Making LinkedIn Work for Your Biz This Year
Monday March 1, 2021
Should your business be on LinkedIn? Absolutely, 100% yes!!
There is this common misconception that LinkedIn is only for professionals looking for new opportunities. Is it a great place for a business professional to go job hunting? Of course, it is. No brainer. But that is not its ONLY purpose in life and plenty of businesses already know it. This is me, telling you, that if you aren’t already using LinkedIn, it’s time to dust off that profile and take a spin around the platform.
There is SO MUCH opportunity to be had for the savvy business owner on LinkedIn and here we are going to talk about the things you need to do next to clean off the rust and start seeing results on this social media platform.
Return to Your Profile
Of all the social media platforms, LinkedIn gives its users the most opportunities when it comes to completing their profile. There is so much room to really post about who you are, what you do, why you do it, and who you do it for on your LinkedIn profile page.
Want to know how to spot an amateur on LinkedIn? Users with no profile pic and very little copy on their profile are sending the message LOUD and CLEAR that they are not active on the platform. Users with no profile photo are actually called ‘eggheads’ because of the shape of the default image the platform uses.
Don’t be an egghead!
(Also, don’t post an unprofessional selfie here. You are going to want a nice headshot for this.)
Once you’ve got the image sorted out, focus on your copy. If you want to copy and paste all that great copy off from your website - that’s a good place to start. Don’t skimp out here! Use all the space available to really get your message out there. People will check out your profile. Make it look good!
If you need support figuring out what to post on your LinkedIn profile, here are some good articles:
8 LinkedIn Profile Tips for Small Business Owners
The 11 Best Small Business LinkedIn Pages We’ve Seen
Connect & Connect Often
The more you can use your social media channels to actually connect with people, the more your following will grow. This is true for LinkedIn as well. Social media is meant to be social. No one signed up for any social media channel because they wanted to see ads or be sold to while scrolling. Think of social media as digital networking. If you come off too strong, or try to sell too early, you aren’t going to get the results you want from the time you spend marketing there.
Before you start connecting, you need to really think about your approach. Are you looking to make new connections and nurture current relationships to inspire people to trust you and seek out your content? OR are you simply invested in conversion rates and signing up new clients? I can tell you right now one of these approaches is effective and the other is not. I think you know the right answer here.
Here are some ideas for connecting with people on LinkedIn:
- Make sure you are connected with people you know in real life.
- Seek out 20-25 new connections a week based on what you know about your ideal client. Include a note mentioning that you are seeking new connections with people in your [area, industry, field, network...etc.] and you’d be honored to connect with them on LinkedIn.
- Don’t send a sales message the moment someone accepts your connection request. You wouldn’t do that in person, so don’t do that online.
- Join, and participate in, relevant LinkedIn groups. Start relationships with the people in those groups so they will want to connect with you.
- Engage with the content of the people you are already connected with on the platform. Likes are okay but it’s better to participate in (or start) conversations on your social media platforms for the most effective engagement.
Post Regular Content
Many biz owners we chat with don’t realize that LinkedIn is much more like Facebook these days than a job posting platform. They have a newsfeed where people and businesses share content just like on Facebook. You can engage with the posts in the same way you would on other social media platforms. This means that your business can, and should, be creating content for LinkedIn.
Here are types of content that work well:
- Videos work just as well on LinkedIn as they do on every other social app.
- Infographics and tip graphics do well here.
- Anything that encourages conversation.
- Share your story. Brand storytelling is effective everywhere.
- Share a struggle and the solution. Case studies are a good approach or share a personal struggle and how it was resolved.
As always, think about how you use social media and what appeals the most to you and encourages you to respond or interact. That’s always a great starting point for creating content.
Optimize for Search
Like all the social media platforms, LinkedIn is its own search engine. This means that optimizing your profile will make it easier for people to find you when searching. This is the part where you need to understand keywords and hashtags, how they work, and which ones you should include in your profile copy.
The most important area for this is going to be your headline. After your name, your headline will be the first thing that people see when hunting for new connections or a solution to their problem. This means that your headline should be more than just your title - it should include the main keywords you want people to use to find you while getting their attention so they want to learn more about you.
Some examples:
Unemployed or Seeking Opportunity
Probably the most ineffective titles out there. It does let people know that you are seeking employment but it does NOTHING to help you get found on the platform. These titles were voted in as, ‘Most Likely to Be Ignored.’
CEO & Founder
This title will mean you’ll show up in searches for CEO’s but it says nothing about what you do for a living. Field? Industry? Impact? Ugh. People are fleeing due to lack of info here.
3D Animator / Environment Artist / Digital Artist
This is a much better use of the headline area. It gives a clear picture of what this person does. However, it does nothing to motivate people to click thru and find out more.
Marketing Manager for Coaches | Driving Growth from 10k-50k in 8 months
Winner, Winner! This headline gives a clear visual of what they do, who they do it for, and the results you can expect when working with them.
Once you have the headline sorted out, take this same idea - writing copy that converts based on what people are looking for - and update all the other areas of your profile. Remember to put all those yummy keyword phrases in there as well and people will be finding you and asking to connect in no time!
If you are fed up with another social media platform, it’s time to give LinkedIn a try. You may be pleasantly surprised at how many people are already on there - connecting and using LinkedIn as their social media channel of choice!
As with any social media, you’ll need to do more than schedule content and walk away. Connection is the most important part. Engaging conversation is the goal. An increased following and interest in your work is the result.
Overwhelmed with the time it takes to create content, keep to a consistent posting schedule, AND focus on connection with your audience on social media? You need an Assist! Take the content creation and scheduling off your plate by hiring our team to keep you consistent and relevant so you can spend your precious time on social media engaging and connecting with others in order to grow your audience.
abbeyharrison
Abbey Harrison worked in the corporate world developing and implementing processes for over 12 years before she finally said, “enough is enough” and decided to start her own biz in the marketing world. Her experience with business and office management lead her to develop strong skills in understanding the importance of organization, communication, processes and delegation. She started Assist for the Win to bring her “big-business” skill set to entrepreneurs and small businesses and give them the marketing assistance needed to have the same essential structures that corporations use every day. Her mission is to empower small business owners to realize they don’t have to run their biz all on their own and take the implementation of marketing off their plates, so they have one less hat to wear. She specializes in marketing behind the screen, on the screen and beyond the screen so that business owners can spend time focusing on what they do best!
Abbey is a Colorado native, loves rooftop patios, a great glass of wine, her husband, Chris and her 3 amazing boys, Ethan, Aidan and Deacon.