LinkedIn is quite somewhat like Facebook but with a far different perspective. Facebook aimed to bring near and dear ones together using their platform whereas LinkedIn aims to connect professionals with one another. LinkedIn marketing is often used for B2B lead generation, networking by business-minded people and professionals which is great for getting leads, clients, sales. You won’t see crazy dog videos because people here are to do business and not to share their Sunday brunch.
So, what LinkedIn marketing strategy should you follow to get business leads?
Step 1 – Set Up Your LinkedIn Profile that attracts clients
They all say, First Impression is the Last Impression – so make it count. This implies on LinkedIn as well. When you send a connect request to someone on LinkedIn, the first thing they do is to check your profile. If your profile is blank or says something like desi munda in videsh – hold on.. It needs some serious fix and the other person might think thrice to connect with you. You don’t want that right?
So, how to set up your first impression with LinkedIn?
How to choose LinkedIn Profile Picture?
Agree or not, we judge a book by it’s cover. The same goes for LinkedIn as well. The first thing someone sees on your LinkedIn profile is your profile picture. Make sure its worth watching. For that to happen, choose a profile picture that clearly shows your face. It should be neat, clean and professional.
Secondly, avoid wearing sunglasses as it hides the most important part of your face – Your eyes.
Third and most important. Smile – it won’t cost you a penny (even if you don’t like to smile, fake a smile for LinkedIn profile picture)
People love to connect and do business with those who are friendly, lively and inviting. As soon as the other person sees your smiling face, they wouldn’t give a second thought connecting with you.
How to Write LinkedIn Profile Title?
Along with your profile picture, your LinkedIn title follows you everywhere. You must get this one line up to the mark that clearly tells people who you are, what you do and what audience you serve. Yes, you can put this all in one line.
Instead of listing your job title, tell you can help your audience achieve their goals.
For example – If you are a digital marketer, you can write your specializations like: Digital Marketer | SEO & SMM Expert | For Small & Medium Business
You can even go more specific by telling what business industry you serve. Is it restaurants, medical, automobiles etc.
Bonus Tip – The LinkedIn headline has a limit of 125 characters
What to Write in Linkedin Summary Section?
The LinkedIn summary section is where you can elaborate on what you wrote as one line in your title.
Attention – Your LinkedIn profile should not be about YOU but should be focused on what you can do to help your ideal audience & customers.
Basically you can use your summary section to write a perfect pitch.
It clearly tells your target audience what you do i.e. how you can help your target audience meet their goal, who you work with i.e. for what industries you work – you can mention multiple industries in a bulleted list format, What makes you different, What others say about you i.e. any testimonials of your previous clients etc, Your contact information i.e. how can people connect with you – your email, website, contact no.
LinkedIn Marketing Bonus Tip – Including 1 minute or 90 seconds introductory video will help you gain more credibility, attention hence providing a face to face experience to your audience. If you fear the camera, explainer videos & animated videos can help.
If you want to target multiple audiences, the experience section is at the rescue. Add a new section in there that appeals to a specific audience you want to address.
What are LinkedIn Recommendations?
Just like before buying any product on Amazon or Flipkart, we all view the product rating and reviews, similarly, before buying your service – show your clients some real testimonials or as LinkedIn says recommendations.
Since each testimonial on LinkedIn has a name, picture and profile, it is a major social proof from real human beings.
Linkedin makes it simple to ask for recommendations but make sure to personalize it else LinkedIn will send its general copy asking for a recommendation on your behalf.
And here you have the perfect client-attracting LinkedIn profile ready.
Step 2 – Connect with Ideal Prospects on LinkedIn
When you have successfully worked on creating a great LinkedIn profile, it’s time to connect with people.
Linkedin has a powerful search tool that let’s you type in a keyword (job title for example) and will instantly show you a list of people, groups, pages related to it.
The trick is easy – who your ideal audience is and connect with them.
The search engine lets you filter your results by location, industry type, company name and various other factors.
When you have found your ideal prospects, send them a connection request with a personalized message.
Before you sell your service, it’s important to build a relationship first. You don’t buy anything at first sight – first, you understand what it is, how it will solve your problem and then only you finalize it, the same goes for LinkedIn as well.
It goes like this – You first talk to your ideal prospect, get to know them, understand what they need, show them how you can help them by sharing a free demo and then finally sell your service.
There lies great importance of 1-on-1 personalized marketing on LinkedIn. People have to trust you before they can buy from you. So, don’t just connect and start selling. Instead, first build a relation, show your worth and then sell.
Bonus Tip for LinkedIn Marketing – To know about your ideal prospect, visit their LinkedIn profile, scan it from top to bottom, see if you find something relatable to start a conversation. If they have mentioned their website, spend a few seconds getting to know their company which will further help you know them and connects with them in a better way. Check out their recent activities section (it would be available if they accept your connect request) Don’t be creepy. Just be realistic.
When you have successfully built a relation and gained their trust, walk them through your sales funnel in a polite way.
You can share them your free resources, guides that can be beneficial to them thus increasing your credibility to the next level and then pitch them about your service.
Step 3 – Follow Up with LinkedIn Connections
It’s important to follow up with your potential clients who have shown interest in your services. You can start in an informal way asking them about how’s the work going, sharing your recent experiences and then asking them if they are willing to work with you.
Step 4 – Join LinkedIn Groups
There are numerous LinkedIn groups that you can join and find your ideal prospects. Join relevant groups, engage with the audience, connect and follow the after steps.
LinkedIn Groups is a great way to engage with thousands of people under one roof. If someone asks a question, you can answer it for them, You can share your own experience, ideas, guides.
If you can’t find a relevant LinkedIn group, you can create one yourself but make sure to keep posting there frequently so it can grow.
LinkedIn is an amazing platform to get some serious deals signed.
Remember – Be Creative. Establish a Healthy Relationship. Get Credibility. Bring Real Value. REPEAT!
Summing up everything in the form of an infographic. Download it now.
Are you using LinkedIn Marketing to grow your business? How are you planning to improve on it? Share your thoughts in comments. 🙂