Table of Contents
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Congratulations! 4
If I were to ask you what is the Number One Challenge Facing You as a Small Business. Would you say finding new prospects?! 4 Whom Did I Write This Book For? 5
The Networking Power of Linkedln 7 Linkedln Is Growing Fast 7 Building Your Private Trusted Network 7 To Pay or Not to Pay? 7
Step One – Growing Your Personal Network 9 If you want to import contacts from a CSV file then click on “Any Email” 10 Sending a Connection Invite 10 Haven’t Found the Time to Earn Your 500+ CONNECTIONS Badge? 12
Step Two – Your Prospecting Roadmap 14 Why You Need a Prospecting Roadmap 14 Identifying Your Perfect Prospects 15 Finding the Business Intersect Between You and Your Prospects 16 You Have to Do More Than Fog a Mirror 16
Step Three – Choosing Your Targeted Keywords 18 Identifying Keywords 19
Step Four - You’re Internet Success Formula 21 REALLY IMPORTANT: 21 Profile Sections Where You Can Acid Your Targeted Keywords 21 Nothing to Worry About: 22
Step Five - GettingYourName Right 23
Step Six - Put Your Best Face Forward 24
Step Seven – Writing Your Magnetic Headline 25 What Do You See on Linkedln’s General Search Page When You Search for CPA’s? 26 Do You See the Difference a Magnetic Headline Makes? 26 Points to Remember: 26 Let’s Take a Look At a Real Life Example 27 Here is a Screen Shot Prior to Applying the Zero to Hero Formula 27 Here is Her Headline After Applying the Zero to Hero Principals 27 Your Headline Has One-Purpose: 27
Step Eight - Make Your Contact Section Shine 28 Email 28 Instant Messaging 28 Twitter Handle 28 WeChat 28 Websites 28 Physical Address 28 Step Nine – Stake Your Claim 29 Make It “Uniquely” YOU 29 Step Ten – Wilting Your First Person Summary 30 Speak to Their Need While Inserting Your Keywords 30 Summary Section Formula 31 Summary Outline 31 Here is a Summary Example using the Zero to Hero Formula (1902 characters) 32 Your Linkedln Summary MUST Attract Your Ideal Prospects 33 Points to Remember 33
Step Eleven – Your Career Experience 34
Step Twelve - Finish Strong 35
Sage Advice from the Experts at Linkedln 37
Social Marketing 38 The Social Prospecting Funnel 38 5.Engage with them as a group member and move ensuing conversations off-line. 39 Building Your Trusted Network 40 Show Appreciation for Those That Accept 40 Start Sharing Value Added Content 41 Join Targeted Linkedln Groups 42 Moving the Conversation Off-Line 42 Mining the Prospecting Gold in Groups 43 Groups Are Like Networking Events on Steroids 43 Adding Your Voice to the Group 44 Getting Started With Groups 44 What Else Will You Discover In Groups? 44 Staying Local 45 Your “Groups” Checklist 46 A Few General Suggestions 46
Respecting the Culture and Etiquette of Linkedln 48 You Gain More By Being Helpful 48 Messaging Etiquette 49 Here are some generic email templates to get you started 49 Connection Invitation: 49 Connection Thank You: 49 Value Added Message: 49 Webinar invite: 49 Keep Track of it ALL 50 Finding the Relationship Tab 50 The Tag Button 51 Tagging is Easy 52 Not Much to Managing Tags 52 Tagging Long-Form Posts 53 There You Have It! 53 Congratulations!
You made a wise decision to purchase “Go From Zero to Hero on LinkedIn”. This book contains the step-by-step blueprint that I use every day to generate leads for my business. From my own experience, I would encourage you to stay the course, implement every step, and consistently manage your network properly; so you too can reap the rewards of a never-ending stream of qualified prospects.
If I were to ask you what is the Number One Challenge Facing You as a Small Business Owner, would you say finding new prospects?!
Yes, an on-going stream of qualified prospects is critically important. Obviously, no prospects = no sales, no sales = no money.
Instead of prospects, I propose that the answer to the question is actually time management. When the buck stops at your desk, you are responsible for every single detail of your business from the monumental to the mundane.
So, the first order of business facing you as a businessperson is how to effectively manage your time. Assuming that you're working an eight-hour day, leaving you time for lunch and personal errands, you have about 420 minutes to get ALL of your required work done PLUS close new sales.
On average, you will tackle upwards of 6 primary roles each day in your business such as: current case management, market research, customer service, advertising, promotion, bookkeeping, lead generation, one-on-one sales presentations, and a host of other duties all demanding your attention in one way or another.
Sound familiar?
If you are a one Man or Woman shop, you have no choice but to manage all aspects of your business. This means that every single minute you spend in non-revenue generating activities costs you money! However, with proper planning, you can manage smarter with better and more profitable results.
Would you agree when I say that becoming proficient using today’s technology to promote your business can be time consuming?
People tell you that you need to have a website, that you should be blogging, that you need to be tweeting, putting posts on Facebook, creating videos for YouTube, and on and on. It’s true that doing all of these things helps you promote yourself but the danger in using these multiple strategies is the enormous amount of time you invest maximizing their effect. Always keep in mind the truism from Benjamin Franklin; “Time is money”.
Another trap many business owners are caught up in is BSOS or as it is more commonly referred to Bright Shiny Object Syndrome. As technology continues advancing at cyber speed there are an overwhelming amount of online services, apps, and software all telling you that for just a few dollars up front or a few dollars per month you can push a button and hoards of hungry folks ready to buy your products or services will magically appear. I’m not saying that some of these services may not help you in some aspect of promoting your business.
However, there is an unseen trap far too many business owners fall into. Often, there is a substantial learning curve to successfully implement these services, which can cannibalize the very time you were hoping to recover.
So, why am I talking about time management when you invested in my book (by the way, thank you) to learn how to prospect using LinkedIn?
Because used properly, LinkedIn will save you massive amounts of time. LinkedIn should be your primary Social Selling platform to promote your brand along with your products and/ or services.
Since its inception in 2002, LinkedIn has been quietly simmering in the background becoming the largest business and professionals' social network in the world. Beginning in 2012, LinkedIn has been introducing new features and refining previous ones that have further cemented LinkedIn’s position as your primary one-stop, do it all, self-branding, and prospecting portal.
In the pages that follow, I shed further light on these additional features or services and share some insider tactics to maximize their results for your business.
Whom Did I Write This Book For?
This is NOT for you…
If you have already created a magnetic profile page designed to speak directly to your visitors motivating them to reach out to you.
If you have already wisely sprinkled in just the right amount of targeted keywords to insure you are a top tier result when your prospects search on LinkedIn.
If you already understand the LinkedIn relationship based social selling funnel and how to transition your targeted prospects into personal and live interactions.
Or, if you are looking for a LinkedIn shortcut that takes very little time or effort and then are expecting dramatic, over the top results - this book is NOT for you. On the other hand, if you have been searching for a simple, easy to implement step-by-step system, and you are willing to invest a few hours to set up your profile page properly and spend 1 or 2 hours per week adding content and engaging with other LinkedIn members, then congratulations, you now have a proven blueprint to follow.
To insure that you don’t waste any of your valuable time, this book ignores all of the fluff and minutia by cutting right to the chase. Each step is designed to lead into the next and when completed these work together to enhance your ability to build relationships and prospect for quality leads.
Important note: leaving out one or more of these steps because it sounds boring or you just can’t seem to get around to it can seriously hamper your LinkedIn success. As of the publication date of this book, all of the information is current. Please keep in mind that LinkedIn from time to time evolves, deletes, or adjusts some of its features and services.
Be sure you don’t miss any of these important LinkedIn updates or changes by registering for a FREE membership in my Zero to Hero community. One benefit of becoming a member is the access you will have to other resources, tips, and strategies. PLUS I will keep you up to date on LinkedIn changes. www.zerotoherolinkedin.com/signup
To your prospecting success,
David Cole The Networking Power of LinkedIn
LinkedIn operates the world's largest professional network on the Internet with more than364 Million members in over 200 countries and territories (June 2015). 111 Million members are located in the United States.
LinkedIn Is Growing Fast
Did you know that businesses and professionals are signing up to join LinkedIn at a rate of more than two new members per second?
That's 172,800 + per day!
LinkedIn is a laser focused social networking site designed specifically for the business and professional community . With your free account, LinkedIn allows you to establish and correspond with networks of people, referred to as Connections.
LinkedIn makes it fast and easy to locate business associates, clients, and other members within LinkedIn with whom you share a common interest. Then on an individual basis, you can choose to invite them to "connect" with you through your personal profile.
Building Your Private Trusted Network
When another member accepts your invitation, they become a part of your private trusted network referred to as a 1st Level Connection.
Because LinkedIn is all about social connecting, they extend your influence by adding the direct connections of your 1st level connections to your network as your 2nd Level Connections.
