Challenges of raising your visibility online: TIME

Someone just asked in a LinkedIn group what way people get new clients.

I wrote:

This is why small businesses end up outsourcing their marketing or, when they get big enough, hire a marketing manager and team.

Who has time to do all that? AND deliver client work?

This week, I hosted a workshop for 9 professionals who want to raise their profiles on LinkedIn in a thoughtful, impactful way. Hopefully they enjoyed it as much as I did. One of the issues we discussed was TIME. How long this stuff takes. How much time do you need to spend on LinkedIn.

Time

I know how challenging it can be to manage your time on LinkedIn. When I first started, I struggled with balancing content creation and client work.

It could be said that I still tend to focus on client's deliverables and our own content gets neglected. Until this year when I started the habit of writing this newsletter each Sunday. And using repurposing techniques.

This is the biggest problem I see for many people. How long do you spend on LinkedIn? Where do you find the time to create posts to share on here?

Here are a few examples of conversations I have had on the issue of time on LinkedIn.

The Busy Lawyer

I worked with a partner in a law firm last year and he concluded that, yes LInkedIn would be valuable tool to raise the profiles of the partners and the wider team, but that unless they outsourced this work, they would be better spending their time on billable hours and face to face networking.

I agreed. Instead we focused on creating decent LinkedIn profiles for the team so that when a potential client or someone from a networking event checked them out on LinkedIn, it showcased their work and the company.

The Tech Start-Up CEO

If you’re raising investment, potential investors will check you out on LinkedIn. Your Company Page needs to do the heavy lifting. You can add Products to your page, and as shown in the image below, viewers can see your funding rounds.

What I didn't realise was that for some, the CEO doesn't want to BE SEEN to spend too much time on LinkedIn as they are out raising those funds and developing their start-up.

For those potential clients, managing their Company Page is the best option.

If you are managing a Company Page for your company, do come to my free webinar this week - www.louisebrogan.com/webinar which is focused on Company Pages.

The Coach/Consultant

Where do I start?

From developing your services, building your network, working with your clients to deliver those services - where do you find the time to come onto LinkedIn to craft thoughtful posts and even make short form videos.

Do you know how to make or edit a video? When you left your corporate job to work for yourself, no one warned you about all the content others expect you to create...

The Solution(s)

• Batch your work - Once a quarter, sit down and plan your content for the next three months. Work with a VA to help you plan and schedule it in advance. LinkedIn has its own internal scheduling tools.

• Outsource your content
• Use the COPE method - Create Once, Publish Everywhere (read more here)
• Focus on one to one relationships
• Keep your hand in by posting once every few weeks.

The easiest, of course, is to show up to LinkedIn and scroll without posting anything. if that is your approach, then at least make sure your profile is up to date and make it easy for others to get in touch with you.

Once you have posted

Creating a post on LinkedIn is just the first step!

But it can be the hardest. When I work with clients, I suggest that we take care of all the content creation, and to maximise the investment, they engage with other people on the network by commenting on their posts, and connecting with people who seem interesting.

Set a timed task in your diary to pop onto LInkedIn three times a week, comment on five people's posts and see what impact that has on your networking and growth here in a months time. (the reason I say timed task is to stop you going down rabbit holes and getting distracted for half an hour)

I'd love to hear how you manage your time on LinkedIn. What strategies have worked for you? Reply to this email and let me know!

Louise x

Check out our DIY $99 course that covers all of the above.