A Business Leader's quick guide to LinkedIn

Do you have this sinking feeling that you aren’t doing enough on LinkedIn for yourself or completely lost where to start? Unlike the other social media channels, LinkedIn provides a score called Social Selling Index (SSI) to exactly tell you how you are doing. Find out your SSI by clicking on this link https://www.dhirubhai.net/sales/ssi. Login with your LinkedIn credentials.

LinkedIn measures your SSI score on 4 points – Establish your professional brand, find the right people, engage with insights and build relationships. I won’t delve into the specifics of that in this article as, on the SSI page, you will find quick links to see what you need to do to increase score. More on that in my upcoming blogs.

The adoption of social selling has clearly crossed the chasm and the adoption is high. It isn’t late yet.

This article is more about doing the basics and how you can stand apart.

A.   The basics - The definite must do list.

Define your target persona

You have limited time and lead a busy life. What you don’t want to do is shoot in the dark with what you do on LinkedIn . Hence, have a clearly defined target audience so that whatever you write, act or work on is with that in mind. The content that you will write for CEO of a medium enterprise will be different from what you write for the CTO. Ideally, make 3-4 persona sets.

Complete your profile

When you complete your LinkedIn profile to 100% and put up an updated display image, you enjoy improved search ranking. Besides, you give your potential clients/employers all the information they are looking for. Remember, if people search for your name on Google, the chances are that your LinkedIn profile will be the first page result. Make sure your headline grabs attention. Make sure your professional summary is well defined for every experience.

Personalize your profile URL

Customize the URL of your LinkedIn profile to include your brand name. This makes it easier to find you even on Google. Please make sure the name is professional. Go to edit profile and the option will come under top right side.

Focus on LinkedIn SEO

Approach this as you would your business site - by generating a list of terms or keywords that you want your profile to rank for, and implementing them in your profile. Optimizing your profile with keywords can drive traffic and convert them to actual clients.

4-1-1 Content strategy

Just so that your profile doesn’t seem self-serving, use the 4-1-1 principle to decide what to post. This essentially says that you share one self-sharing post, one from another source and four posts written by others. People do not like people who are too much in self-promotional mode.

Join relevant groups

Treat this as a virtual meeting place of people with similar interests. While you join multiple groups, choose 2-3 groups in which you will engage the most. This will lead to visibility and potential leads

B)  Differentiating yourself – Get the edge

Grow with SlideShare.

SlideShare is like an online version of a PowerPoint presentation. You can add well-designed, interactive slides with dynamic colors and invite leads to view the presentation. And if you get featured on the LinkedIn page, you’ll obviously attract more customers.  Tip: Upload the last case study you made for the client.

Use LinkedIn Sales Navigator

The Sales Navigator of LinkedIn offers high-quality features for professionals to connect with their prospects. Use the filters effectively to filter prospects, generate leads, and increase your circle of targeted connections. Don’t forget to interact with them regularly.  

Use videos extensively

LinkedIn native video was very late in the game vis-a-vis other social media channels. It wasn't till 2017 that they built one. Even though it’s a B2B platform, it creates 3X more engagement than text and is 5X more likely to start a conversation. Couple of things that will make it better. Write the script before you start. Use a tripod to keep it steady. Try to give sub titles as people sometimes watch the video on mute. Ideally, change angles of the shot.

While LinkedIn can seem daunting, start with baby steps. Get your profile set up, build a calendar. Set up daily time to add new contacts and engage with like-minded people (15 minutes daily). The above can seem overwhelming. But, start with the basics. Over a period of time, build on each asset over a period of time. LinkedIn, if used correctly is a powerful tool. Invest behind it.