As an example, Bob accepts your personal invitation; he now becomes your 1st Level Connection.
Bob’s 1st Level Connections are now added to your network as your 2nd Level Connections. Think of it as the friends of your close friends.
LinkedIn takes it a step farther by positioning any connections in your 2 nd level network as your 3rd Level Connections.
Oh by the way, be sure to visit www.zerotoherolinkedin.com and download our free checklist – “How to Manage LinkedIn in 20 Minutes a Day”
To Pay or Not to Pay? Almost everything I share with you in this book you can do with a FREE LinkedIn profile page. What are the differences between a free account and one of the upgraded levels?
Number one and I think the most valuable benefit is the expansion of the “See Who Has Viewed Your Profile” feature. If you have a free account, you can only see the last 5 people who visited your profile page during the last 90 days.
If you upgrade to, at the minimum, a Job Seeker account your “See Who Has Viewed Your Profile” feature expands to allow you to see everyone who has viewed your profile for the last 90 days. In addition, LinkedIn provides very valuable insights and suggestions to enable you to garner more views and attention from other members.
According to LinkedIn:
“ You'll see a graph of viewer trends above the list of viewers. The graph displays weekly trends for views of your profile over the past 90 days, as well as other viewer insights such as:
Where your viewers work and live.
Where they came from in finding you.
Their industry and job titles.
Paid membership accounts also benefit from a deeper drill down menu with more descriptive options (data points) when searching for other members.
To encourage you to upgrade, LinkedIn’s big carrot is the addition of more InMails. This messaging service basically opens the door to contact (cold call) any member in the entire LinkedIn community.
InMail is an effective tool when there is no other way to connect with or message another member. Depending on your level of paid membership, you are restricted to a limited number of InMails. Recently, LinkedIn began issuing credits for any InMails that are not responded to by other members.
The methods I teach you in my book will rarely utilize InMails so whether or not having more InMails available is worth the added expense is strictly a marketing decision.
CLICK HERE to see a side-by-side comparison of each plan
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Growing Your Personal Network
TASK: Create your own private trusted network of individuals
Objective: Finding and connecting with your ideal prospects
Actions: Upload your email contacts
Send connection invitations
Search LinkedIn for targeted prospects
You can make it easy to expand your connections network by allowing LinkedIn to access your email contacts. If you have an email account with any of the listed providers, you can enter your login information and LinkedIn will compile a list of people in your e-mail address book who are current members of LinkedIn.
Remember that building your network helps you connect not only with whom you know, but also with the people your connections know.
At the top of your LinkedIn home page, move your mouse over the Connections link and select Add Connections from the drop down list. From here, you can give LinkedIn a one-time access to your email account. It will upload all of your contacts including detailed information that includes names, birthdays, gender, locations, job titles, email addresses, phone numbers, websites, and notes. Anything you've already included in your address book.
If your email provider doesn't support the authentication technology that LinkedIn uses, you'll be asked to provide your password so that LinkedIn can access your account. LinkedIn will use your password for this one session only. LinkedIn doesn't save or store any of your personal information or password. However, LinkedIn does store the contact information that it retrieves from your email account and makes it available to you in your LinkedIn account.
Using the names, LinkedIn will suggest contacts that you might want to send a connection invitation to. LinkedIn will never send emails to these people automatically. You need to grant permission for each individual that is invited.
From the Add Connections window, select your email provider if you see it listed. If it's not listed, select Any Email. If your information is not already populated, go ahead and enter it, CLICK continue.
Your contacts that are already LinkedIn members will show first. You can either click on Add Connections if you want to send them an invitation to connect with you or click Skip This Step if you don't want to connect.
Your contacts that are not yet LinkedIn members will be shown next. You can send invitations asking if they want to join LinkedIn or skip this step.
If you want to import contacts from a CSV file then click on “Any Email” IMPORTANT- you should concentrate on breaking the 500 + connections barrier as quickly as possible. People are more open to connecting with connected people. Having a badge on your LinkedIn profile showing 500 + connections gives both you and your business additional credibility.
TIP: LinkedIn will download ALL of your contacts so if you do want to pick and choose the contacts that will be sent an invitation then be sure to review the downloaded list and uncheck those you do not want before sending the invitations.
TIP: LinkedIn only allows you to send 3,000 connection requests. So use your connection requests wisely. I noticed a tipping point when my connections hit 2,000 as more and more people started asking me to connect with them.
Sending a Connection Invite
Once you identify your prospects, you need to invite them to connect with you. Obviously, personalizing each connection request with at the minimum their first name would be ideal. However, this isn’t always doable especially when using different electronic devices.
You have to be careful when sending connection invites to members whom you do not know or if you don’t have a mutual member you are both connected with. If enough members reject your invitation as “I Don’t Know” (IDK), LinkedIn will restrict you to only connecting with members where you have their primary email address.
Before you start firing off personalized cut and paste invitations, take a moment to look at each person's profile. If you can customize the invitation using some of their profile information, you'll greatly improve your chances of having it accepted. Try to find something in common or give a reason why it would be good for the two of you to be connected.
If you would like to personalize your connection request with their name or mentioning something from their profile then you have two basic options. Visit their profile page and CLICK the connect button. From the drop down menu select either “Friend” or "I don’t know”. With either choice, your message must be personable and respectful. No hype or sale pitches, your only goal is to make the connection.
The 1st screen shot is the generic invite message generated when you select “Friend”. Keep in mind that your success in having them accept your connection request and avoid the dreaded “I don’t know”, is going to depend on how you word your invitation.
Generic connection invitation:
Now, here is how it might look after you personalize the invite: When you sign up for your FREE membership I will share with you the exact sentence to add to your message that will virtually eliminate the dreaded IDK. http:// www.zertoherolinkedin.com/ signup
Haven’t Found the Time to Earn Your 500 + CONNECTIONS Badge? I have noticed that increasing your success in having connection invites accepted goes up dramatically when you have earned your 500 + connections badge. People like to connect with connected people. If you would like to reach connected status on LinkedIn as quickly as possible, no problem, our affordable 500 + service will have you claiming your badge with pride in as little as 14 days.
Visit www.zerotoherolinkedin.com and CLICK on the 500 + link. Your Prospecting Roadmap
TASK: Create a composite profile of your ideal prospect
OBJECTIVE: Identify your ideal prospects when doing searches
ACTIONS: Complete ideal prospect exercise
Since your goal is using LinkedIn to find more prospects then wouldn’t you agree that it is very important for you to have in mind exactly the type of person you are prospecting for? If you don’t have a very good idea of whom you are searching for, how will you recognize them when you find them?
Defining your ideal prospect is something that most people don’t even think about doing. Yet, it's the most important first exercise because your profile page needs to be written to speak directly to your ideal prospects. If you are not creating a magnetic connection with your visitor, why would your visitor ever want to reach out to you to explore your solutions?
Why You Need a Prospecting Roadmap
Many new members simply slap up a profile page without ever giving any thought as to what their future profile visitors are searching for and when nobody shows any interest they complain that LinkedIn is a waste of time.
To illustrate: if you were visiting a foreign country and had to be at a precise location on a certain day, you obviously wouldn’t just hop in a car and take off without checking a map ahead of time so that you knew the best route to your destination, right?! The same common sense applies to LinkedIn. Without a definitive roadmap to your destination (e.g. targeted prospects), a LinkedIn profile is nothing more than you shouting into the wind. Therefore, your first step is determining who your ideal prospect is and second where do these prospects hang out at on LinkedIn so you can interact with them?
The fact is, your products or services have greater appeal to a defined demographic of individuals. Once you have your ideal prospect clearly in mind, everything else falls into place and makes sense.
This is where you identify your target market. Depending on what products or services you're offering for sale, your search parameters can be based on an industry, a job title, a physical location, or a combination of things.
A few examples are corporate planner, project manager, H.R. representative, etc. Use your chosen search criteria to begin searching for ideal prospects using LinkedIn Advanced Search and LinkedIn Groups. Find the Advanced People Search screen by clicking on "People" on the drop-down box at the top right of your LinkedIn display. Click "Advanced" to the right. You'll then see the Advanced People Search display, which contains numerous parameters for finding contacts.
Identifying Your Perfect Prospects
Your ideal customer or prospect is:
A person who has the need for your product / service.
A person who has the ability to pay for your products / service.
A person who has the authority to purchase your product / service.
