Tag Archive for: Linkedin Hacks

Three Daily Best Practices for LinkedIn Users

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Done right, you can get more business and leads out of LinkedIn than you can get to. You have to do some work, though. For instance, you need a complete profile along with a head shot that brands you as a professional, and you’ll need to spend consistent time beefing up your connections (things we’ve talked about on the blog before so check out older posts if you’re looking for ideas for those).

That all lays the ground work. After that all you really need to do is to spend a few minutes on LinkedIn daily. I’ve been a LinkedIn user for a while now, and am getting this down to a science. Want to know how I’m building it and how I keep my LinkedIn account humming along at peak proficiency? Here are three things I do daily with (almost) religious fervor. Do this and you’ll never have to prospect for business again.

#1: Status Updates

Just as with most social media, the first of your daily tasks is to update your status. Just like with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other platforms, every day you need to let folks know what you’re up to and what you’re doing. Doesn’t have to be earth shattering. Doesn’t have to even qualify for interesting. You don’t have to give details if details aren’t warranted. Just say something about your normal business day. If you want to get organized about this and save yourself some time, use Hootsuite and load up status updates in advance!

#2: Accept Connections

Your next daily task is to check your network and accept inbound connection requests. The more people you’re connected to the better LinkedIn is going to work for you. Each of these requests is taking you one more step towards your goal of turning LinkedIn into a prospecting and business machine. Accept these requests on a daily basis!

#3: Message

Finally, you’re going to want to message people who’ve connected with you and who’ve accepted your own outbound connection requests. Your goal is to build a network, and you can’t do that by being a wall flower and never communicating with anyone!

There are the top three. Not too scary, huh. 😉  Do each of these tasks daily and watch your LinkedIn account become your single most important business asset!

 

Five Steps to Building a Huge Following on LinkedIn

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How would you like to be able to create leads and prospects for whatever it is that you sell almost instantly? How would you like to have prospective customers and clients finding you and asking to buy your product or your service without you ever having to lift a finger, do any follow up, or yet another sales presentation? What I’m really asking is this: How would you like to have a ready audience already pre-sold on you and your products and services? If this sounds too good to be true, you don’t really understand the amazing power of LinkedIn. If you know the steps, you can do this on LinkedIn, actually fairly easily. So, what about it? Want to know how you too can build a smashing business on LinkedIn? It’s very simple, and there are only five steps.

First off you need to have a polished profile that is not only complete, but that sells you in advance. Basically, your profile (especially the summary) is your sales letter for you and your business on LinkedIn.

Next, you’re going to have to create unique, valuable content aimed at your target audience on LinkedIn. By content I mean blog posts for LinkedIn pulse, status updates, and the like. You might want a short report accessible through a squeeze page that you can link to so you can build a list of interested followers.

Of course, none of this will matter if you’re not connected with anyone! So, you’ll need to consistently build your network. On LinkedIn, you can be connected to up to 30,000 people. Surely out of that many you can find enough customers, clients, and referral partners to build a business out of!

You’ll want to substantiate who you are and what you sell through real recommendations. Real, as in not fake, by the way! LinkedIn is a quality platform, and quality always wins out!

And finally, you’re going to have to stay on top of your industry’s announcements and news. After all, you want people to see you as a thought leader, right? So, lead!

So to summarize:

  1. Create a polished profile.
  2. Create unique, valuable content.
  3. Build your network. Make connecting with people in your target market an everyday activity.
  4. Get recommendations from past clients and those who have experience with your business.
  5. Lead by staying on top of and engage with industry news.

Have questions? Let me know in the comments below!