How to Tag Your High Quality Leads On LinkedIn

What is LinkedIn Tagging?

LinkedIn Tagging is a way for you to segment and organize your connections on LinkedIn. It is similar to Facebook and Twitter Lists (except your connections can’t see how you tagged them.) And for a short while longer, will be available to all users. (Rumor has it that the new interface gets rid of tagging with the free account L)

Why Tagging is Important

The reason tagging is so important is because it allows you to keep in touch and share relevant information with target groups of individuals. Let’s say you write a new Publisher Post on “Best Networking Events for Lawyers in NYC.” Obviously you would not message your whole network with that post, but you might let your top 22 NYC Lawyer Prospects know about the post on LinkedIn! Without tagging it would be very hard to find and message those folks in a timely manner.

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How Do You Tag Your Connections?

Right now you can tag your first level connections either from their profile (under the Relationship tab under their picture) or under My Network/Connections. Just click on the Tag link/button and add a new tag or check and existing tag and hit save.Sorting your Connections

To sort by tag, go to Connections (under the My Network link) and then choose Filter by: Tag .... and choose the tag. You will be able to send a quick message to anyone in the tagged grouping.

Common Mistakes

You do not need to tag every single one of your connections! That is time consuming and inefficient. You want to tag only the connections that are actually good leads for you - i.e., can help you build your business in some way or another.

Best Tagging Practices

When it comes to tagging your network, the more refined your search (and consequent tagging,) the better. You want to tag people in a way that makes sense to you. Instead of a tag that says “Prospects”, you might want to have a tag that says “Prospect – NYC – Lawyer – HOT”. That way when you are creating content (or looking for prospects) specific to NYC and the legal field, you will be able to easily find and engage with these people.

An easy way to find a group of similar prospects at a time is to create a search of your ideal prospects. (See Video) Do a search for your key prospects by keyword, title and location. Then sort by first-level connections. Then it's just a matter of going in and actually tagging those individuals with the tag that you've already created. You might open a new tab, or toggle back and forth on your browser to make this easier.

Dux-Soup

The other thing that you're probably going to want to d – thanks to all the changes LinkedIn is making, is download the Dux-Soup Chrome extension.  The free version of Dux-Soup might be all you need. It allows you to tag, make notes and sort anyone in your network (not just first level connections.)With LinkedIn’s new UI (User Interface) I will most likely upgrade to the premium account (for $15 a month) that allows you to export your tags and your notes.

Again, the nice thing about Dux-Soup is you can tag and make notes on anyone on LinkedIn, and more importantly, since LinkedIn is getting rid of tagging (and advanced search and saved searches) with the free account, it will be an indispensable tool for those not willing to upgrade to LinkedIn’s Sales Navigator.

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LinMailPro

Another tool I use is all the time is LinMailPro, (which runs about $60 a month.) LinMailPro allows you to do all sorts of things on LinkedIn! If you've watched the HQL program you know that LinMailPro is one of the tools I recommend to automate messaging. But, one of the things LinMailPro also does is tagging. When you add your connections to the LinMailPro dashboard and send them a message, you have the opportunity to tag everyone that you send a message to, whether it is 10 people or 100!

Once you've got those folks in LinMailPro tagged, you can also save that queue (or group of tagged people) to you computer and then upload and message that queue of folks any time you want. This feature is going to become VERY VERY important once LinkedIn gets rid of tagging and saved searches.

If you choose to upgrade to Sales Nav you will be able to import your tagged connections. But folks who stay with the free account will have to find another solution. So I recommend Dux-Soup and LinMailPro.

Wrapping Up

I hope these tips will help you to make the most of your network on LinkedIn! Just remember to follow these steps:

1.     Do your Advanced Search on LinkedIn while you can-  making the most of the Keyword, Title and Location fields.

2.     Sort by 1st Level Connections

3.     (Save your Search)

4.     Manually tag your connections on LinkedIn and/or Dux-Soup

5.     OR - Automate the tagging process using LinMailPro

6.     You don't have to tag all your connections, only the people who are high-quality leads.

7.     Sort your connections by their tags.

8.     Send relevant information through LinkedIn messages.

Tagging on LinkedIn as advanced searches are only going to work for another month or so until we all get the new user interface. In order to avoid those complications you might want to consider investing in LinMailPro, which will allow you to create and save those searches. Or you're going to need to upgrade to Sales Navigator ($79 – $99),

When I get the new user interface, I’ll be sure to keep you all up to date on all new changes (and some hacks that you can use,) on LinkedIn.

To learn more about High Quality LinkedIn Leads (and to watch the free 1 hour video on how to build your business with LinkedIn – click HERE

About Viveka

Viveka is the author of "LinkedIn Marketing: An Hour a Day" and "LinkedIn: 101 Ways to Rock Your Personal Brand" and is featured in LinkedIn's "Sophisticated Marketer" eBooks. She is known internationally as the “LinkedIn Expert”.

CEO of Linked Into Business, and HighQualityLinkedInLeads. She is a co-founder of SocialSalesGPS and she also hosts the biggest LinkedIn chat on Twitter on Tuesday nights. Forbes has listed her as a top social media influencer, and she has been cited in Money Magazine, Ragan, CNN, Forbes, Mashable, The Miami Herald, Social Media Today and The Social Media Examiner!

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