see huge website traffic spikes from this. Be smart and you can milk this big time.
Add people you think would buy whatever you are selling.
LinkedIn has their own algorithm that will give you suggested connections based on who you are already connected with. The great thing about this feature is that you can just click the request to connect with little to no trouble. These people are also very likely to add you because they will see you have mutual connections. If some don’t add you, who cares. I try to add every “suggestion” that LinkedIn throws my way. The acceptance rate is very high and by doing this right away after logging on you can constantly add new people daily. You will also receive a lot of requests because you will start to show in suggestions for other users. I accept everyone.
Congratulate leads and prospects.
It’s an annoying feature, but LinkedIn likes to tell you every time your connection has a work anniversary or gets a new position. It takes 2 seconds to congratulate them and LinkedIn puts them right in front of your face. You don’t even have to go looking for it. If you do this to everyone, some of them are going to feel special and check out your profile again. This leads to website visits and those can lead to sales. There are some connections you will have that receive little to no attention. When you hit up one of them it can be a goldmine. See, being nice can sometimes benefit you in IM!
Comment and like posts from leads and prospects.
This goes back to what I was just talking about. If I have a connection that posted an update and it has hundreds of likes and comments then I’m not wasting my time, but an update with no love on it can quickly spark interest from someone that isn’t used to receiving attention. They ask “Who is this guy and why did he just comment on my update?” They then check out your profile, and if you followed my advice above your summary takes them seconds to read and if something clicks like “Oh wow he sells SEO and we need a new SEO provider” you get a nice lead from 5 seconds of work.
Give endorsements out like candy.
Endorse everyone. Remember what I have said a few times already: LinkedIn is a dick measuring social network. Most people on LinkedIn feel like endorsements rule and they want more of them. You will see endorsement suggestions on the top of your account all the time. Click them all. Don’t even think twice. Endorse every suggestion for every option they give you. Remember, you are here to get people interested in your business, so who cares. I give them out like candy, to every single person. I’ll endorse anyone for anything. It just puts me on so many radars and this translates into traffic and sales. If you really feel adventurous go manually endorse people in addition to the suggestions LinkedIn provides.
Prospect for leads 5 minutes a day.
The suggested connections are good and so easy, but sometimes you want to take it more in your hands and search out leads and prospects manually. For example, I like to search by job titles and look for SEO managers at large agencies. My goal is to get on their radar so they outsource their link building to my company. I spend 5 minutes every day looking for new connections this way. I’ve gotten business for some big fish this way and it only took a few minutes a day. I highly recommend this approach, as it will turn up your most valuable leads.
Write recommendations for warm leads.
This isn’t something you want to do for just any connection. This is something to throw out when you have already made contact with someone and they are on the fence. You want to win them over with kindness and make them feel bad for not doing business with you. Perfect example: I had a SEO firm manager that I was talking with back and forth for some time. They were on the fence for a large purchase of authority links and I went ahead and wrote a recommendation about how professional and knowledgeable he was about SEO. Guess what happened next? They placed a nice big order and became a regular client. Would they have bought if I didn’t do that? Possibly, but this sure didn’t hurt!
Send an intro email that doesn’t mention your business or website at all.
When someone connects with you on LinkedIn DO NOT be the person that sends a message pitching whatever you sell. I can’t stand idiots that do this. Send a message saying that it’s nice to connect and mention something about their location. “I see you are in Ireland. That’s where I am from originally. Is (insert local pub) still on (insert street name)?” You would be surprised how good this works. You will almost always receive a reply and if you push the right buttons you now have a LinkedIn best friend that not only could potentially turn into a lead, but they will also mention you to other people. So many people stand out as desperate spammers on LinkedIn so when you come across as genuine people take notice.
Juice up your contact information to include everything under the sun.
I include every single website I have in my profile and all of my social media accounts along with my email address. LinkedIn is a huge community and you don’t know what contact everyone prefers so it’s best to give someone as many options as possible. Some might want to call you. Some might prefer email and then some might like social media. Who cares what they like, just allow them to get in touch with you.
Allow anyone to find and connect with you.
Don’t hide your profile or contact options. Let anyone see the contact details. You are here to prospect and make money, not hand select who will get the opportunity to get in touch with you. If you are worried about spam, set up an email just for your LinkedIn and you can even get a separate phone number for a few dollars a month.
Make your profile photo visible and your full profile viewable by anyone. This helps when LinkedIn’s algo suggests that people follow you. If they just see a name and no picture or profile do you think they are going to add you? Not a chance. This brings up another point: your profile picture. Take a professional headshot. This isn’t the place for a selfie or some unprofessional photo. Throw on some nice clothes and get it taken properly.
Go premium and see who is searching for you and interacting with your profile.
LinkedIn premium costs a few bucks a month but it allows you to see who viewed your profile and it gives access to some other analytic data. You can also send messages to anyone even if you are not connected. This can really help you to step up your prospecting game. I would suggest you become a pro at everything else discussed so far before you spend the money. Once you know LinkedIn is making you money then it makes sense to upgrade and take your LinkedIn prospecting to the next level. They do offer a free 30 day trial so there is no harm in trying out the features. You might find they are what you need.
Outsource your LinkedIn prospecting.
Now that you know how to step your LinkedIn game up, find a VA to do it all. These are all so easy to do, that you don’t want to waste your time doing all of this. Teach a VA how to do this and you can run a full time prospecting campaign on LinkedIn without ever logging in yourself. Even if you don’t want to dedicate a lot of time to LinkedIn, you can still have your VA spend 30 min a day on it. It’s a source that most IM professionals don’t use as much as they should.
There you have it. LinkedIn really isn’t talked about much and I would think there are plenty of people that have a profile set up but just aren’t using it. It’s something I’m going to put a lot more effort in (well my VA will lol) as I grow my company.
If you are using LinkedIn I’d like to hear about your experiences, so please share them below. Or, if you have any questions drop them here as well and I will do my best to answer them.
Until next time!
PS – I’m in a social media mood at the moment, so I have some more posts that I’m currently working on and will have up soon that really focus on how to build and scale social media accounts. Be on the lookout for them soon!
