With more than 380 million members, LinkedIn is the most popular social networkprofessionals and one of the top social networks overall. But are you using LinkedIn to its fullest potential? Here are five quick tips:1. Your Picture, Your Image, Your Brand: You can use LinkedIn to connect with people in a “warm” way. They are able to see your picture and understand your interests and background from reading your profile. If you have a trusting picture and trusting and transparent content (i.e. detail your intentions, mission, values and goals), then this will only help your sales efforts. Sales is all about building trust … And building trust is all about listening to the needs and interests of your target audience.
Tip: instead of asking for favors, feedback, referrals, leads, or time to do your presentation, ask what you can do for your connections on LinkedIn.
2. Another Branding Tip: A strong, consistent and reliable brand will increase the strength and number of your sales more than a confusing or unreliable brand will. Make your brand consistent on LinkedIn through your summary of qualifications, headline, the news and updates you share, the articles you publish, and the comments you make on group discussions. All of it should be “on-brand.”
Tip: Start with your headline. Does it summarize what you stand for? Does it add value to your profile? Here’s a blog on “What is the Best Headline to Use on my LinkedIn Profile?”
3. Networking Online: You can organize your sales leads using LinkedIn’s Customer Relationship Management (CRM) located under the “relationship” tab beneath your profile picture. Didn’t know LinkedIn had a CRM feature? Click here to read more. And here’s “35 LinkedIn Tips for Professional Networking, Business & Marketing.”
Tip: Know that people won’t care about your product or service, until they know how much you care about them. So, make sure you deliver a message that you care in your marketing efforts.
4. Just Do It: If you are not on LinkedIn yet, create a profile. If you are already on LinkedIn, then ignore the myths about how you can’t build your business using just one platform. It IS possible to use LinkedIn to grow your network. You can use LinkedIn as a “warm lead”, to introduce yourself, get to know someone, then “ask for the order” … i.e. ask to meet in person and get to know their goals and how you can help and partner to support each other’s business.
Tip: Don’t forget to do your research on a particular person, company, or website before contacting them. Prove you’ve done your homework. Then, review these 3 tips on how to customize your LinkedIn profile’s URL, how to publish an article, and understand how and why to upload your project samples.
5. It Does Work: LinkedIn’s audience is focused on work, not play. It is focused on words and content, not images. It is focused on quality of information rather than quantity. Less activity (i.e. videos, photos, news, content, etc) overall equates to less noise – a better chance for you to stand out.
This blog was compiled by our staff writers. If you are looking for a solid inbound marketing strategy, contact us today for a free consultation, we are here to help! Follow @cogomojo on Twitter, the COGO Interactive Company Page on LinkedIn, and subscribe to our blog, for more tips and resources. Thank you for reading! Your support is very much appreciated.
