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LinkedIn for Business

Fergal Coleman

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INTRODUCTION

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Fergal Coleman

Director of Symphony3

Email: fcoleman@symphony3.com

LinkedIn: au.linkedin.com/in/fergalcoleman/

Twitter: @Symphony3Think

Introduction

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Learning Outcomes

At the end of this session you will be able to:

1. Understand how LinkedIn can help you in your business2. Update your profile correctly, meaning you:

1. Project a professional image to the world and help build your brand and the company brand

2. Can be easily found by potential and existing clients3. Give you the skills to create an all-star profile!

3. Manage your settings in order to control the information you receive and protect your privacy.

4. Know how to search and find contacts5. Be able to manage6. Be able to share updates and content7. Join Groups, follow companies and influencers

1. Photo2. Job

descriptions3. List 5 skills4. Summary5. Industry and

location6. Education7. 50

connections

Achieving these outcomes will lead ultimately to better relationships with clients, increasing awareness and loyalty.

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What’s in it for you and your business?

• LinkedIn is your online professional persona

• LinkedIn is your “live” online business network

• It will help you learn more about your industry and current issues in the

business world

• It will help your company build better client networks

• It will help you build better referral networks

• It will help you build better networks within your

company/industry/region

• It will help you deliver better business value to clients

• It will allow you to build more personalised relationships with clients

and to develop long-term relationships

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Remember….

• When working with LinkedIn always

put yourself in the shoes of the

person you want to interact with,

your customer or prospect..

• What will they be thinking? When

and where are they accessing

from?

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Netiquette

How you should behave online…..

Follow your company social media policy – if it exists….

Be a good online citizen!

• Rule 1: Remember the Human

• Rule 2: Adhere to the same standards of behaviour online that you follow in real life

• Rule 3: Know where you are in cyberspace

• Rule 4: Respect other people's time and bandwidth

• Rule 5: Make yourself look good online

• Rule 6: Share expert knowledge

• Rule 7: Help keep flame wars under control

• Rule 8: Respect other people's privacy

• Rule 9: Don't abuse your power

• Rule 10: Be forgiving of other people's mistakes

The Core Rules of Netiquette are excerpted from the book Netiquette by Virginia Shea. Click on each rule for elaboration. http://www.albion.com/netiquette/corerules.html

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First 4 steps to ‘social selling’ (courtesy of LinkedIn)

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Developing a Reputation: Building a strong online reputation that showcases your experience and increases your credibility

Gathering Intelligence: Researching social information to prepare for sales conversations – get to know your customers

Building your Network: Developing relationships with people who can share information and provide referrals

Offering Insights: Providing meaningful insights that earn opportunities to engage with and influence contacts – adding value when you talk

1. Build Your PROFILE

3. Gather INSIGHTS

2. Develop Your NETWORK

4. Contribute INSIGHTS

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The customer journey

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Your Customer’s Journey

Awareness

Evaluation

PurchaseSupport

Loyal Advocac

y

What the customer is thinking….

1. I (now) know who you are2. I understand what you do3. I need a service you offer4. I’ll compare you to the

competition5. I’m going to buy from you6. I need ongoing support7. You are great! – I’ll buy from

you again and I’m going to tell all my friends about you!

Increasingly these activities happen on social media (including LinkedIn)…

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Where LinkedIn can fit into the customer journey

Awareness

Evaluation

PurchaseSupport

Loyal Advocacy

Unaware

• Content –readable• Introductions from others• LinkedIn Search• Maintaining your network• Groups

• Content –readable• Endorsements• Recommendations• Connections in common• Comments on content• Company pages• Who’s viewed your

profile

• Meeting preparation – 3 x 3 matrix

• Links to website• Company pages/showcase

pages

• Content – shareable• Introductions• Recommendations• Likes, comments,

shares, endorsements

• Content – solves a problem

• Answering questions/ direct messages

• LinkedIn Search• Introductions• LinkedIn Groups• Managing your network

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Free v. Premium

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Hands-on with LinkedIn

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1. Overview of LinkedIn (from Homepage)2. Setting up your profile3. Managing your settings4. Creating and maintaining connections5. Searching on LinkedIn6. Pulse, Groups and Companies

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Summary: Profile

• Be yourself – your profile is YOUR online persona

• Be descriptive• Have a good photo• Speak in language and

keywords your audience will recognise and understand

• Use bullet points and short sentences

• Use good images and multimedia

• Be mindful of the your company brand

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Why Keywords Matter

• Customers use Google or LinkedIn directly to find experts and professionals

• Example LinkedIn Search for “Financial Planner in Melbourne”

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Summary: Privacy and Settings

• Know where the “Privacy and Settings” area is!• Focus on the Profile and Communications tabs• On the Profile tab know how to:

– Turn on off activity feeds– Select what others see when you’ve viewed their profile– Select who can see your connections

• On the communications tab know how to:– Set the frequency of emails– Turn on and off push notifications

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Building your Network - The Network Effect

• The Network Effect• Online Word of Mouth• Influencers are important• Fish where the fish are!

