Newsletter 10: Unlock your Profile Leads with these 25 Strategic Points

Your LinkedIn profile is not your online resume! Your profile needs to boost your business. How? By building trust with your potential clients! By showcasing your expertise and added value. By creating authority and become - and more importantly - stay top of mind. We have identified 25 strategical points that will leverage the power of your personal brand on LinkedIn. Implementing these steps on your LinkedIn profile will convert visitors into potential buyers and increase lead generation.

1. Background Photo

Make sure you give your profile a unique look by adding a background photo. Try to avoid sales pitches and screaming contact details. Show us something relevant to your work, expertise or industry. Interesting hobby, made this awesome picture while on holiday? This photo should be a conversation starter, it should make people curious. Interesting fact: having yourself in the picture increases your credibility.

2. Profile Picture

Choose wisely, make sure you are recognizable when you visit your client or e-meet during your first video call. Don't use a picture that was not intentionally meant as profile picture. No distraction of kids, hats, dogs, sailing boats or expensive cars in the background. Important: check if the visibility setting of your picture is on "All LinkedIn members" or "Public", don't take the risk that your potential client will not be able to see your picture.

3. Headline Customer Centric

Don't put your job title in your headline! But LinkedIn has copied my most recent work experience to my headline. Yes, because they don't want that field to be empty on your profile. Try to address your potential clients and challenges in your headline. And be aware that whenever you post something on LinkedIn, or whenever you engage, LinkedIn will show your headline to your network.

4. Headline - Think Keywords SEO

Besides addressing your target audience it would also be a wise idea to include some important keywords in your headline. Have a look in your Google Analytics report and select 3 - 5 important search words that will drive traffic to your profile.

5. Contact Info - Your Online Business Card

Check your Contact Info, is it up-to-date? Have you included 3 website url's and made your business phone number and e-mail address visible for everybody on LinkedIn (see your Settings for different privacy options). Included your birthday, your Twitter or IM account? Lower the threshold for potential customers to contact you!

6. Contact Info - E-mail Address

LinkedIn shows your primary e-mail address in your business card. Maybe this is the right moment to switch your private e-mail (like [email protected]) to your business e-mail address. Act professional, see LinkedIn as a business tool, not as a Social Media channel only.

7. About - Trigger

Maybe the most important lesson in this Newsletter: regardless of your position, on LinkedIn we all have two target audiences:

1. People (clients, prospect, recruiter, colleagues, social network
2. Machines (LinkedIn Search Engine, algorithm, Google indexation)

On your profile LinkedIn only shows the first 3 sentences of your About section. People need to click "See More" to continue reading. So this means we need to make a statement in the first 3 sentences, we need to trigger our clients and make them curious. Tip: include your contact details in the first 3 sentences for the quick decision maker.

8. About - Professional Personal Introduction (P.P.I.)

Sales is based on trust! We will not buy from an entrepreneur or sales professional that we do not trust. Don't start pushing your products and services in your About section (yet). First, introduce yourself with a short paragraph. Speak about your professional AND personal life. People (that means buyers also) are always looking for mutuality to connect!

9. About - Claim your Authority

For building trust it is very important that you showcase and highlight your expertise and track record in another separate paragraph. How long have you been in this business/industry? What makes you the expert I would like to discuss my challenges with? Think of industry knowledge, competences, best practices and facts mixed with emotions.

10. About - Now Start Talking About your Added Value

Introduced yourself ? Claimed your authority ? Then now start talking about your business. Maybe the following structure (and questions) might help you to write a powerful paragraph about your added value for your clients?

• List some of their challenges /pains ("do you recognize.... )
• Introduce your solutions and your role in advising them
• Refer to success cases / best practices of existing clients

11. About - Contact Details

Now your visitors are really getting excited about your profile, don't leave them searching for your contact details. Include a clear Call To Action (CTA) and provide them with your personal contact details, preferably e-mail address and phone number. Another great CTA would be to include a Calendly link where they could schedule a first meeting directly in your agenda. Important: never refer your visitor here to non-personal contact details such as an "info" e-mail address or central telephone number of your office.

12. Featured Section - Packed with Valuable Content

LinkedIn enriched our profiles with the new Featured Section april last year. If you haven't activated it, do it immediately. You can include links to websites, Youtube videos, or documents like Presentations, PDF's and images. Last but not least, you can highlight both posts and articles with high engagement! It's all about showcasing your added value by using different types of content and creating this rich buying experience.

13. Activity - Posted at least 2 times in the past Month

People do not visit your profile without a good reason! You will never become and stay top of mind on LinkedIn if you do not post relevant content towards your network. If you find it difficult to post on LinkedIn, get help! Ask someone with content and marketing expertise to support you in this journey. Tell stories about your daily business life, share interesting articles you have read or additional tips on your expertise. Step out of your comfort zone and become active!

14. Activity - Engaged at least 4 times in the past Month

Besides posting content your self, engaging on relevant discussions from your network is also an important aspect to become successful on LinkedIn. Don't know where to engage? Have a look at the posts on your Company Page, or scroll down the feed on your Homepage to contribute if possible. Did you know that you can search for discussions with relevant keywords even outside your network?