To help you get started identifying your ideal prospect, I suggest that you make a list of 10 of your best clients and then write down everything you know about them. As you do this exercise, you should begin to notice some similarities. To help you with this process here are some sample questions to ask yourself about your best clients:
1. Male or Female
2. Age range? 3. Single or married?
4. Parent?
5. Where are they geographically located?
6. What type of profession, job, or occupation do they have?
7. Level of Education?
8. Average Income?
9. If they work as an employee, do they have a part time side business?
10. Are they self-employed?
11. What industry are the in?
12. What type of business entity?
13. Approximate annual revenue range?
14. Do they have employees if so, how many on average Or, you can approach this from another angle:
1. What type of people do you like to do business with? 2. Where do they hang out online? 3. What type of activities do they enjoy? 4. What are the social causes that are important to them? 5. What are their core values? 6. Is there one type of dominant personality that will affect how they make a buying decision? So why is spending the time and effort to build your ideal prospect profile so important? The answer is simple, because this will make it much easier to create a very specific Advanced People Search on Linkedln. Now you can drill down deeper by using specific keywords and filters such as location, industry, years of experience, and seniority level to define tile type of individual that you’re looking for. TIP: When you have dialed in your search parameters arid you are finding the ideal prospect results you have been searching for STOP and SAVE THE SEARCH before leaving the results page. This enables Linkedln to understand what type of members you are looking to connect with and serve up similar results in the “People You May Know” - feature.
Finding tile Business Intersect Between You and Your Prospects
When you know who your ideal prospect is, you will in turn identify what I refer to as the intersection between your product and/or service and their current needs and/or wants.
Now you will have a clear focus on not only whom you are marketing your products and services to but also how to communicate in the way in which they will respond. You Have to Do More Than Fog a Mirror
Linkedln is a social network based on a culture of caring and freely sharing information that will benefit the other member(s). More about why this works for your prospecting success later. So, to see your prospecting efforts begin to pay off it’s very important that you regularly post value added updates to your network at least 2-3 times a week. I also suggest that for every four value added updates you should share a post promoting your personal brand services.
Regularly sharing value added updates and posts with your connections is the key to identifying and then engaging with prospects in your network. Pass along interesting articles, news, or video links that you find informative and that you feel your connections will also. Not only will your connections appreciate getting this information but also they’ll start to see you as a person who is happy to share valuable expertise and insights.
By doing this correctly, you will establish:
• Your expertise. • Your credibility. • That you offer value.
TIP: If possible, make sure your updates do double duty. First, keeping you in front of your connections. Second, be sure to use one or more of your keywords in the update so you can ramp up the keyword juice for both Linkedln and Google.
TIP: As you identify value added content, create a folder and keep it on your desktop so it’s easy to access. In my case, I also add a unique numbered code to my value added content so I can track what I have already sent to another member.
It’s NOT all about you: Remember to like, comment, or share updates from other Linkedln members that resonate with you. This is a great way to edify another member which in-turn gets you noticed and many times this elicits a positive comment by the quoted member and you can start a conversation.
If you have a paid account dive deep into “who’s viewed your profile”: The “Who’s Viewed Your Profile” is an amazing feature enabling you to see the types, industries, and locations of members viewing you, as well as which keywords are being used in Linkedln searches to find you. Use this information to both optimize your profile and find new prospects.
Promote it everywhere: Add your Linkedln profile to your email signature or add your personalized profile URL to your business card. Remember, the first action a new prospect will take is to learn more about who you are and your Linkedin profile is the perfect place to start.
Stumped as to what to share with your network - here is a great starter list:
Checklists I Case studies I Reports I Articles I Videos Links I eBooks
A Linkedln profile page is nothing more than a grave marker if you are not actively sharing content on a consistent basis.
Once you have completed your ideal prospect profile you’re half way there. The second part of your ideal prospect exercise is figuring out how your prospects are searching for your products / services so you can focus on the top two or three keywords. Those keywords are the intersect identifier between what they want and what you want to offer.
Choosing Your Targeted Keywords
TASK: Determine your highest value targeted keywords
OBJECTIVE: Use targeted keywords to improved Linkedln results
ACTIONS: Google research I Linkedln research Keyword research is a practice used by search engine optimization professionals to find and research actual search terms people enter into the search engines when conducting a search. Search engine optimization professionals research keywords in order to achieve better rankings in search engines Prom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Keep in mind that Linkedln is a powerful vertical search engine that serves up very precise results based on the targeted keywords being searched for. Linkedln is not intuitive, it can only produce search results that are based on the search indicators (the keywords you use in your profile).
You can’t be all things to all people: You will NOT improve your visibility on Linkedln by using a long list of keywords. This shotgun approach actually dilutes your profile page in the search algorithm because you cannot create enough mentions for each keyword, therefore search results will serve up profile pages with stronger limited keyword presence.
It’s your responsibility to make sure Linkedln knows what you are all about, how?
Use targeted keywords sprinkled naturally from your Headline (if possible) all the way down to “Advice on How to Contact you” towards the bottom of your profile page. This is the secret sauce to being found not only on Linkedln but also on Google because your properly optimized profile page is a popular organic search result served up by Google based on your targeted keywords.
Now, I have a hunch that instead of doing another boring exercise you would rather just cut to the chase, get your profile page finished, and get on with prospecting, right? Resist the urge to take a shortcut, as these two exercises will determine whether or not you are successful prospecting on Linkedln. This is how you build a solid foundation for your Profile page, which of course is where everything happens on Linkedln.
TIP: If you don’t have the time to create, from scratch, a properly optimized, magnetic Profile Page, and would like a professional ZERO to HERO Linkedln writer to handle the process, as quite a few of my readers do, CLICK HERE and within a few days you will have a profile page you can be proud of.
Identifying Keywords
Okay, on to your second exercise — identifying your targeted keywords. I am going to share a couple of shortcuts I use that should make this exercise take only a half hour or so.
Step #1: Write down a list of keywords that you would use to search for your products or services. Step #2: Open your Google browser and type in one word at a time and watch what drops down in the suggested search box. I take a screen shot of the search box when I see some interesting results. Here is an example using “residential real estate”
There are some additional search word results you don’t want to miss - drop your eyes to the very bottom of the search page and you will see more search result suggestions. Take a screen shot of these if they have merit.
Step #3: Capture as many screenshots as necessary, then create a spreadsheet list of what you feel are the most precise targeted keywords and keyword phrases. Now, let’s test your list by heading over to LinkedIn.
At the top of the Linkedln page there is a white search box. Type in your keyword or keyword phrase and when the search results appear, click on PEOPLE to eliminate the company pages.
Here is a really cool feature provided by Linkedln when you click on a member 1s profile link and view their page, Linkedln will have every single one of your targeted keywords highlighted for you. This feature saves you huge amounts of time and frustration trying to figure out what keywords you should use.
While viewing a profile page there are two things you should pay attention to:
1. Count how many times your keywords appear on their page. 2. Notice any new keywords that you should add to your list. Yes, I know that you may be thinking why do the Google part when I can just head straight to Linkedln and spy (excuse me) uh, review my competitors pages. This will work fine!, if you already know exactly what your targeted keywords are.
TIP: If you are viewing local competitors, I would suggest turning on your ANONYMOUS BROWSING feature in your account settings. Doing this keeps people from seeing you in their “Who Viewed My Profile” feature.
Here is the navigation: ‘Account & Settings’ >‘Privacy & Settings’ > ‘Manage’ > ‘Profile’ > Privacy Controls’ > ‘Select what others see when you’ve viewed their profile’. You will notice there are three settings, the totally anonymous setting is what most people will use.
IMPORTANT: The last time I checked, when you switch back to FULL profile view you must wait more than 90 days to visit the profile(s) again. Otherwise, Linkedln will switch all of your previous anonymous visits to your Name & Headline. Remember, Linkedln currently allows users with upgraded accounts to see 90 days of browsing activity.
Your Internet Success Formula
TASK: Using targeted keyword(s) throughout your profile
OBJECTIVE: Using Keyword(s) in every profile section ACTIONS: Follow the section checklist and insert keyword(s)
When you are confident that you have the exact ~ or 3 keywords you want to be found for, you begin to apply the secret sauce that will have you coming up regularly in online searches at Linkedln and it’ll also improve your visibility on Google and other search engines.
Your task is using these keywords sprinkled naturally throughout your entire profile page. My Linkedln Zero to Hero Formula identifies the keyword opportunities or what I refer to as keyword real estate that you want to take full advantage of. By strategically maximizing your keyword density, not random stuffing, this will reinforce to Linkedln that your site has the information the visitor is searching for.
REALLY IMPORTANT: BEFORE you begin making changes to your profile page, be sure to TURN OFF your NOTIFICATIONS.
If you don’t do this, your connections will be notified each and every time you make a change, which will annoy the heck out of them. This feature is located on the right side of your profile page.
