How to Find Investors on LinkedIn

Welcome to all of this week's new subscribers to The Link Tank?? newsletter; my newsletter always focuses on the practical: Real, implementable strategies to increase your LinkedIn ROI,?sometimes focusing on the what but?always?focusing on the how!

Why should you use LinkedIn to find investors?

There are other online tools for communicating with an authorised investor, financier, or venture capitalist but LinkedIn is the best place to begin networking with them for the reasons listed below????

1. Before disclosing your proposition or criteria to investors, you "connect" with them and research their LinkedIn profile; before exposing your intellectual property to their scrutiny, you can 'sell' them your brand and earn their trust.
2. Today, the majority of investors consider your LinkedIn profile to be an integral part of any review. Almost all major websites specialising in connecting investors with businesses want your LinkedIn profile to be included in their user summary.
3. You can obtain credible references from a list of current or prospective mutual contacts who know both you and the investor. Additionally, you can use direct communications by joining a comparable LinkedIn Group .
4. Unlike other services, you can search for investors who attended the same school, worked for the same companies, or even share your network through second and third-degree connections. Degree refers to the number of people who serve as intermediaries between you and your objective.
5. The investor can assess not only your business information but also your LinkedIn profile and activity, as well as that of your partners/senior management and others.
6. In addition to listed investors, you may also interact with wealth managers, family offices, financiers, accountancy firms, fund managers, future impact investors, and entrepreneurs.

Finding Investors for Beginners

When seeking investors, you must establish a list of targets, develop an investor pipeline and maintain an active presence on LinkedIn until you find the ideal match. Generally, a multifaceted approach is employed, which includes the following steps and the below video will show you how to build a target list using LinkedIn Sales Navigator ????

Advanced search efforts:

LinkedIn is the largest investor directory in the world, including unlisted and inactive investors and the search option at the top of your LinkedIn profile can help you identify the vast majority of them. For instance, if you enter "Angel investor", the tab will display a search results page with suggestions based on your current network. In addition, the results page will include the following details:

Filters are accessible with a single click, including location, relationship or degree of connection, current/previous employers, and 'All Filters'.

2. There is an 'All Filter' tab with distinct sections for Industry, title, profile language and services.

3. Although you may be compelled to disregard the search in the employment tab, the job description of a recruiting post may provide a signal regarding the anticipated portfolio diversification of an investor. What if a tech investor desires real estate diversification? Their recruitment strategy may provide insight into their objectives.

Similarly, you can use the Boolean search tool to look for terms such as VC, investor, venture capitalist, impact investor, seed fund manager, etc. Once you've tried every possible combination of filters and options, you'll be amazed at how rapidly you can generate a list of potential investors and devise the optimal networking strategy for each of them, depending on:

1. Their LinkedIn profile, including the title, summary, recommendations, corporate pages, LinkedIn communities, and mutual connections.

2. Their actions, including comments, content, articles, and events hosted.

3. A compilation of hashtags or nametags that they or their network utilise frequently. While hashtags link to a content stream with comparable names, nametags link (@) directly to a user's profile.

Improve Your Own Searchability, Visibility, and Search Engine Optimisation:

A study from Greenwich Advisory reveals that almost 80% of institutional investors use social media as part of their regular work flow, and approximately 30% of these investors say information obtained through social media has directly influenced an investment recommendation or decision. Analysts believe that investor and business successor activity on LinkedIn has increased, particularly during the closure caused by the pandemic.

It is possible that investors are searching for companies like yours? Wouldn't it be great if you could assist them with their inquiry in this situation?

Fortunately, the following tips can be of assistance:

?? Compile a list of relevant keywords by:

1. Utilising free keyword generators discovered via Moz or 谷歌 keyword planner
2. Investigating the actions of prospective investors, colleagues, start-ups, recent successors, and funding-seeking entrepreneurs.
3. Investigating the industry leaders' social media presence. Investors seek individuals with leadership qualities, such as people managers, project managers, innovators, and crisis managers, in addition to experts and specialists.
4. Seeking the advice and guidance of LinkedIn experts.
5. Create an Outstanding and Optimised LinkedIn Profile: All-star in this context denotes that you have not left any section of your profile blank and optimisation denotes that you have included the appropriate keywords in your:

a. The subject line.

b. Custom URL (yes, you can change your LinkedIn URL in a few straightforward steps).

c. Filenames of images submitted for header and banner.

d. Profile details, including a summary / About section, experience, education, and volunteer work.

e. Exceptional skills and recommendations.

f. Testimonials, especially if they demonstrate your leadership skills.