15. Work Experience - Connected to the Right Company Page

Easy one to tick the box! If your employer has a Company Page on LinkedIn this means your work experience needs to show the logo left from the company name and your job title. If there is a Company Page, but you still have the grey (building) icon, click on "the pencil" to edit, erase the Company Name, typ it again and select the right Company in the dropdown. If you are self-employed, you need to create a Company Page and upload a logo there, to showcase this on your individual profile in your work experience.

16. Work Experience - Description is Client Centric

Your potential clients are not interested in your tasks and responsibilities, they are not recruiters ??. Show your customer that you understand their challenges. Describe a number of possible pains that he recognizes and list possible solutions and what your role is in getting access to these solutions.

17. Work Experience - Media

Add Media to your Work Experience. Agreed, it has lower visibility than the once featured on your profile (see point 12. Featured) but still it shows thumbnails. The benefit of adding media in this section is twofold. On the one hand it makes your profile more visually attractive by alternating with text only, on the other hand it contributes to organic SEO to the media (and possible web links) that you share.

18. Skills - Top Skills are Relevant for Current Business

Remember our two target audiences (if not go back to point 7. About - The Trigger). People will not click on "See More" to see an overview of all your skills, they will only see the 3 links listed as Top Skills. Did you know you can decide your self which Skills are listed here?

Click "the pencil" and if you want to make changes click on the red pin symbol to make room for another Skill. Again, select wisely with your client in mind.

19. Skills - Skills are Based on Relevant SEO terms

We have a maximum of 50 Skills and besides the LinkedIn Database, you can also add skills in your own words or language. All Skills will be indexed as SEO terms, so again think about all possible Google Searches that your potential clients use to find you and your services. Think in alternatives, think bilingual, think about the best way to improve your visibility. Tip: endorsing the skills of your clients and peers in your network, makes them more visible and strengthens the relationship. Want to Boost your profile in short time? Ask your 20 closest connections (preferably not your colleagues) to endorse your for 5 specific skills. BAM!

20. Recommendations - At Least Three!

Social Proof is extremely important within LinkedIn. It builds credibility, it shows best practices and opens doors to new clients. Furthermore LinkedIn rewards profiles with a minimum of 3 recommendations (regardless of the date) with higher visibility in search results. Looking for a new job? Get as soon as possible at least 3 recommendations.

21. Recommendations - Most recent is less than a Year Old

Nobody wants to see outdated Recommendations? Make sure you have a process where whenever your client is satisfied with the service or products you have supplied, you reach out to him with a "Request for Recommendation". Ask questions, to make sure you can direct the recommendation and thus becomes even more powerful.

22. Recommendations - Contains Client Testimonials

Obviously recommendations from clients have more impact on buyers than recommendations from your manager of co-worker. Having testimonials on your website is no longer enough. Enrich your profile with powerful recommendations of your most satisfied clients. Are you active in multiple industries? Try to get recommendations from different type of clients to cover all those industries.

23. Accomplishments

In this section you can create an overview of accomplishments like: language skills (don't forget to indicate the level), courses, projects, volunteer experiences, publications and honors and awards.

24. LinkedIn Companies - Follows at least 10 Company Pages

My advice here is quite simple: Start following all the Company Pages of your clients! If you have Sales Navigator create an Account Lists (call it something like "Top Clients") and save their Company Pages as Account. Next step! Engage when you see posts where you can add value by leaving a comment (a simple "Like" will not do the job) with a question or additional insight.

25. LinkedIn Groups - Member of at least 5 Groups

Last and maybe least (just joking) LinkedIn Groups. Are Groups dead? Might be, but if you become a member of various Groups where your clients gather this opens two important doors!

1. Not connected yet with a potential client, but member of the same Group. LinkedIn offers you the opportunity to reach out to these clients with a personal message (1-on-1) within the Group.
2. If the Group is managed well and has relevant discussions, posting insightful comments will build your brand and trust and makes it easier to reach out to potential clients with a connection request.

Conclusion

Build your profile always with your potential clients in mind. Add keywords, media and social proof. Keep it up to date and make sure to contribute by posting valuable content.

Want to know more?

Does your organization want to leverage the power and success of Social Selling? Please feel free to contact me via: ? +31 6 55 11 72 82 or ? [email protected]

Also we can have a *free* 15 minutes call to Boost LinkedIn within your company. Just schedule it yourself via the link below

Calendly Richard

Want to help to inspire your colleagues or connections with Social Selling insights? Please share this Newsletter with them. Or sign up for our upcoming Social Selling Challenge (start date Monday March 29th). You can save your seat for € 297,- (or $ 375,-) and enjoy 5 live sessions of 1 hour each that covers all the LinkedIn Social Selling secrets.

About the author

Richard van der Blom (1977) is the founder of Just Connecting and currently working as Strategical Social Selling Trainer and Consultant for various international clients. He developed the B.E.S.T. Social Selling method, currently used by many of his clients, as well as various Social Selling strategies within LinkedIn. As a member of an independent European LinkedIn Think Tank, he has extended knowledge and insights of different aspects of LinkedIn, such as Sales Navigator, Account Based Selling/Marketing, the algorithm, product development and tooling.

As an inspiring Keynote speaker, he spoke at Annual Sales Kick-off meetings in over 17 countries . Provided LinkedIn training and consultancy since 2009 – as on of the first Dutch entrepreneurs – and trained over 45.000 (!) professionals at more than 650 companies.