A LinkedIn page is truly fundamental for marketers. LinkedIn has changed, though. You can no longer message people and send them pictures. Because of this, your LinkedIn profile page is one of the few places left that you can really sell people on your business.
That said, there are plenty of common mistakes that people make. These small mistakes can add up and might be the difference between a winning business on LinkedIn and falling short.
The Top 3 Steps to Create a Healthy Marketing Strategy
Today, we’re going to be going over the three biggest mistakes we see people make. Before we get into it, I’d like to present the idea that a LinkedIn profile and a Google website aren’t all that different. A LinkedIn profile costs less money, but it’s easier to get people to view your LinkedIn profile than it would be to get them to go to your website.
Step #1: Optimize Your Profile
A big mistake that a lot of people make is how they create their profile. People don’t realize the opportunities they have to promote themselves or their businesses on Linkedin.
Your profile should act as a website.
People don’t think a Linkedin profile is as legitimate as a website, so they don’t take it seriously. As a result, they end up spending a lot of money and time on a website that doesn’t do what they wanted it to do or generate as many leads as expected.
People are far more likely to come across your Linkedin profile than they are to stumble upon your website. When people visit your website, they arrive in one of two ways: They’re either searching for something they want, or they’re sent there by a targeted ad. Either way, they’re looking for something specific. They get in, get the information they want, and get out.
Your profile should tell viewers what they need to know about you and the value you can provide. Your message should be clear to readers and your banner and tagline should reflect it. Sharing your history and experience is great, but only include relevant information that viewers need. People will notice it, even if they weren’t looking for it.
Few people know that, with an optimized Linkedin profile, they can completely forgo the need for a website – your profile will act as a website, but better.
Think in terms of CTA, not an online resume.
It’s important to keep in mind that your LinkedIn profile isn’t about you as much as it’s about your target audience. It’s not about showcasing your business or expertise. It’s about showing people how you can support the goals of your target audience.
Step #2: Grow and Nurture Your Network
An optimized profile is great, but you can think of it in terms of a business card. An awesome business card can get people interested in your business, but without the relational aspect, it’s not very helpful.
Send direct messages daily.
When you go to a networking event, the goal isn’t to collect as many business cards as possible – it’s to connect with people and build relationships. You need to call and speak with people to grow your business. Engaging with people daily allows you to build a rapport with them.
There are several ways you can communicate with people:
- Send welcome messages. Take the time to send a message to new connections. You can talk about one of their recent posts, profile, etc.
- Send congratulations messages. When there’s a birthday, new job opportunity, etc, send a congratulatory message to them that’s unique and will stand out.
- Catch-up messages. Check in with your connections if it’s been a while since you heard from them.
Your profile should reflect weekly growth.
It’s important to nurture the audience you have, but you have to have a network. Having a handful of connections only gets you so far. Having hundreds or thousands of connections gives you more reach and a wider audience. There’s no minimum number of connections needed to succeed, but you must maintain weekly growth because the more connections you have, the better.
Step #3: Build Knowledge and Trust with Content
Sending specific daily messages can serve as an entry point to talking to your connections. In that same vein, instead of simply liking posts, you should interact with them. Tell them what you liked about their content, their profile, or something else they’ve shared on the platform.
Create consistent content.
Liking a person’s content isn’t enough to build a trusting relationship with them. In addition to sending direct messages, you can build trust by posting consistent content.
A common downfall of LinkedIn users is a failure to improve their content. They see how easy it is to obtain a high organic reach and they take the views for granted. The key to succeeding on LinkedIn is consistently putting yourself out there and striving to improve your content. It’s extremely important to keep a commitment to excellence on Linkedin – producing high-quality content can set you apart from everyone else.
It’s not about how many people you’re connected to, it’s about how many people are excited to connect with you and interact with you. That is the most important thing.
Leave comments on others’ content daily.
You can also increase your relationships with connections by commenting on other people’s posts daily. Not everyone has the time or inspiration for daily content creation, but you don’t need to post something every day. Posting a few times a week and leaving daily insightful comments here and there on the content your connections post is enough.
Don’t fall into the trap of commenting “Thanks for sharing,” be sure to bring value to the posts that you’re commenting on. You can ask an insightful question, add to someone else’s thoughts, or use their comment as a springboard to create a post of your own, tagging the original poster and providing them with exposure to your network. The original poster will be thankful for the shout-out and you will both benefit from it.
(Their network will see that you tagged them and be interested in your post, too!)
Beep2B Can Help with Your Linkedin Marketing Strategy
All of the advice we give comes from our own marketing experiences at Beep2B. We’ve learned from the struggles along the way and our goal is to help other people using LinkedIn to market their business through these issues.
We have resources to help you optimize your profile, grow and nurture connections, and build a trusting relationship with your audience. Our Profiles that Convert course helps with profile optimization, LinCredible is our resource for networking and nurturing your connections, and BeepTogether is our platform to promote your content and get more people to see it.