Profile Sections Where You Can Add Your Targeted Keywords
Here is the current character (not word) count for each section:
• Company Name: 100 maximum. • Professional Headline: 120 maximum. • Summary: 2,000 maximum. • Specialties: 500 maximum. • Website Anchor Text: 30 maximum. • Website URL: 256 maximum. • Position Title: 100 maximum. • Position Description 200 minimum and 2,000 maximum • Interests: 1,000 maximum. • Phone Number: 25 maximum (viewable only to 1st degree connections if populated). • Instant Message: 25 maximum (viewable only to 1st degree connections if populated). • Address: 1,000 maximum (viewable only to 1st degree connections if populated). • Skills: You may add up to 25 skills using 61 characters per skill. • Linkedln Status Update: You can use up to 700 characters unless you want to update your Twitter status at the same time. Twitter updates are limited to 140 characters. If you go over the 140-character limit, only the first 140 characters will be visible on Twitter. ------
TIP: Once you sign up for your FREE Zero to Hero community membership you will have access to our character count calculator, which really helps, especially when writing your headline and summary.
Nothing to Worry About:
Keep in mind that anything you have written in your profile can be changed in an instant just by hitting the EDIT YOUR PROFILE link.
This makes it very easy to test different HEADLINES or tweak your SUMMARY and then track your profile views and prospects to see if there is an increase in views. This is a simple version of split testing used in the advertising world.
Getting Your Name Right
TASK: Decide which - just your name or your name + descriptor? OBJECTIVE: To determine which variation gets more views
ACTION: Split test name against name + niche
This suggestion is going to make some Linkedln purists howl with disapproval. The prevailing wisdom says that it’s your name and nothing but your name goes here. However, I have seen dramatically improved CLICK through results by adding your descriptor or your niche specialty. Make sure you’re using word(s) to describe your specialty that people outside your profession would use.
So what is a descriptor? A significant word or phrase used to categorize or describe text. Examples of descriptors or designations for certain professionals would be: PHD, MBA, CPA, JD, HA, etc. Examples of a phrase descriptor or niche would be: estate planner, real estate expert, small business tax preparer, Green Home Architect, etc.
Here is the rationale, adding additional information which comes up in the general search results increases your odds of convincing the searcher that you are the professional they should speak with and thus increasing your click through rate.
TIP: This is also a great opportunity to test the results with a simple date specific split test. Try your name only for a couple of weeks and then add your designations or specialty and track the resulting views for another two weeks and see if there is a clear winner.
Put Your Best Face Forward
TASK: Upload a high quality headshot OBJECTIVE: Stand out front your competitors
ACTION: If possible use a professional photographer
Your profile page on Linkedln contributes significantly to your credibility. In essence, you are asking the viewer to reach out to you so you can assist them within your area of expertise. Do you think that a photo of you from your favorite vacation wearing a beer can hat contributes to their feeling of trust and confidence that you are the solution to their problem?
Or worse yet, if you want to commit Linkedln suicide then don’t provide a photo at all. Linkedln is a social network connecting people with people. That means the person doing the search is going to focus first on the faces for each profile. Professional headshots generate 11 x more profile views and drives higher overall engagement. Including a photo in your profile brings it to life and lets people know you’re for real. Go ahead, cruise through a few pages of Linkedln search results and see how many people are simply using a Facebook photo or no photo at all. Do you want to stand out on the search page? Then find a professional photographer who focuses on headshots and they can make you look like a star. Need to watch your budget? You can go to a JC Penny’s or Target store etc. and on average have five different poses taken for less than a hundred bucks. Oh, by the way, if you upgrade to, at the minimum, a Job Seeker account, this allows a larger photo. The larger photo provides you space to have a “call to action” or other information across the bottom of the photo, which you would need to add before uploading your photo.
Including a Photo in Your Profile Brings It to Life and Lets People Know you’re For Real.
Linked In is a social network - when you do not upload a professional photo you are basically committing credibility suicide
Writing Your Magnetic Headline
TASK: Write a magnetic headline that gets you noticed OBJECTIVE: Speak to your prospects’ current needs or pain
ACTIONS: Use at least one keyword if possible
Everything starts with your HEADLINE. Think about when you search the Internet, you only see a limited description for each listing so what makes you click on one search result over another? No doubt, the site description plays a huge role in whether or not you will invest your time to see if the website has the information you are after.
The same issue applies to members searching Linkedln. When the general search results appear, the person will scan the results until a Headline captures his or her attention. The goal of your Headline is to speak directly to their need so that they will click on your profile. This is technique is referred to in copywriting as WIIFM “what’s in it for me?”
Here is another simple suggestion that has proven amazingly effective. Place your phone number either at the beginning or end of your HEADLINE. Now you’ve provided your prospect the opportunity to take immediate action. Don’t be surprised to discover that you may have prospects calling you before they visit your profile page. Adding your phone number to your HEADLINE is a huge advantage towards encouraging the searcher to take immediate action.
Remember, it’s not just Linkedln you are concentrating on. Google will often serve up your properly optimized profile page as an organic search result with your headline / phone number quoted in the site description.
Why create a Linkedln profile page if the HEADLINE doesn’t reach out to your visitors encouraging them to click through? Remember, you only have a couple of seconds to capture their attention.
A monumental challenge: You only have 120 characters to get your point across. In the case of the person searching, they don’t want to waste time so, in most cases they will click through ONLY if they see the topic they are searching for referenced in your HEADLINE.
To illustrate what I mean by the term magnetic or sticky here is an example: Let’s say you are searching for a professional tax preparer, a CPA, because you just discovered that last year you missed some critical deductions and wrote a bigger check to the IRS than you needed to and you are bound and determined not to let that painful event happen again. What Do You See on Linkedln’s General Search Page When You Search for CPA’s?
The majority of Linkedln members merely cite that they are a licensed tax preparer and maybe a professional designation or two. In most cases, they completely miss an opportunity to speak directly to your pain and by doing so position himself or herself as the tax expert you should reach out to. Here is a fairly typical example of what you will see on the search results page.
OK, you understand he is a CPA and prepares taxes but did lie speak to your pain? NO he hasn’t in fact, he has fallen victim to something I call “résumé speak”, which is merely the dry and uninteresting recitation of facts.
Now read Mary Smith’s Headline.
Do You See the Difference a Magnetic Headline Makes?
Which members profile would you be inclined to click on or maybe just pick up the phone and call right now, obviously Mary’s, why?
• She grabbed your attention by speaking directly to your pain (paying the IRS too much). • She highlighted a benefit of working with her (save clients THOUSANDS). • She provided you the opportunity to contact her immediately (Phone Number).
This is an example of what I mean by a - “what’s in it for me” (WIIFM) statement being magnetic or sticky. Points to Remember:
• Use every one (if possible) of your 120 characters. • Include your main keyword(s) if possible. • Speak to your prospects need (pain). • Frame your Headline as either a benefit statement or a question.
Don’t be afraid to test your Headline by tracking views on a daily or weekly basis and then trying a different statement or question. If you see your views spike, you’re on the right track! This is called split testing. Keep careful track of the results so that you have positive proof and end up with the most effective Headline.
Let’s Take a Look At a Real Life Example
Julia Heeren offers white board animation videos. You know, like the ones on TV where a hand draws out the pictures while an announcer tells the story. She provides these compelling videos to businesses such as: Personal Injury Attorneys, Dentists, Chiropractors, Plumbers, Roofers, Auto Repair, which they use to stand out from their competition and grab searchers eyeballs on the Internet. Here is a Screen Shot Prior to Applying the Zero to Hero Formula
Do you see anything that would make you click through to view her profile page?
Not really, because she is merely reciting a fact — she provides white board animation videos for businesses. She has done nothing to tell the searcher that she understands what they need and has what they are looking for.
The person searching wants an edge that will make their business stand out from their competition so they can be found on the Internet and generate more prospects and sales. Here is Her Headline After Applying the Zero to Hero Principals
Now stop and think about it, if you were the person searching for white board animation videos would Julia now be speaking directly to your need? Yes she is, by telling you she has what you are looking for and then stating the benefit of her custom video service “get your business found”.
Your Headline Has One - Purpose:
Your Linkedln profile headline has one, ALL IMPORTANT purpose - to get the prospect searching for your products or services to TAKE ACTION either by visiting your profile page or giving you a call if you provide your number in the headline. Make Your Contact Section Shine
TASK; Fill out everything in your “Contact Info” section
OBJECTIVE: Make sure you have provided every contact option
ACTIONS: Insert your keywords wherever possible
Your CONTACT INFO section is only visible to your 1st level connections. It should contain every possible method of contacting you. Not everyone wants to use the Linkedln messaging service, so offer him or her alternatives. You’re in the electronic age and you should already have all of these alternative contact sources unless you are just now setting up your new business. Regardless, you need to get these in place quickly if you don’t already have them.
I would suggest setting up an alternate email address as this will help you track and archive your Linkedln correspondence. There are free email services out there but I strongly suggest that you go with a branded email account. If possible, the email address should use your business name as the extension. Instead of [email protected], you should be using something like [email protected]. Multiple email addresses usually come with your website. Both your website and your email need to include your business name. Instant Messaging
If you already have a service, use it. If not, get one set up and again, use your business name to get your brand name in as many places as you can.