A clear and concise headline makes the investor want to take things a step further with you in one of three ways:

1. Click on your name and hopefully send you an invitations to connect to learn more about you.
2. Like your post or comment or reply to it
3. Remember you

Your headline’s objective is to raise your target Investors’ interest in you and your startup.

TOP TIP: Ask yourself: “If I were that person, would I be curious to know more?”. The first 40 characters of your headline show when you comment on a post - pique their interest!

Here’s a headline that works well:

This headline is bound to tickle the brain of VCs interested in the student housing space. Maybe only to find out what other solutions are out there. In any case, Investors are likely to click and find out more.

On the flip side, it is missing a picture. Showing your face is essential to your headline and helps Linkedin’s algorithm reference you better.

Additional best practices, such as having a complete pro

Implement a content marketing strategy comprising:

a. Relevant phrases, hashtags, and nametags that encourage interaction from mutual relationships and influential stakeholders.

b. Content calendars and automated scheduling tools for public view, groups, and Inmail lists. Observing the actions of your target audience can help you predict the optimal time periods.

c. A curated compilation of links to other LinkedIn entries within each article. These hyperlinks can be properly inserted into your posts, articles, and comments to increase engagement and exposure on the LinkedIn feed. Backlinks aid in establishing a balance between the overarching theme of your content and the uniqueness of each individual piece.

d. A Live Feed, LinkedIn Group, or Event that piques your target audience's or key influencers' interest.

e. Consolidates your entire digital presence around your LinkedIn profile. By directing your audience to LinkedIn, you can save them time and effort examining your credentials. Certainly, your website leaves a lasting impression, but a LinkedIn icon on your website or blog could direct visitors to a profile containing mutual connections and recommendations.

f. Search connections of your connections - This filter can be accessed by clicking on All Filter at the top of the search page or straight from a connection’s profile page. You may refine your search further, for example, by looking for your connections who work in a specific field or at a particular company.

Finally, request that they connect...?

It is crucial to establish a relationship so there should be no selling. A spray-and-pray strategy rarely produces results—otherwise, you would not be reading this post.

Worse still, it has a debilitating impact on entrepreneurial morale.

You need to target investors actively looking for opportunities in your industry, geography, development stage etc as they are usually focused on a particular niche of the fundraising market.

Make sure your target investors are active on LinkedIn - LinkedIn allows active content-makers to schedule their posts in advance so investors don’t even have to open their LinkedIn account to publish there.

It’s easy to find out how active the Investor is:

• Go to their activity feed
• Click on Posts
• Browse the history to see both what they write about and how often they do it
• One other helpful indication is how many followers have liked and commented on the post

TOP TIP: Follow the company page of a potential investor if you do not share a connection.

Create a personalised invitation to connect. You could include the following:

• Inform them if you've met them before.
• Explain why you want to connect.
• Describe the mutually beneficial relationship that can be formed by connecting.
• Mention something you have in common, such as attending the same school or enjoying the same hobby. Did you hear them speak during a webinar, purchase their book, share a link with them, or have 100+ connections, etc.?
• Keep the connection invitation succinct and direct. Use each of your 300 characters effectively.
• Thank them and send them a few intriguing words if they connect...

"Thank you for your communication, Evelyn. I aid upscale retailers in raising capital and identifying retail opportunities for investors. Please let me know if I can assist you in any way."

Follow these LinkedIn strategy steps meticulously to ensure that you build a network of investors and venture capitalists who can not only help you finance your business but also provide you with invaluable life and business lessons that will assist you and your business in growing exponentially.

Is this helpful? Please leave a comment below!?

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I hope that you find these LinkedIn tips and strategies useful to you. If so, please bookmark this article for future reference and click on the ?? on my profile to be notified of my new posts.

? If you are looking for a bespoke "done-for-you" LinkedIn marketing strategy, schedule an initial phone consultation?here

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