TRANSCRIPT

I love LinkedIn.
I’ve been working with the platform for just over a year now – and I’m here to tell you it’s definitely possible to get warm leads from it.
The trick is to be visible and interact!
So why is LinkedIn so beneficial for your business?

Increase Visibility

In addition to having an engaging website with switched-on Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), it’s important to hang out where your target market hangs out.

You could think of LinkedIn as a proverbial water cooler, where people drop by for updates, share opinions, and take advice.

And you’re surrounded by forward-thinking professionals, like yourself, looking for ways to grow their business.
And manage their health and wellness at the same time.

By being visible across the platform, you can build trust and authority. It’s your opportunity to show the human side of your brand.
And be the person others want to work with.

There’s also the opportunity to create a LinkedIn Company Page to attract more attention to your business. It has the potential to pop up when searched in LinkedIn – and Google as well. Great for lead generation!

Build your Online Profile

Even if you have a detailed About Page on your website, LinkedIn allows you to paint a true picture of you and your business journey. Yes, it’s a bit like an online resume, but aimed at potential customers rather than potential bosses.

In the Profile section, you can showcase articles, documents, videos, and photos that best reflect your talents and knowledge.

You can also insert your educational background, achievements, licenses and certifications, and volunteer experience. The last part is especially great for highlighting your non-business side.

So how do you ensure your profile attracts attention?

Here are some tips –

• Insert your contact details at the top of your summary intro – so it’s the first thing people see.

• Also make sure your key offerings are visible upfront.

• It’s good to list all educational institutions. You never know who might connect with you after seeing what high school you went to!

• Be conversational – help people connect with you on an emotional level. Don’t just list achievements without any personality.

• Ensure the information is spread out to make it easy to read.

• Add media wherever you can – including past job roles.

• Include links to your website, blog, podcast, portfolio, YouTube channel etc.

• Add call to actions – like ‘Watch a video, ‘Listen to a podcast’, request a quote.

Build Credibility

Thanks to the ‘Recommendations’ feature, past customers and colleagues can share some nice words about you to capture the interest of new prospects.

It’s perfect for building further trust and credibility – and increasing opportunities to generate leads and sales. So don’t be afraid to reach out to your connections and ask them to recommend you!

How do you get recommendations? Recommend others! It will probably encourage them to reciprocate.

Create a Community

Just like Facebook, the platform provides the opportunity to create an online community via LinkedIn Groups.

By building a group, you can attract membership of potential and existing customers, plus professionals in the same industry or with similar interests, to share insights and experiences with one another. As a result, you can build valuable connections and potential collaborations.

As a bonus, your group will attract viewers to your Company Page as well.

I admit I haven’t played around with this feature yet, but it’s something I’m hoping to get onto in the near future.

Find new leads

Like Facebook and Instagram, LinkedIn utilises hashtags to help with searches.

If you work on a B2B level, you can search for potential collaboration partners and be inspired by content shared by people in the same industry as you.
Alternatively, you can expand your network by creating new connections based on recommendations in the ‘My Network’ tab.

Some people choose to only connect with people they know. This is great if you only want a close-knit community – knowing you personally know everyone in your network and can therefore refer them with ease.

However, the LinkedIn experts advise accepting anyone and everyone who sends you an invitation – and recommend sending invites to anyone who could be a good connection.

This is because it expands your network and you never know – they might have connections who’ll see your posts and you’re the exact person they’ve been looking for! And you would have otherwise never met online.

Recruit new staff

And yes, you can use LinkedIn to find and attract top talent to add to your team.
Whether you advertise available positions via the platform or conduct background research for short-listed candidates, LinkedIn remains useful for the recruitment side of things too.

With all that said – what do you even post about?

There are 5 different types of posts I recommend –

• Long form storytelling – These are the posts where you share something about you or a client you’ve helped. They’re longer and usually have a question at the end to encourage interaction.

• Video – Some of you will hate me saying this, but video is so powerful for connecting with others online. And the algorithm prefers video as well! With or without captions, I challenge you to give it a go!

• Advice – Are you pondering about something? Or seeking input regarding a new product or service you’re considering. Ask away and see what people say!

• Social proof – Don’t be afraid to share testimonials and Google reviews etc – via a print screen or a pretty Canva graphic. Then add your thoughts around the project or how the feedback made you feel.

• Call to action – Yes, it’s okay to sometimes sell your products or services on LinkedIn. Just make sure it’s a fifth of the posts you do!

So how have I personally benefited from LinkedIn?

It’s helped me to build my visibility and share my message.

• I’ve had a workshop attendee sign up after I stumbled across their news feed – and they were looking for blog writing assistance at the time!

• I’ve had a past contact reach out to me to do business together after seeing a post I wrote.

• I’ve also had a past contact reach out to me and acknowledge we have similar synergies. After chatting, she’s since referred a list of health & wellness business owners to me. And I’ve spoken to most of them and gained some more podcast guests and potential clients!

And, I might add, this was all achieved with the free version of LinkedIn.

Well, that’s it for today’s episode – but I hope it’s opened your eyes to the potential LinkedIn provides.

ABOUT LEANNE SHELTON

Throughout her career, Leanne Shelton has gained vast experience in journalism, marketing, communications, events, and B2B sales. She has worked in both corporate and not-for-profit roles, but since starting Write Time Marketing in 2014, Leanne has found her true calling.

A self-proclaimed English nerd at heart, Leanne is extremely passionate about the written word and loves working with Health & Wellness business owners to prepare effective content marketing strategies to best suit their target audiences. Even though she has dabbled in all forms of copywriting, Leanne specialises in business blogging as she loves the capacity to form ongoing relationships with her clients.

While some business owners choose to outsource their blogs to Leanne to write, others prefer to take the DIY approach and learn about the art via training opportunities online, face-to-face, and her podcast ‘Marketing & Me’.

Outside the office, Leanne enjoys dancing, reading, listening to inspiring podcasts, and spending quality time with her husband, Justin, and two young daughters.

To find out more about Write Time Marketing, visit www.writetimemarketing.com.au

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