Twitter Handle
Same thing as with your email and instant messaging. It’s another way of getting your business name out to as many people as possible. If you already have some of these accounts in other names, I suggest you create new accounts using your business name.
A free robust audio and video messaging service you should check out.
Websites
Description limited to 30 Characters - If you do not enter a description, the site will merely default to “Company Website” or some other boring tagline. Instead, think like your ideal prospect and enter a descriptive name preferably using one or more of your keywords. It’s great when your business name includes one of your keywords. A very good way of branding your business is by naming your business with .com at the end and using your best keyword in the name. This makes it very easy for people to remember how to look up your website.
Physical Address
A whopping 1,000 Characters. This is some serious keyword real estate that most folks miss entirely. Enter your address if that is important to you and then use your HEADLINE as a basis for an expanded short story using your keywords. You can also use the Keyword PIPE technique I mentioned in the SUMMARY section. Stake Your Claim
TASK: Claim your unique URL
OBJECTIVE: Use it everywhere email I web site I business cards
Make It “Uniquely” YOU Your default Linkedln address is long and clunky. When customizing your Linkedln profile URL see if just your name is available, If it is not then you might have to resort to a slight modification such as adding your middle initial or your niche specialty i.e. realtor, etc. Of course, your business name is always a good option, especially if it includes a keyword.
1. Hover cursor over Profile - top of your homepage and select Edit Profile. 2. Click the URL link under your profile photo. It will be an address like www.linkedin.com/in/yourname.
3.Under the Your public profile URL section on the right, click the Edit icon next to your URL.
4.Type the last part of your new custom URL in the text box.
5.Click Save. Your custom URL can have 5 to 30 letters or numbers. Don’t use spaces, symbols, or special characters.
You can change your URL up to 5 times within 180 days.
If a member uses a URL and then changes it, the URL will be unavailable for use by other members for 180 days. Writing Your First Person Summary
TASK: Writing your 30 - second personal commercial
OBJECTIVE: Must be written as if you were telling the person a story
ACTIONS: Weave your keyword(s) into your summary 7 – 10 times
Your SUMMARY section determines whether or not your profile page visitor will reach out to you or not. This is your 30-second opportunity to connect as a real person and convince them that you have the solution to their problem.
You are seeking to make a personal connection with your visitor, so your story needs to be told from your 1st person standpoint. As I review profile pages for my clients, most are written in a 3 rd person “résumé speak” style by merely reciting dry facts and statistics, which does nothing to establish a personal connection with your visitor. You want to be professional but personable. Or as I think of it, being approachable.
Picture for a moment how you search the Internet when you are looking for information or solutions. You are searching using WIIFM radar, “What’s in it for me”. Within a few seconds, if a web site doesn’t speak directly to the topic you are searching for you simply vote with your mouse and move on, correct?
Speak to Their Need While Inserting Your Keywords
Your profile page visitors are no different. Your SUMMARY must appeal to their hot buttons and convince them that you not only understand their challenges, you are also the person who can solve them.
To get this point across, your SUMMARY must include your targeted keywords sprinkled throughout with a natural rhythm. You want to avoid keyword stuffing which refers to the overuse of the keywords in a way that sounds unnatural to the reader.
You may be wondering if there is a magic number of keyword mentions you should have in your SUMMARY? Linkedln isn’t saying but from experience, using a keyword from 7 to 10 times seems to strike a good balance for both readers’ comfort and Linkedln search results.
TIP: What if your SUMMARY doesn’t use all 2,000 characters? Don’t waste the keyword real estate. Instead, type in your keywords and keyword phrase(s) at the bottom of the section separated by a PIPE symbol. Here’s an example of how you can amp up your profile keyword juice. Keyword I Keyword I Keyword I Keyword phrase | Keyword phrase
This is not distracting to your reader and it isn’t so obvious that it looks like it was robot generated.
Summary Section Formula
When I am speaking at a workshop, everyone wants to know if there is a specific formula for writing a SUMMARY? The very first rule is, write in the first person. This is your 30-second commercial written in your own words. AVOID third person résumé speak. You’re not applying for a job, you are looking for qualified prospects.
This summary formula is based on the WIIFM principal, which as you will remember stands for: what’s in it for me? The entire focus of your profile should be speaking to the needs, pain, or hot buttons of your prospect. You want to be fully focused on the benefits you can provide to them. What problems you can solve and/or how you can help them to make their life better.
To get you started here is an initial outline that will go a long ways towards making your profile summary magnetic or sticky and encourage your visitor to contact you. Summary Outline
First line - provides your phone number, email, Facebook, Twitter handle, any possible way of contacting you. Do not assume your visitor will click on the “contact info” link. That link is often overlooked by most people and frankly, you want to avoid forcing your visitor into extra clicks.
Opening paragraph: You have a few options here:
a) You can repeat your original headline.
b) Write a new headline highlighting another benefit and include a different keyword.
c) Start with a customer testimonial to capture their attention.
d) Use a pain centred question, which you address later in your summary.
Second paragraph:
Tell them a little about yourself. Be warm and personable. Avoid stating dry statistics or facts. You are attempting to make a personal connection with your visitor to make them comfortable reaching out to you.
Third paragraph:
Don’t be hazy or ambiguous. Tell them straight out that you are the solution to their problem.
Fourth paragraph:
How I have helped people like themselves or what my product or service has done for people like you, etc.
Fifth paragraph: (Clear Call to Action)
“If you would like to learn more here is how you can reach me.” “If you would like to make your problem go away please contact me at: XXXXX.”
“Be sure to reach out to me today — here’s how!”
‘Click on this link to download a free copy of ( _____ ) and contact me at: XXXXX.”
IMPORTANT: List all of the ways they can contact you, phone number, email, Facebook, Twitter, etc.
Here is a Summary Example using the Zero to Hero Formula (1902 characters)
Email: [email protected] I Website: www.phoenixrealestate.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/phoenixrealestate I Call 480-XXX-XXXX.
Hello, My name is Michele Jones and I am a real estate broker with i.2 years of experience helping people just like you find their dream home in the Phoenix metro area. Whether you are buying or selling a home I provide unparalleled personal service.
NEW to the area? I will introduce you to the “right” neighborhoods with the amenities that will make you feel like you were always meant to live there.
SELLING a home? My state-of-the-art marketing knowhow puts your house in front of real buyers, right now! And not just the local buyers — my powerful Internet marketing campaigns bring buyers from around the world to your doorstep!
BUYING a home? I listen to what you want and work hard to find the home of your dreams. You’ll appreciate how I smooth out the process when it comes to finding your ideal home at an affordable price.
Purchasing real estate can be complicated. I offer creative solutions to complicated real estate transactions as well as handle day-to-day transactions fast and with precision.
My services are available to everyone in the greater Phoenix area as well as those moving to the area. But I don’t stop there. If you’re relocating to another area, I can help you both sell your home PLUS get you started on your search for another ideal home at your new location. Whatever your real estate needs may be, you won’t find a more experienced, knowledgeable broker in the Phoenix area.
Call 480-XXX-XXXX NOW to get started with an inspiring real estate experience!
If you prefer, you can contact me via email at [email protected], visit my website at www .phoenixrealestate .com, or my Facebook page- https://wwwiacebook.com/phoenixreaIestate.
Realtor I Residential Real I Estate Real Estate I Real Estate Broker
Your Linkedln Summary MUST Attract Your Ideal Prospects
The majority of attendees at my workshops tell me that writing a magnetic Summary in the first- person is a huge roadblock standing in their way of completing the process of setting up their Profile page. Perhaps you feel the same way?
Here is a suggestion to help make this exercise less painful. When you sign up for your FREE Zero to Hero membership (www.zerotoherolinkedin.com) you can download and print out the WIIFM formula worksheet. Then simply hand it to your spouse or a friend and have them ask you the questions. Here is the all-important tip, RECORD your conversation. You can now listen to it and see if you like your responses or, if not, simply record another session.
Once you have a version that you like, use that version for your Linkedln Summary section. As one final test of your completed summary, have a few folks visit your page and see what they think.
Would you like to see some more before and after profile page examples? Please visit my web site at www.zerotoherolinkedin.com and CLICK on the “Samples of Our Work”.
Points to Remember
Write in the first person - everyone likes a great story so tell a story about yourself and why you can help him or her solve his or her problem.
• You should write it as sales or marketing copy - think of it as your brochure and your 30- second commercial selling yourself and your services. • Include your keyword(s) 7-10 times.
• Begin and end with a great call to action and make it easy to get in touch with you by providing your phone number, email, and website, Facebook, and Linkedln information.
• Limit your use of symbols such as; stars, arrows, checkmarks. Use these only to draw attention to a particular statement such as a question or benefit.
