LinkedIn isn’t like other social media platforms.
Most platforms, content creation is king. Content is important on LinkedIn, but the power is in connecting with others and opening conversations if they can be mutually beneficial.
Here’s 5 steps you can take to start growing your business on LinkedIn.
5 Step Checklist to Crushing Your LinkedIn Marketing
Foundations
#1 Visuals. What’s your profile look like?
If your profile is dreary, moving forward with LinkedIn outreach is going to be challenging.
- Profile photo. Have a bright photo that looks inviting.
- Cover photo. Definitely have a cover photo that either is comforting OR better yet helps with your messaging.
- Featured Content. Did you know you can post content to LinkedIn and then feature this in your profile? It looks amazing when you do it.
#2 Messaging and Copy Writing
Is your message on your profile consistent with your outreach?
Headline: Does your headline speak to your target customer?
About: Does your about section speak to your target customer?
The biggest mistake in any marketing copy writing is businesses or business owners speaking about themselves. The truth is, nobody really wants to hear about you. They spend their days thinking about their own problems, and if you can help them solve those problems, they’ll be more likely to connect with you.
Here’s a fantastic About section on LinkedIn.
#3 Your Business Page and Visitor Flow
When a contact clicks through to your LinkedIn profile, they want to know if you’ll be worth connecting with or working with. Your profile might be enough for them to make this decision, but they might also want to click through to your website.
There are two obvious ways to get to your website from your personal LinkedIn profile page.
- Click through your featured content (we’ll talk about this in a minute)
- Click through from your business page.
Without Business Page
With Business Page
When you have a business page attached, it’s easy for a user to click through to your page, see what your business does AND then visit your website. This is important if they may want to check out pricing or services before opening a conversation.
#4 Outreach List and Process
Once the foundational elements are in place for your LinkedIn profile and business page, the next step is to set up a list of people to reach out to. The LinkedIn Sales Navigator tool is an powerful way to sort through the millions of users on LinkedIn and figure out who would be worth talking to for your business.
For example, I can create a list of “Coaches and Consultants” who are the owners of their businesses, have been there for more than 5 years and live in California. LinkedIn will generate that list and allow me to reach out to connect with everyone on that list.
#5 Messaging Sequence
Last, but possibly the most important part of this process is getting your messaging dialed in for outreach. When you have 3 sections or less to make an impression, it helps to say more than “Hey, hows your business?”
You want to hint that you can help without being overly spammy. This is where we take time to craft a message and we also are quick to test different messaging and make changes.
Most people don’t realize this but when you send a connection request, LinkedIn often sends an email to the person to notify them. So you can also end up in their email box. Here’s what it looks like:
Do you have an audience that you’d like help reaching? Let me know. You can schedule a call here, or shoot me a message on LinkedIn.