Using LinkedIn for your practice

LinkedIn is the business social networking platform that consistently delivers all kinds of useful things. Including new customers. So why is it not working for you?

Are you using it properly?

I have instances where, with a bit of an intense setup, I have had results immediately from people starting to use LinkedIn under my guidance. One of my clients gained a new client within a couple of weeks of using LinkedIn and another within a few days he landed a £12,000 client. Many of my clients will agree that Linkedin works. But you have to work at it.

It is all about consistency and being ‘front of mind’.

Popping into LinkedIn now and then is not a marketing strategy. You need to be posting and commenting regularly. Think of the last time that you saw a football match on the TV. Along the sidelines, they have electronic billboards that change. I bet that you have seen an advert for McDonald’s or other famous brands? This is because they want to be ‘front of mind’ so they keep repeating their message.

If you are on LinkedIn regularly you are doing the same thing, you are being front of mind. But it is not about selling. It is more a presence and a way for YOU to help people. Give away free advice and useful content to let people know who you are and that you know your stuff.

You do not need to start off writing a post every day, start simple, but just get started. You’ll never run a marathon unless you take a few steps first.

Comment on other posts.

If you start to comment on other posts, you’ll get an idea of what works and what doesn’t and you do not have to worry about creating content. You could develop a good network by just making comments, but I wouldn’t recommend this as your only tactic. If you do, please let me know how it works for you.

Remember that using LinkedIn is like real life, so when you are commenting on a post, it is similar to chipping in to a conversation. Please think about etiquette and try to keep the conversation going. So make sure that you have your notifications turned on and make sure that you add value. Just like real life, use open questions and other ways to create engagement.

@Mentions

An @mention is where you use the @ sign followed by a connections name. That way they will have their name in a hyperlink in your comment (people will be able to view their profile a lot easier) and they’ll also get a notification that you tagged them.

If you @mention people you can bring them into the conversation too, or maybe highlight them as an expert. Only this morning a connection asked for VA recommendations, so I shared the post and @mentioned my VA friends. How would this make you feel if this happened to you? You’d feel pretty special eh? And you are front of mind again!

What to post about?

When I speak with people, their biggest concern is what on earth do they post about. It doesn’t matter, I’ve seen it all. You need to come up with your specialist areas that you can help people with their problems, worries or concerns. Think about your customers, what are they thinking about right now? What are they worried about and what questions do they have?

They probably have the same issues as you, so why not share stories about what you are doing to solve certain problems. Why not speak more to your customers and ask how they are getting on. This will give you a great insight into what makes them tick and what areas they are struggling with.

In fact, with all your customers you must have loads of stories of how you’ve helped them, common themes, problems they’ve shared, stories of great success, stories of bigger failures. You can write about anything on LinkedIn and if it’s actually happened, then you have credibility too.

Some best practice is to start the post as a question so that you draw the reader into the post and invite collaboration. If you can @mention someone then this helps with engagement too.

I will be sharing more tips on ways to use LinkedIn to your advantage so be sure to pop back. If you want to pick my brains or have any specific questions about LinkedIn then please feel free to book a free initial chat with me using this link.