• Add video to your Summary Section: Video is the most effective way to introduce yourself or your services and a video doesn’t mean that you have to be on camera. A simple slide show with your narrative is HUGELY effective. You can do this with either PowerPoint or Keynote. The latest update has made adding video slideshow presentations to your LinkedIn profile very simple by allowing you to paste a link from YouTube or Vimeo.
• Tell them to CLICK HERE to play! It might not be obvious enough that the video on your profile is actually a video so be sure to tell people to CLICK HERE. As soon as you complete your summary section, you’ll be well on your way to having a Linkedln profile page that will magnetically attract your ideal prospects and fill your pipeline with unlimited FREE leads. Your Career Experience
TASK: Fill out experience section completely
OBJECTIVE: Tell how your previous jobs or skills contributed towards your current profession
ACTIONS: Weave your keyword(s) into your story descriptions
Use this section to expand on your SUMMARY story. Just like before, be sure to sprinkle your keywords and keyword phrases throughout this section. Use Unicode symbols (unique symbols like arrows and wingdings) to draw attention to benefit statements, websites, biogs, YouTube, etc.
Your EXPERIENCE section carries a great deal of weight with Linkedln so fill it out completely. If you are listing previous occupations I positions then add a descriptive keyword inclusive sentence as to how this position equipped you for your present occupation / position. Remember, do not write it like a dry résumé. Write it in first person and in a way that tells your story.
This is HUGE — you can upload media up to 6 articles, reports, videos, etc. at the bottom of this section. Do this if at all possible.
“Inside your FREE Zero to Hero membership you will find some free online tools and tutorials to make creating slideshows and videos easy to do. Now you can add this media content and really juice up your search results on Linkedln. PLUS, done correctly, oftentimes Google may also feature the media as a search result. how cool is that?! Finish Strong
TASK: Complete the final sections of your profile
OBJECTIVES: Raise Linkedln profile strength meter to “expert” status
ACTIONS: Use keywords wherever possible
Projects - this section appears to have no character limits. Use this section to promote free reports, e-books, videos, and webinars complete with full descriptions and website or download links.
TIP: Don’t get spammy or way off topic — list things that will appeal to your ideal prospect.
Skills & Expertise —You can have up to 50 SKILLS on your profile. Instead of choosing the SKILLS Linkedln suggests, consider adding your own based on your keywords. This will enhance your keyword usage and relevant search results. You can delete the default choices and add up to 25 skills using 61 characters per skill.
Don’t be shy asking people who know you for their endorsements of your skills. Your goal should be to fill out the endorsement section, which is 12 columns wide by 10 rows deep.
TIP: If you end up with a bunch of thumbnails with no picture, you can edit this section and replace the “no photos” with endorsements from people with photos. Sign up now for your free Zero to Hero membership and I will show you how! http://www.zerotoherolnkedin.com/siguup
Recommendations - are a very important part of your Linkedln profile. Hiring managers, potential clients, and customers almost always read your recommendations. Since this is about networking with people needing your services, don’t be surprised if a potential client recognizes someone making a recommendation for you. We all know nothing works better than word of mouth marketing. People that you want to write a recommendation for you include managers, colleagues, co-workers, customers, and clients. Your goal is to obtain a minimum of 10 recommendations.
Education - this where you include schools attended, professional courses you’ve completed, certifications, and any other relevant education or training you’ve received. This field only appears in your profile if you enter some information. If you don’t list anything here, the field is not shown.
Interests: - 1,000 Characters. This is another wonderful opportunity to tell a story as to why you are passionate about how you help people with your knowledge and experience. It’s also another place to insert your keywords a few times.
Advice for Contacting: - this is a place to give some guidance to prospective clients considering sending you a request. This can vary greatly from profession to profession and industry to industry. It’s also mother great place for keywords. Write a feature benefit statement based on your HEADLINE and add any other keywords or keyword phrases.
Some of the guidance you offer potential clients might be that you are willing to take a travel assignment for the right project. Or you might only accept telecommuting assignments. Your profession might also be susceptible to conflicts of interest and you want to let people know that your work is done with full integrity.
Additional Honors and Awards: - List anything noteworthy, especially if it’s related to your business. This is another section that does not appear if you don’t insert any information. To enter information, go into edit profile and scroll down to the bottom where this section is. There are a few ways you can enter these. Some people do it chronologically or in reverse chronological order. Others do it from most important achievement to least.
Congratulations- if you have completed each of the previous twelve steps you flow have a profile you can be proud of and you are ready to begin to build your personal Linkedln network.
On the other hand - perhaps you have found yourself stalled out because of a lack of time or you simply are not comfortable with the creative writing that is required to turn your profile into a prospecting magnet?
If so, our expert writers at http:///www .zerotoherolinkedin.com are ready to create a fully optimized profile that you will be proud to show everyone. Just click on the link above to get started today!
The next few chapters of my book are going to teach you how to find, connect and engage with your ideal prospects. Linkedln typically limits you to only 3,000 connection invitations. Yes, you can contact Linkedln to request more but whether or not Linkedln will honor your request, is based on an analysis of your account and is NOT guaranteed. Remember, your precious connection invites are your golden tickets to connecting with your ideal prospects or group influencers so, you do not want to treat these lightly or squander them in anyway.
How you choose to grow your network depends on your products and services and how universal their appeal or focused and specialized they are.
Would you like to know how to save yourself a ton of time and effort by automating the connection process?
Not only that, but how to laser target your connections and build a custom audience on autopilot?
CLICK HERE to discover the amazing software I use myself.
Sage Advice from the Experts at Linkedln “ Optimizing your profile page is not the first task at hand. You must first identify who your targeted market is.”
“Choose your 2-3 keywords carefully and then sprinkle them naturally throughout your profile - your Headline, Summary, Experience, etc. This will improve your organic search results not only within Linkedin but also Google since Linkedin is served up as a popular organic result.”
“ Professional headshots generate more profile views and drive higher overall engagement Including a photo in your profile brings it to life and lets people know you‘re for real.”
“Your headline is the first thing people look at on your Linkedin profile. Try speaking to your visitor’s pain or immediate need. Your goal is to make it magnetic by speaking to your visitor telling them “why should I connect/ do business with you.”
“Choose a personalized URL to improve search engine optimization (SEO) and make it easy for people to find you. Be sure to use your unique URL everywhere you can think of.”
“Maximize opportunities to showcase your work experience by linking your Linkedin Profile to your websites, blogs, and other social platforms.”
“Your SUMMARY is your first person advertising copy. Imagine yourself telling your friend who you are, what you do, and how you help people, then finishing up with a clear and concise call to action.”
“Nothing shows your quality of work to potential business contacts better than rich, tangible examples. Upload or link to previous work, such as blog posts, presentations, images, and websites, and give people a reason to engage with you.”
“ Where you have worked or positions you have held. Not just a dry recitation of facts but including some personalized statements of how this experience contributed towards your expertise in your current position / business.”
“ Ask for endorsements and recommendations from colleagues, employers, and customers who can speak credibly about your abilities and contributions. This will help catch the eye of prospective customers and clients.”
Social Marketing
Linkedln is a social media but more importantly, it’s about prospecting for new clients. This is a different way of bringing in new business than most people are used to. The days of cold calling a hundred people to find two potential prospects are gone. Linkedln has proven that a softer more friendly approach works better. When you demonstrate that you can bring your profile visitors value, you entice them to want to do business with you. The first goal with social marketing is to first develop an online relationship based on trust and credibility. The end goal is taking the relationship off line to work with people in person once that trust and credibility is established. Working offline (telephone, in person, personal email, video conferencing etc.) continues building a more personable and professional relationship while at the same time enabling you to learn the details of your new client’s needs.
All right, so now you’re the proud owner of a fully optimized profile page. Now what? Linkedln is both a social marketing site and a professional networking site. The two of them work together so let’s move on to the subject of social marketing.
If you do not understand the Linkedln social selling funnel (which most folks don’t) you will not experience the prospecting success you are hoping for. Social marketing does not come easy to everyone at first. Even for entrepreneurs and seasoned sales professionals it can feel awkward.
The natural inclination for the majority of salespeople is to find a probable “suspect”. Indulge in some small talk to try and determine if they might be a “prospect”. Then when they feel the timing is right they dive headfirst into their presentation trying to convert them into a client. Sound familiar? During my workshops, I have had many attendees make the comment that they feel that the social aspect is slowing down the sale process by first having to take time to befriend them before they offer their product or service.
The majority of salespeople who voice this objection are usually falling back on old school sales training that would have you believe that sales is simply a numbers game, that you have to hear so many Nos before you get a Yes.
The recession of 2008-2010 changed that sales myth forever and gave social media its traction and influence. Today’s educated consumers demand their opinions be heard and they want to be assured that the person or company they are doing business with values them. How do they determine YOU are such a person or company?
The comments and opinions of others on social media is one of the first places they turn.
