Critical Changes to Official LinkedIn and Sales Navigator Industries
Mike O'Neil
Founder, Integrated Alliances, est. 2001 ?? LinkedIn Campaign Architect, Engineer, Consultant, Trainer, Speaker | Sales Navigator Expert ?? 2x FORBES Top 50 Social Media Influencer ?? Top 15 LinkedIn Expert in Spain
The official LinkedIn (and Sales Navigator) industries have EXPLODED ?? in the past year, from 147 to well over 400.
It’s critical to 1) be aware of this and 2) to know what the industries are and, most importantly 3) to know how to handle this change if you want to avoid problems in your outreach efforts.?
This is especially important if you are using Sales Navigator as you have many more options and some truly useful ways to counter this situation and take advantage.
Making the situation even more difficult, the industries are now nested, like a file system on a hard disk or in the cloud. They actually go 5 levels deep so it is VERY complicated to plan outreach if accuracy is important to you.
We call the industries with industries nested underneath them "categories" internally here at Integrated Alliances.
?? Changes Went Unnoticed
Almost nobody noticed this change, but we did as we provide LinkedIn outreach services for clients in this sector. It did not happen right away. We started to see strange things happening in the search results and we did a lot of investigating. That led to our creation of a database to help with our internal projects and, more importantly, with our client projects.
I'm an Industrial Engineer (BSE) and I tend to over-engineer things a bit sometimes. I must admit it. Our LinkedIn industry database is one example. It's truly amazing and a bit over the top. This extreme precision REALLY helps us in doing campaign outreach for clients though.
?? Manufacturing Industry Example
Just one year ago there were only a handful of official MANUFACTURING industries - those with the word "manufacturing" in the title. Today there are 67.
Select the “Manufacturing” industry and you get all 67 industries in your search results, like it or not. Maybe you are not looking for wineries or breweries for example, but there are hundreds of these leads listed in your search results!?
Fortunately, Sales Navigator has a nifty feature that lets you EXCLUDE industries as well and include them. It really helps in the area of industry targeting, where reaching out to the wrong people can get you into hot water with LinkedIn.
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On the other hand...
If you select the “Printing Services” industry, on the other hand, you get get just this one industry. There are many in betweens and they actually matter a great deal.
Here is what you get when you select ONLY the Manufacturing industry today. The bolded entries below show industries that include other industries underneath them and it shows what they are. We call them “categories” internally here at Integrated Alliances.
?? LinkedIn and Sales Navigator Manufacturing Industries
Manufacturing | Medical Equipment Manufacturing | Oil and Coal Product Manufacturing | Paper and Forest Product Manufacturing | Climate Technology Product Manufacturing | Primary Metal Manufacturing | Printing Services | Sporting Goods Manufacturing | Textile Manufacturing | Tobacco Manufacturing | Wood Product Manufacturing | Apparel Manufacturing | Fashion Accessories Manufacturing | Appliances, Electrical, and Electronics Manufacturing | Electrical Equipment Manufacturing | Household Appliance Manufacturing | Chemical Manufacturing | Agricultural Chemical Manufacturing | Artificial Rubber and Synthetic Fiber Manufacturing | Chemical Raw Materials Manufacturing | Paint, Coating, and Adhesive Manufacturing | Personal Care Product Manufacturing | Pharmaceutical Manufacturing | Soap and Cleaning Product Manufacturing | Computers and Electronics Manufacturing | Audio and Video Equipment Manufacturing | Communications Equipment Manufacturing | Magnetic and Optical Media Manufacturing | Measuring and Control Instrument Manufacturing | Semiconductor Manufacturing | Renewable Energy Semiconductor Manufacturing | Fabricated Metal Products | Architectural and Structural Metal Manufacturing | Boilers, Tanks, and Shipping Container Manufacturing | Construction Hardware Manufacturing | Cutlery and Handtool Manufacturing | Metal Treatments | Metal Valve, Ball, and Roller Manufacturing | Spring and Wire Product Manufacturing | Turned Products and Fastener Manufacturing | Food and Beverage Manufacturing | Breweries | Distilleries | Wineries | Animal Feed Manufacturing | Baked Goods Manufacturing | Beverage Manufacturing | Dairy Product Manufacturing | Fruit and Vegetable Preserves Manufacturing | Meat Products Manufacturing | Seafood Product Manufacturing | Sugar and Confectionery Product Manufacturing | Furniture and Home Furnishings Manufacturing | Household and Institutional Furniture Manufacturing | Mattress and Blinds Manufacturing | Office Furniture and Fixtures Manufacturing | Glass, Ceramics and Concrete Manufacturing | Clay and Refractory Products Manufacturing | Glass Product Manufacturing | Lime and Gypsum Products Manufacturing | Leather Product Manufacturing | Footwear Manufacturing | Women's Handbag Manufacturing | Machinery Manufacturing | Agriculture, Construction, Mining Machinery Manufacturing | Commercial and Service Industry Machinery Manufacturing | HVAC and Refrigeration Equipment Manufacturing | Industrial Machinery Manufacturing | Metalworking Machinery Manufacturing | Automation Machinery Manufacturing | Robot Manufacturing | Engines and Power Transmission Equipment Manufacturing | Renewable Energy Equipment Manufacturing | Plastics and Rubber Product Manufacturing | Packaging and Containers Manufacturing | Plastics Manufacturing | Rubber Products Manufacturing | Transportation Equipment Manufacturing | Aviation and Aerospace Component Manufacturing | Defense and Space Manufacturing | Motor Vehicle Manufacturing | Motor Vehicle Parts Manufacturing | Railroad Equipment Manufacturing | Shipbuilding
?? What to do…
Learn how to take advantage of this once in a decade change. Tap into my vast knowledge ??.
I’ve been doing this deep level of “LinkedIn engineering” and helping others since January 2004. Maybe I can help you.
??If you would like to know more about how to strategically use LinkedIn and Sales Navigator industries in your operations, REACH OUT TO ME with a comment here or send me a message or book a free 30-minute Zoom call. I have an "open profile" so it is easy to message me ??.
I have compiled “The Essential LinkedIn & Sales Navigator Industry Database for Sales Pros” and I will share it to you on the call.
Pick your areas of interest and I will actually send them to you. Heck, I will even train you on “what to do.”
?? I will NOT, however, share the entire 755 line database that took over 100 hours to develop. You will see why.
I help entrepreneurs and their teams get more of what they want from their businesses - More Growth, More Profit, More Freedom, all of the above ? Certified EOS Implementer?
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1 年We use industries a lot in our campaign targeting don't we Mike O'Neil?