Double down on LinkedIn
Two years ago, I thought LinkedIn worked only for recruiters and it was a social network only to look for a job.
I was very wrong.
Let me give you few numbers to change your mind if you still think like I used to.
LinkedIn is the underdog of social media networks.
*Source: Get Proof: The Case for B2B Marketing on LinkedIn
Unlike other social networks, you are on the platform with the expectation that someone will connect with you for business.
No #foodporn pictures or selfies. It’s plain business.
Another big benefit is that it is easier to connect directly with people in your industry using LinkedIn.
If you receive an invitation request from somebody you do not know, it does not look weird. You will probably accept it in case this person works in your industry or their profile information looks interesting enough.
This does not happen in other social media platforms such as Facebook.
When you know your market and publish content that actually gives your readers a true added value, they will engage with you.
Let me show you how you can increase your personal brand awareness on LinkedIn.
Convert your LinkedIn profile into a sales pitch
It is very simple. If your objective in LinkedIn is to get in contact with prospects, then you need to give them clear information about how you can be helpful for their business.
It is your elevator pitch and works just like if you meet your prospects in person.
You need to be convincing on telling how you can help them. There are few things you have to take into consideration:
Have a good profile picture
This one is very easy. Just have a nice picture with good light.
Everybody wants to see a face and not having a picture on your profile looks suspicious, right?
Or at least looks like an old profile that no one has used in years.
You need a good picture.
Background image
This works just like in Facebook, Twitter or YouTube. This space can be used to show people what do you do in a very visual way.
You can also use it to promote a product or service you recently released.
This guy is Reed Hoffman (co-founder of LinkedIn). I wanted to share his background picture as a good example on how you can use this space correctly.
Headline
This is exactly the place where you have to write your elevator pitch.
Remember Google’s 7-seconds rule. You have 7-seconds to catch the attention of people looking at your website. Otherwise, they will close it or go somewhere else.
You need to take advantage of every opportunity to get the attention of any prospect and explain who you are as easy as you can.
When you run a search in LinkedIn, the only information you can read from the results are name, headline, a summary and shared connections.
The headline is the only one you can edit.
Extract
This is where you can start being more creative on your profile written information.
Just take what you published on your headline and explain who you are. Give more details on how you can help people solve their problems.
You can also use this space to talk about who are your current customers.
It is not the same to say that you are a highly experience lawyer representing companies in the energy industry than saying that your client is Iberdrola.
Now, pay close attention to the first two lines in your extract because those are the ones that will show for default when you look at anybody’s profile.
This is where you have to be very clear and go straight to the point, because not everyone will click on “… see more” to know what else you got.
Remember the 7-seconds rule. You need to get people’s attention as fast as possible.
Call-to-Action
Another tip for having a fully fleshed profile is to include a link to a website that you wish your prospects go once they read your information.
For example, if you have a blog where you publish information about your services, then you would like to include it either on your headline or in your extract.
Try it in both places and see where it has the most engagement with your readers.
Tim Ferris includes a URL of his blog (tim.blog) in his headline.
Multimedia content
Lastly, there’s something left to do. You need to have a one-pager PDF or a 1-minute video with more detail about your services.
If your profile information is interesting enough and you already got the attention of a prospect, the next step will be to have more information about your services.
Take advantage of this and make it easy for interested prospects to get more information about you and your business.