Like it or not, to be successful in today’s “new economy” you MUST foster a relationship with your prospects built on mutual trust and respect. What naturally will flow from these relationships are the initial sales to prospects within your network and then organically to references with others outside of your network. Only after you build this type of relationship do you leverage your sales presence and brand.
The Social Prospecting Funnel.
Online sales have followed the sales funnel method for years and years. The online sales funnel uses Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Pay Per Click (PPC), on-line advertising, articles, blogs, auto-responders, and other proven techniques to attract volumes of people to their website. Then as these “suspects” take some kind of action this pulls them deeper into the sales funnel until they become “prospects” having established some level of interest and then the conversion to “purchasers” of the product or service and at which point they drop out of the bottom of the funnel and into the “client” management system.
Social marketing uses a similar prospecting funnel but it is focused entirely on building relationships first,
A good thing about the social prospecting funnel is that it’s a lot less technical than the traditional online sales funnel. Other than properly optimizing your Linkedln Profile, you don’t need to learn a lot about SEO. You don’t need to understand the details of a PPC campaign and you don’t need to be a Webmaster to work through the complex issues of building a website.
People that become good at social prospecting are usually People orientated rather than technically orientated. If you find yourself struggling with social selling, take a step back to make sure you’re working on relationships and not distracting yourself with the technical side of things.
Now take a moment to look at the social prospecting funnel and then I will expand on each of the steps. There are 5 steps involved:
1. Send a personalized connection invitation.
2. When they accept, send a personalized “thank you”.
3. Seven-ten days later start sending value added messages.
4. Join your ideal prospects groups to observe conversations and members.
5. Engage with them as a group member and move ensuing conversations off-line. Building Your Trusted Network
There are two approaches to building a Linkedln network, which is primarily determined by the products, and services you offer.
Lets say you offer health enhancement products. Because almost everyone is interested in better health and vitality, your goal would be to build as large a network as possible, correct? Perhaps even positioning yourself as a LION (Linkedln Open Networker) that never IDK’s (I don’t know), which encourages people to seek you out as a connection.
On the other hand, what if your product is a software program that is used in the process of creating dental implants? Obviously, it would be a waste of time and effort to build a large network of members whom are unrelated to the dental industry. Instead, your efforts would be focused on building what I call a “tight network” of carefully selected members obtained from advanced people search or the members of targeted groups you have joined.
Does everyone you connect with need to conform to your ideal prospect profile?
Not necessarily. Keep in mind that every member you connect with also has a sphere of influence. These are people who’s buying or business decisions are influenced by this one person. Some studies quote this sphere of influence number as an average of 11 people. Remember, your first WIN on Linkedln is connecting with another member. You have no idea whom this member knows or influences. This is why I teach everyone in my workshops to value and nurture ALL of their connections. There have been countless times over the last several years that a connection has never messaged me or shown any interest in my services and then all of a sudden they refer me to someone in their sphere of influence who is an ideal prospect.
I always thank them for their referral and then ask why they thought of me? They usually respond that they appreciate that I kept them in mind and they have appreciated the information I have shared with them.
Your Linkedln network is like an orchard that you MUST keep cultivating because you never know what, or when, it will bear fruit?!
Show Appreciation for Those That Accept
It’s your Birthday and in the mail you just received a birthday card with a gift card to your favorite restaurant. As a courteous person what is the first thing you would do? Send them back a thank you card, of course!
When you send out a connection request the member is under no compulsion to accept, they could simply ignore it. To accept an invitation requires them to make a decision - do they want to be a part of your network or not? In many cases, the member will visit your profile before they accept.
When they accept, I want you to view this gesture as the member sending you a gift. Do you agree that it be rude not to recognize their gift with a thank you message? If you don’t respond at all, won’t that leave them wondering why you asked to connect in the first place?
Sending a personalized thank you message is the first step in the relationship building process. Not only are you recognizing their efforts, this is also the opportune time to lay the initial foundation for this new social relationship.
Let me explain what I mean by “personalized”.
The message includes their first name PLUS includes a comment about something you have in common or something from their profile that you appreciated. To make this sincere, I strongly suggest that you look over their profile before you write the message.
DO NOT include any sales materials, attempt to set up an appointment, or any other self- serving content other than a web site address after your signature. This is not the time to try to make a sale. This is YOU saying thanks for the connection.
Hi Steve, I wanted to say “thank you for taking the time to accept my connection request. I noticed that you enjoy fishing as much as I do — maybe we can swap fish tales one of these days. If I can do anything to expand your network please let me know.
Start Sharing Value Added Content Once you have made the connection you need to start cultivating your orchard of prospects. You accomplish this first, by sharing updates on your profile page that the majority of your connections should find interesting or helpful.
On an individual basis, within a week of acceptance you can send your connections messages that contain valued added information that will prove useful in their personal or business lives. Organizing and managing your communications can become a real challenge even with as few as one hundred connections.
When you sign up for your FREE Zero to Hero membership I will show you exactly how I manage to keep hundreds of prospects organized and perfectly in sequence with my value added messages. http://www.zerotoherolkedin.com/sigiiup
OK, now it’s time to get organized. Create a computer file that includes your value added information. This can be articles (especially ones you have written), eBook’s, links to videos, check lists, industry reports, economic forecasts, and/or free on-line services. In other words, anything that your targeted connections will find interesting and useful. For easy access, you may want to keep the folder on your desktop. In my case, I assign a unique code to each value added message so I can easily track where I am at with each member.
Keep your information up to date and be sure to add more as you discover it. You need to reach out to your network on a fairly regular basis. For every four or five value added messages, I send one that promotes my business brand and services. No one objects, as I continue to provide value and maintain my reputation as an expert who is happy to share. Be careful not to bombard your contacts with too much information as they could begin ignoring it or worse yet think of it as SPAM. I don’t suggest sending information out more than once or twice a week. You want them to see you as a useful connection providing them with information they want and can use but you don’t want to become a pain to them because you’re always in their Linkedln mailbox. Join Targeted Linkedln Groups
When you view the profiles of people you may want to connect with, take time to notice the groups these people have joined. My Grandmother has a saying you have no doubt heard before; “Birds of a feather, flock together”. People with common interests or challenges tend to gather together whether that is in person through clubs or organizations or in on-line forums.
Visiting your ideal prospects’ profiles will draw you a road map as to where they are gathering and engaging in dialogue. You’ll soon learn which groups are of the most interest to them and which have the most members. You will want to join several of the groups that your ideal prospects are involved in.
The cool thing about joining groups is the freedom you have to join existing conversations, spark conversations of you own, and post value added content. I have also seen a much better response rate from my ideal prospects when I message them as a fellow group member.
Moving the Conversation Off-Line
Linkedln is great for finding people and other businesses needing your products and services. However, it’s not a platform to make direct sales from. There is no payment software or any way of making sales through the Linkedln site. You need to be able to create forward momentum the moment a potential client is ready to do business. So, as quickly as possible your goal is to take the business conversation offline to your primary email, phone, website or an in- person appointment.
Truth be told, you’ll get some people to contact you by simply providing a link to your website or including your office telephone number in the signature of your message.
However, your goal with Linkedln is much bigger. Unlike passive online advertising, you’ve established a relationship with these people. They’ve come to know you and trust you. You should be able to easily convert a much higher percentage of these people into paying customers than you ever have with other online marketing methods.
Taking the relationship off Linkedln is where most people come up short.
Unless you move your conversations into the real world so you can close sales then Linkedln becomes a whole bunch of social without any selling.
Actually, this is something I struggled with for quite awhile — then one day the solution dropped into my lap. I had a prospect that had requested quite a bit of information before making a decision. My ability to provide what he asked for was hampered because messages on Linkedln are limited to 300 characters. So, I used Linkedln as the reason to move the conversation to my business email.
I told him that since our ability to communicate on Linkedln was so limited, I was providing him my primary email address and asked him to respond back to me and when he did I would attach all of the information he requested.
It worked like a charm then and it has ever since!
TIP: Don’t forget - once you’ve established your credibility and expertise with other professionals, ask them to refer you to others needing your services and/or products and you will return the favor for them.
Mining the Prospecting Gold in Groups
I don’t think most Linkedln members truly understand how important groups are to their prospecting and sales success.
Stop and think about it - here is a group of people who have come together to share a common interest in an industry, a business purpose, or an idea and they have hung a massive, blinking neon sign saying - Here is Your Market!
You are on Linkedln to find FREE qualified leads for your business and being active in the right kind of groups will determine if you barely scrape by with a handful of leads now and then or wake up every single day with fresh leads sitting in your in-box.
There are several incredible opportunities that come with joining the right groups. One of them is gaining access to people you would otherwise have little, if any ability to connect with.
Along with building a powerful list of connections, joining, and participating in groups is the way you can quickly become a known and credible expert on Linkedln. In general, LinkedIn groups are electronic gathering places for professionals with a common interest. Make sure you put plenty of emphasis on the professional part. These forums are not places to post controversial comments or opinions.
