www.3degreessocial.co.uk Mary Collin

LinkedInand a half reasons why most people are not getting

business through

TOP 10

LinkedInand a half reasons why most people are not getting

business through

TOP 10

inkedIn Is the premier social network for business to business prospecting, and

WITH OVER 400 million members is the first place you should be looking to connect with ideal prospects, form relationships and develop conversations to make sales.

AND IT IS SO SIMPLE...

However, it's estimated as many as half of LinkedIn’s 400 million members aren't optimizing their profiles.

If you are serious about getting business through LinkedIn, be sure to learn from others’ mistakes and implement these simple but highly effective strategies to encourage growth within your business.

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1. You need a powerful personal profilethat gets you found when your ideal contacts are searching on Linkedin. This needs to be compelling and full of evidence of the value you give so that when you find and connect with people, you gain instant credibility with your reader.

2. You then need a clear strategy tofind and engage with your prospects.

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Step 1. Having a bad profile picture

Step 2. Not communicating what you do

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Avoid these 10 (and a half) major missteps and you're sure to be on your way to LinkedIn success.

It’s hard to believe now, but when LinkedIn first launched, the user profiles did not include photos. When LinkedIn added the functionality allowing users to upload a profile photo, a lot of people chose unprofessional images, and they are still using them today or didn’t bother uploading a picture!

A profile with a picture has many more views than a profile without a picture. You’d be amazed how a professional welcoming photo humanizes your LinkedIn presence and makes it much easier for people to reach out to you.

Not adding what you do and what you’re good at to your LinkedIn profile is decreasing your chances of attracting the best calibre prospects and cliental, and seriously diminishing your brand and people’s confidence in your expertise.

When I look at a LinkedIn profile, if I don’t get an instant picture of what you do for a living and what your good at, I move on. And I’m certainly not alone in that respect.

Think about it this way, if you need to buy a car you go to a car dealership, if you need root canal treatment you go to the dentist. You go to the people who are the experts in their field.

If you want people to know you as the expert in your field, the authority of whatever it is you’re the best at, how can you expect them to do so if you don’t showcase exactly what your skills are?

Step 3. Using boring buzzwords in your profile

Step 4. Using LinkedIn like Facebook

Step 5. Not utilising recommendations

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Easily one of the biggest blunders on LinkedIn is using it like it’s Facebook. Your professional network does not care about where you have checked in; we don't want to see a photo of your dinner. If you're going to post something, make sure it's relevant to your occupation and, most importantly, is professional.

The recommendations tool on LinkedIn is an extremely powerful tool that will help you build credibility. A lot of people make the huge mistake of not asking for recommendations when they have delivered a service, or product. This is a massive missed opportunity. If you have a positive experience with a client or supervisor, ask them to recommend you on LinkedIn. You can send a customised message directly through LinkedIn, although I recommend you customize your message, rather than using the template provided by LinkedIn. Explain the reasons you are asking for a recommendation and offer to reciprocate and recommend the other individual in return. Be sure to follow through if you make this commitment.

The words you use in your profile could be working against you when it comes to standing out from the crowd.

Buzzwords like Leadership, Creative, Strategic, Dedicated, Expert and Solution are some of the most common words used by business to brand themselves.

These buzzwords actually make profiles stand out for their lack of creativity, which is the polar opposite of what you want to achieve.

When writing your headline you should try to differentiate from your competitors.

Step 6. Not adding video

Step 7. Find and connect with your ideal clients

Step 8. Sending generic invitations

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LinkedIn is traditionally text-heavy, but you can get visual by uploading images, videos, presentations and documents to showcase your work.

This means you can illustrate your greatest achievements in the form of stunning images, compelling videos, innovative presentations and more.

Quality is definitely more important than quantity when it comes to LinkedIn. Adding everyone and anyone to your network as a connection isn't going to give you an edge. Build your network with people you know, want to know and want to work with or for. To do this, LinkedIn has a powerful built-in search engine. Although you can search directly from any LinkedIn screen, clicking on the ‘Advanced’ search opens up a wealth of search options.

Most are obvious, but I focus mainly on just areas; Location and Keywords. The keywords search is an extremely powerful tool as it allows you to use Boolean search (true or false options) terms to ensure your search returns exactly what you are looking for.

Once you’ve found your list of ideal customers, reach out to each person on your new prospect list with a PERSONALISED invitation. Take the time to look at each person’s profile for insights into how you can personalise your invite. Where are they from? What are their passions/hobbies/interests? Where did they go to school? This process will only take 14 seconds and is well worth investing the time. Then when they accept you can respond with a thanks and ask them if they would like to talk about how you can help them. Always think “what’s in it for them?” – give them a reason to connect, talk with you and meet with you. Your LinkedIn invite needs to do three things:

• Explain HOW you found them• Explain WHY they should connect with you (i.e. what VALUE you are going to bring to them as part of the relationship).• Ask them after connecting if they’d like a conversation.

Step 9. Not communicating with your connections

Step 10. Not joining groups…strategically

Step 10 1/2. They do not ‘over deliver’ and ‘wow’ their target market

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Once you have a powerful profile it’s time to start communicating.

Write a blog post and feature it on LinkedIn. Everyone now can create blog posts for free on LinkedIn.

Next time you visit your LinkedIn homepage, click on the link marked ‘Publish a Post’ and start typing. You don’t have to finish your blog in one sitting, you can save it and publish at a later date to add value for your connections. Don’t be scared of sharing your content marketing either, something as simple as How-to content, sharable visuals, a look behind the scenes, cheat sheets and guides will see your audience more engaged with you.

Just paste the links in your profile summary and share them as updates.

You are allowed to join up to 50 groups on LinkedIn, however to utilise these, there are three types of groups you should focus on. A small percentage should be your competitor’s groups, your industry and your prospects’ industries. The second type are geo-located groups like local chambers of commerce. The third and biggest should be persona-type groups for CIOs, CTOs, Entrepreneurs etc.

The professional social network can be an invaluable tool in many ways, but only if you use it correctly. Implementing each one of these steps will help you unleash LinkedIn’s full potential for your business.

It’s easier than you think to use LinkedIn to boost your sales and business growth, to find more and learn the practical steps to making it work for you.

Go to: www.3degreessocial.co.uk/meet-the-team/

Testimonials

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BIG TIP

If you have got value from this, come meet our trainers and coaches for more

just go to www.3degreessocial.co.uk/meet-the-team/

Jill Chitty

Glitter & Gloss

“The reason this LinkedIn training is so spectacular is because the strategies

provide results!!

Only last week I was contacted by a potential lead purely because they saw my profile. There had been no previous

contact with them but we're now working together... this lead is worth over £9K for

me..”

Boze Durston

Cotswold Directory

“Attended a brilliant LinkedIn training today, especially great for me as I've had

a profile for years but done nothing absolutely zilch with it! Learnt so much, and here's the thing, I've already started putting it into practice which of course is

key!!”

LEGAL NOTICE:© Mary Collin 2016. All rights reserved

This book is not intended for use as a source of specific business advice. Any advice, recommendation, information, assitance or services given by the author within this ebook is general information, and your individul situation needs to be taken into account before acting on this advice.

The information contained with the ebook is given in good faith and it believed to be accurate, appropriate and reliable at the time it is given, but is provided without any warranty of accuracy, appropriateness or reliability. the author does not accept any liability or responsibility for any loss suffered from the reader’s use of the advice, recommendation, information, assistance or service to the extent available by law.

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Thank you for reading.

Please connect with me on LinkedIn where I’ll be sharing more helpful guides and advice.