(Personal) branding on LinkedIn

A LinkedIn strategy, how difficult can it be??You create a profile and a company page, occasionally post good news, share some likes here and there… bring on the customers!?In practice, the results of such a quick bite approach are rather disappointing.?The customers don't come or (perhaps worse) they are customers that you are not waiting for at all.?Fortunately, you can decide for yourself what kind of customers you attract.?But first you need to get your LinkedIn strategy in order.

Personally I would advise businesses and professionals to outsource social media growth to professionals, but still you need to cover the basics yourself. In this article I will give you some guidance.

What is a LinkedIn strategy?

A LinkedIn strategy is a plan in which you record how you will use LinkedIn to achieve your business goals.?

All parts must be in agreement with each other?to propagate?a consistent?company brand?.?Does one of these parts not match the rest??Then that can have an impact on how other LinkedIn users (your potential customers) experience you and, at the end of the day, on your turnover.

So don't just do anything on LinkedIn, but think about what exactly you want to achieve and then decide how you will do it.

1. Determine your KPIs and adjust your actions accordingly acties

What do you want to achieve on LinkedIn??Do you want more profile visitors, more relevant connections, more interaction on your content, more leads??Your goals affect your approach and the type of content you share.?So always start by formulating your goals.

2. Create a concrete, complete and customer-oriented profile

• a good profile makes clear quickly and concretely what you can do for whom.
• with a fully designed profile you show the best version of yourself and increase the chance that potential customers will contact you.
• a customer-oriented profile?revolves around the customer's needs.?What does the customer need to know to be convinced that you are the person who can help them best?

3. Complete your company page

With a complete LinkedIn company page you?generate 30% more views per week.?A fully completed and up-to-date company page also comes across as professional and reliable, is good for your findability in Google (SEO) and you can display a logo in the Work experience section on your personal profile.

4. Know your customer through and through

An effective LinkedIn strategy is a combination of inbound and outbound.?By regularly sharing valuable content (see point 5), you put yourself in the spotlight of potential customers.?But you also want to make contact with decision makers within companies or organizations that are of interest to you.?For this it is important to know your customers through and through.?So not: 'SME entrepreneurs', but: 'ICT entrepreneurs from the Utrecht region with 10-30 employees who struggle with challenges X and Y'.

5. Share valuable own content

Sharing valuable content?is the best way to present yourself as an expert on LinkedIn.?Think of professional tips, peeks behind the scenes and results that customers have achieved thanks to their collaboration with you.?But beware: social selling is about giving value, not about putting your offer in the spotlight.?Make sure with your content that people are convinced that you are the person they should be with and conduct the sales conversation 'behind the scenes' (see also point 6).

6. Connect with commenters and profile visitors

Take the time daily to see who has responded to your content and who has visited your profile.?Are these potential customers??Then connect with them and keep the contact warm.?But be careful: don't make the mistake that many other LinkedIn users make and don't try to make sales too quickly.?

7. Put your LinkedIn actions in your calendar

What's not on your agenda won't happen.?Or not consistently.?And without consistent actions, there are no consistent results.?So put your LinkedIn actions in your agenda and plan 15-30 minutes every day to tick off your action points.

Think of:

• Check who has visited your profile and possibly connect
• Check who has responded to your posts and connect if desired
• Reply to private messages
• Check notifications and follow up if necessary
• Searching for new prospects