Just lately Im receiving a lot more Linkedin enquiries and as we enter a new year then it’s a great time to re-contact old aquaintances and set up those face to face meetings you meant to set up but never got around to. But is your profile fit for purpose ? Would you engage you services if you were a connection of yours ? Take an objective look at your profile or better still ask a collegue or Family member to do it for you -would they recognise the real you from your profile ? Time for a check-up or just a tweak maybe. In reality it’s important to make sure that your LinkedIn profile is complete and detailed. In fact, you can consider your LinkedIn profile your online CV.
Do you use the groups facility ? One of the most powerful tools for attracting leads, only today I have spoken to someone, a print provider, who has connected with buyers from Sainsbury and BMW through group discussions. He will go on to have meetings with these companies and it promises big things for his business. So what can you do to get the best out of Linkedin groups ?
Create a group based on an industry-related topic, and become a LinkedIn Group administrator. You can then use this Group to establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry, grow a community of advocates, generate new marketing content ideas, and even new leads! If you’re interested in getting one started Im happy to advise. LinkedIn offers two group settings, open or closed. With an open group, discussions are publicly visible. Anyone can join, and depending on your moderation settings, anyone can submit discussions (or you can require moderator approval before the discussion is visible.) In closed groups, people must request to join and the discussions aren’t visible to everyone on LinkedIn. A “lock” icon appears next to your group name to indicate this.
But why stick with industry specific groups ? In fact its a common mistake that people make by just joining groups within their field of expertise. Are your prospective clients going to be in those groups ? Are leads in those groups going to be chased by a number of your competitors ? Whilst there are options to form joint ventures with these people you will be more likely to find leads in a topical group – indeed geographically based groups are a good place to look.
I hope that has given you some more ideas on your LinkedIn strategy but Im happy to review your linkedin strategy, offer training and also offer managed packages on a monthly basis. If you want more details book a review now !