LinkedIn is about more than LEADS

You were told as a child, by your parents or teachers “To succeed, you must work hard, and you must work smart” Well, your LinkedIn endeavors are no different.?We deal with a lot of clients that subscribe to our services on LinkedIn, and they have one purpose for the subscription - they want leads.?They want to see the return on their LinkedIn investment immediately.?Some are patient, and wait 3 months, before the impatience settles in. But they often overlook the other very valuable non-pecuniary values that rests in proper management of their account.?This is Brand Awareness, Thought Leadership and Community. All the “nice things that we cannot explain in bean-counter terms”.

What I am addressing today, can be equated to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Most of us value and understand and know about Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. But let’s recap in any event.

Abraham Maslow, a very clever man, came up with a theory that made him very popular in his day, and so he remains till this day. Maslow’s theory is a motivational psychological theory that shows a five-tiered model of human needs. The pyramid is a hierarchical stacked form in manner of priority. Moving from the heavy base, the basics of life, to the top peak, the capstone of the pyramid.?The capstone represents the “enlightened” or “self-actualized” state.?The important thing here is it is stacked on priority levels.?As you can see from the image heading up my post, Maslow Hierarchy consists of the basic, often under-valued needs. These are physiological, safety, belonging and Esteem.

According to Maslow, one must satisfy lower-level needs before addressing needs that occur higher in the pyramid.?You need to fulfil all these needs, to enable the capstone. ?You cannot be Self-Actualized if you haven’t placed value in the lower order needs. In LinkedIn terms these are the leads you get off LinkedIn. The success and “I have arrived” feeling. ?As a business owner, you value your business, when the business is valued by your customers.?This feeds your bottom line.

Let’s explore the comparison of Maslow’s Hierarchy and LinkedIn Hierarchy of needs.

First is the foundation. This is the client – all about the client.?You will do everything on LinkedIn to meet their needs, desires or appeals. It is not so much about you, your company or your product or service.?The goal of a social media presence is to attract the right customer. Before you even plan or start your LinkedIn journey, you must know what your clients wants, or needs are. ?What urgency do they have to consider your service or product? It’s as basic as the need for food, clothing, and warmth. What’s in it for them, and what is in it for you. But that their need surpasses your offering.

Simply equated to the basic need in Maslow’s hierarchy, is the Physiological need.?Your business needs a target client, a solid service, or a reliable product.?Without this there simply is no reason for your business entity to exist at all.

Second to this, you now must address the “market and offering” by setting up three things. This in LinkedIn terms is the set up of your Profile, your Company Page, and your Group.?Without these platforms, the endeavors on your LinkedIn account results in a fraught attempt at best. It simply cannot be effective if the structure to reach your clients, dynamically, is not provided

Third, is your content and creatives.?What content are you pushing out on the three platforms or structures? ?Is it of value to your audience??Are you attracting them by rule??People see the creative, then the headline and lastly visit the content. Does your profile establish you as a thought leader? Second, how well do you write content to establish your Company Page in its brand awareness and Branding.?Does your company page offer content that persuades your audience, or at least intrigues them to want to find out more? Third, do you make the effort of creating a community front, via your group, to get engagement and interest from your target market.?Do you offer them this group to express themselves, ask questions and entertain them?

The fourth of the LinkedIn pyramid is, in my opinion, the attainment of Esteem.?Are you credible??Can your connections see, from what you do on your Profile, Page and Group, that you are a sure bet??More so, does your profile speak of true endorsements and referrals? ?This here, is the Rubicon crossing needed before you get your leads.?And this takes time.?No one gets Esteem or Credibility off the cuff.?It’s a process of all three preceding levels before you get to this point. ?Compare this to just graduating as a medical doctor, that’s all well.?But your esteem comes from years of excellent care to patients, word of mouth and credible actions you have taken in the past, to build your reputation.

Now the final capstone, is the leads.?Leads and business growth will make you as business “Self-Actualized”.?We all aim for this. that point in life where you feel that you have fulfilled your goal and met your self-set challenges.?In LinkedIn terms this cannot be expected in the first month of a new, and dare I say, properly planned LinkedIn strategy.

Now, think about your perception of LinkedIn and Lead Generation before you read this article.?How did your expectations change? Now that you see it all from a systemic perspective.

Without the 4 blocks beneath it, self-actualization is a fools wish.?Noting but a pipedream.?You must put in all the blocks to get to the capstone.?It’s like when you as a child, built a large LEGO set… and the whole base was wonky. Stubborn, you persevered to get to the capstone on your terms, and not on terms of basic physics. You can put that very last brick on the top… it held for less than a second before it collapsed. Then, your mother or father will say “success comes from hard work, and smart work”. There is no skipping the building of a base, a solid base, before you event dream of the result and the pleasure of adding that last capstone.

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It is the same with LinkedIn and its Lead Generation.?Like most things in life, you must build a couple of layers, of solid foundation before you can claim that capstone.?As you journey along from the base tier, you get some rewards. Some Noddy-badges, so to speak. ?You may get some leads when you start the building of your LinkedIn base to self-actualization. But the proper capstone effect can only be realised if you consistently work the 4 base tiers.

My advice to those who want to get realty serious about LinkedIn is not to expect your capstone to land in place, when you haven’t given the bottom 4 tiers enough time to solidly settle the foundation, for what will be self-actualization in business terms.?You will get leads along the way of building your LinkedIn investment, but the actual rewards will only be reaped much late. And you must maintain the bases if you want Lead Generation Longevity.?Do not undervalue the rewards you get form the 4 base tiers. You cannot put a price tag on reputation, Thought Leadership, Brand Awareness, and community. ?Leads generation can be deceiving if you only think of the lead’s price tag.

Be patient for the reward is worth the wait.?