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Summary: Your Network and Search

• Decide on some principles to guide who you add to your network– e.g. we have met in person, we have more than two connections in

common• Know how to invite someone to connect• Personalise the invitation where possible• Understand how to filter and organise your network using tags• If you don’t have the new contacts interface you can get it at

http://contacts.linkedin.com • We will discuss this are further in the next session

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Building and Managing your Network

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2

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1. Adding connectionsa) See who you already

know on LinkedInb) People you may know

2. Managing contacts3. Building personal

relationships4. 1st, 2nd, 3rd connections

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Using LinkedIn Search to Find Contacts

• How to use advanced people search– How to search for

people– How to save

searches

• Search groups• Search companies• Other searches

Adding value when you talk

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• What are you going to say?

• Where are you going to say it?

• When are you going to say it?

• Try to elicit a response!

• Remember don’t just talk; listen and

support

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What content can you share?

• Discuss

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What content can you share? Content Ideas

• How to articles – “How to choose a good widget builder”• Top 5 tips – top five tips when….. • Make a list of the top 20 questions most often asked by your customers

– find or develop content that answers those questions• Industry blogs and websites • Use videos and infographics• Ask questions• Understand when your connections are on LinkedIn – and post then

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Delivering value via LinkedIn

To properly engage in social media you need to do more than talk.

Social Media

How can you use the communication types?

Internal • Connect to your colleagues• Share information you find on LinkedIn with your team• Work together on LinkedIn (see Talk)

Listen • Listen to the conversations in groups• Watch what your clients are doing online• Mine LinkedIn profiles for clues

Talk • Share valuable information with your contacts• Work together to build the company brand in groups

(with your colleagues)

Support • Answer queries and questions for clients quickly, efficiently and fully

Engage and Energise

• Get your clients to share your information and to talk about your brand

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Using LinkedIn to better understand your customers

• LinkedIn should be used as a call/meeting preparation tool

• Use it in conjunction with your internal systems, Google, and other social media.

• Explicit Information

LinkedIn can tell you:

– Where they are from and what their

background is

– Where they studied?

– People you have in common

• Professional interests

• Personal interests

• Implicit Information

– Recommendations they give and receive can

tell you what they value, what people value in

them.

– Updates they post can tell you what their

current interests are

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Interests

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3

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1. Companies

2. Groups

3. Pulse

4. Education

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Groups

Join the SEBN group!

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News, Influencers, Channels and Publishers

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How to grow loyal advocates?

• Growing loyal advocates is an organic process (in my opinion!)

• If you deliver great information and great services – customers will share your content with their network

• Providing content that is interesting and informative will generate comments and likes

• These will be shared with other users’ networks

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Where LinkedIn can fit in

Awareness

Evaluation

PurchaseSupport

Loyal Advocacy

Unaware

• Content –readable• Introductions from others• LinkedIn Search• Maintaining your network• Groups

• Content –readable• Endorsements• Recommendations• Connections in common• Comments on content• Company pages• Who’s viewed your

profile

• Meeting preparation – 3 x 3 matrix

• Links to website• Company pages/showcase

pages

• Content – shareable• Introductions• Recommendations• Likes, comments,

shares, endorsements

• Content – solves a problem

• Answering questions/ direct messages

• LinkedIn Search• Introductions• LinkedIn Groups• Managing your network

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Questions?

Tell us the one thing you will do on LinkedIn as a result of today’s session?

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Conclusion and Next Steps

• You should now have the information to:– Develop a professional brand online– Manage your settings for information updates and

privacy– Find, connect with, and manage contacts on

LinkedIn– Share content on updates, in groups etc.

• If nothing else you should:– Add your profile picture– Add a headline and summary– Add your current position– Connect with your colleagues on LinkedIn (or

at least connect with me!)• Don’t forget to read your company social media

guidelines• Contact Fergal for a step by step user guide• Send us your success stories to share

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INTRODUCTION

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Fergal Coleman

Director of Symphony3

Email: fcoleman@symphony3.com

LinkedIn: au.linkedin.com/in/fergalcoleman/

Twitter: @Symphony3Think

Thank you!

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Questions?