When you are accepted as a member of a group, you will be notified of the rules of conduct. Break these rules more than once and you may very likely be ousted from the group and in serious cases of bad behavior Linkedln could even terminate your account.
Groups Are Like Networking Events on Steroids
There are more than 2 million groups on Linkedln and the average member belongs to 7 groups. There are groups for everything from lawyers to chefs and everything in between.
Once you join a group, you’ll have access to the discussions, job postings, news, as well as being able to post to the group. You can even start your own discussion about the subject of common interest. Actively participating in a group is a great way to establish you as an expert on the subject. Done correctly, it builds your credibility within the specialized community of your choice.
Yes, you can take the slow road to China by visiting individual profiles and sending connection invites. Yet, the issue remains that you really don’t know much about that person except they fit your ideal prospect profile. However, when you interact with members in a group discussion by commenting on their posts or having them comment on your posts, you get to know people better. This in turn will lead to more productive conversations and the opportunity to move them off-line into your sales process.
Then you find someone you want to connect with, you can do so directly from inside the group. You don’t need an introduction and they don’t need to be a tier 2 connection. You can send a note directly to them from within the shared group.
Below is a group of freelance writers. The one’s being displayed are Top Contributors to the group. If you were looking for a freelance writer this would be as good or better than a Google search for freelance writers. When you see these people at the top of the list, you know they are highly active in their profession. If you want to explore further, follow the link to all members. Adding Your Voice to the Group
Do you want other members in the group to want to reach out and connect with you’? Then you need to bring value to the group. Becoming an active participant inside these groups is a great way to establish you as both an expert and a valued contributor. For example: if you provide services to small businesses, you may want to join a group such as the “Small Business Network”, which has more than 74,000 members. Depending on the services you offer, you would post helpful suggestions and value added suggestions or resources that other group members would appreciate.
When you consistently make value added comments, your input becomes trusted. People look for your comments and they comment back to you. If you receive enough positive comments and show a willingness to contribute helpful content or advice, you will become regarded as an expert. Keep at it and you’ll be rewarded by being recognized as a top contributor to the group, which ALL of the group members see.
Getting Started With Groups
It’s very simple to join a group. If you’re interested in one that an ideal prospect has joined, scroll down to where your connection’s groups are displayed and all you need to do is click on the icon of the group. You’ll be taken to the group’s home page where you click on the “join group” button (sometimes, it has a different label). Or you can search for groups on your own. At the top of your Linkedin homepage, look for the drop down window labeled “Interests”. Under that, you’ll find a link to the groups search engine. “You’ll go to a page that categorizes recommended groups by subject. But instead of wading through all of that, on the right hand side you’ll find a button labeled Find Groups”. There you enter your key phrase describing the exact groups you’re looking for.
Some moderators restrict information access to their groups. You can’t see the content until you join the group. These groups display a small padlock next to the group name. Typically, you’ll have to be approved by the moderator before you can join these groups. That can take between 1 to 7 days.
What Else Will You Discover In Groups?
Here is the standard tool bar that appears at the top of each group home page.
Discussions or starting discussions are what we have been exploring so far but there is much more.
Under the Promotions link, you’ll find training, events, and other opportunities related to the group subject. I did warn you against self-promoting in the discussion groups. It’s definitely considered Spain in the discussions. However, you can do some limited promotion under the promotions tab as long as it is closely related to the group’s subject.
The Jobs link can be very helpful if you are looking for work. Under a Project Manager group there were 134 jobs listed all across the world. That’s great if you can do your work remotely but if you have to be on- site, that job offer in Netherlands probably isn’t one you’re looking for. The Member link lists the group members that are in your network. These are first and second level members from your network. It’s a good place to look to see if others in your network are engaged with this group.
Following the Search link takes you to a list of all the conversations. This is an internal group search engine that allows you to search for conversations you are interested in. There also buttons allowing you to categorize the discussions by Manager’s Choice, Latest Activity, and Discussions You’re following. Staying Local
If your business is mostly local (brick and mortar), you can certainly use Linkedln to prospect for customers. For example, if you’re located in Atlanta, you can search on the single keyword “Atlanta” to find all of the groups associated with Atlanta (over 3,600). Of course, not all of these groups are going to be appropriate for you. But you can sift through the results to find the local groups that you will benefit by joining.
However, you probably don’t want to read the descriptions for more than 3,800 groups so what you want to do is add additional words to your search to narrow down the results. An example is “Atlanta Retail” that narrows the results down to 17. . Be creative with your searches.
Your “Groups” Checklist
• Join LARGE GROUPS - If you are in the initial network building stage. Remember, you can message other members at will so you will have the largest pool of possible connections.
• Join LOTS OF GROUPS as this will improve your profile’s SEO visibility to Google and the other search engines.
• FIND GROUPS to join by noticing your ideal prospects group choices.
• LISTEN: Who are the influencers? What are their conversations about? What issues are people facing?
• INTRODUCE YOURSELF with a polite neutral post. • ADD YOUR VOICE: Now you know what helpful information you can post or what questions to ask to begin a conversation thread.
• BE CONSISTENT with your comments so that you become a familiar member.
• BE GENEROUS: Average 10 or more helpful non-promotional posts to every individual brand or services promotion.
• SEND CONNECTION INVITES to group members who engage you in conversation.
• MOVE CONVERSATIONS OFFLINE: Use message limits as the reason.
A Few General Suggestions
• You want to be active in groups but you don’t want to be critical of other people’s comments. You will come across opinions that you don’t agree with. Don’t say something like, “that is wrong” or call them an idiot. Instead, ignore the comment or phrase your reply positively. A positive post is something like, “Its good hearing multiple opinions on this subject. Another thought is....”
• Only add value when posting on groups. Self-promotion and self-serving content is not appropriate. That type of content is considered spam. Often you can take your existing marketing material and spin it into content that brings value to the readers involved with the group. That also means posting to the group that is appropriate for your content. Don’t post off-subject content.
• Linkedln is not the place to work at increasing your “likes” for Facebook. Again, that’s considered spam because you’re wasting the time of a working person.
• Asking for endorsements is another etiquette blunder beginners often make. Once they connect with someone, they immediately endorse the person and then send a message asking for a reciprocal endorsement. Proper etiquette is first building a relationship with a new person and after getting to know him or her make an endorsement decision based on the person’s skills, knowledge, or helpfulness. But never ask someone to endorse you. They need to make that decision independently for the endorsement process to maintain integrity.
• Just because someone viewed your profile doesn’t mean he or she automatically wants to connect with you. If it’s a person that you decide you want to connect with, go ahead and send them a message using the criteria we’ve already established. However, you don’t need to include a statement like “I noticed you looked at my profile”.
Here are a couple of non-creepy ways I used to let profile viewers know I’m aware of them. First, play what I call peek-a-boo. Go and visit their profile, oftentimes this will elicit a comment from them. If you feel the need to send them a message it’s all about how you word it.
Here is my template: Subject: Thanks for stopping by Hi Mary, Thanks for stopping by my profile — if you saw anything that interested you or if you have some questions about how I help people with _____, please let me know.
Also, if there is anything I can do to advance your network, I would be happy to assist.
Be sure to sign up for your FREE Zero to Hero membership. I will keep you up to date with the changes that Linkedln makes from time to time, PLUS - I will reveal to you helpful tips and suggestions to take your Linkedln prospecting to the next level. http://www.zerotoherolinkedin.com
Congratulations- if you have completed each of the previous twelve steps you now have a profile you can be proud of and you are ready to begin to build your personal Linkedln network.
On the other hand- perhaps you have found yourself stalled out because of a lack of time or you simply are not comfortable with the creative writing that is required to turn your profile into a prospecting magnet?
If so, our expert writers at http://www.zerotoherolinkedin.com are ready to create a fully optimized profile that you will be proud to show everyone. Just click on the link above to get started today!
The next few chapters of my book are going to teach you how to find, connect and engage with your ideal prospects. Linkedln typically limits you to only 3000 connection invitations. Yes, you can contact Linkedln to request more but whether or not Linkedln will honor your request, is based on an analysis of your account is NOT guaranteed. Remember, your precious connection invites are your golden tickets to connecting with your ideal prospects or group influencers so, you do not want to treat these lightly or squander them in anyway.
How you choose to grow your network depends on your products and services and how universal their appeal or focused and specialized they are.
Would you like to know how to save yourself a ton of time and effort by automating the connection process? Not only that, but how to laser target your connections and build a custom audience on autopilot?
CLICK HERE to discover the amazing software I use myself.
Respecting the Culture and Etiquette of Linkedin
One important reason that Linkedln has become a resounding success as the world’s leading business and professional network is because Linkedln has a culture which expects professionals to act like professionals. The goofy pictures and teenage behavior you find on Facebook is not acceptable here - This especially applies to messaging or sending InMails.
The culture of Linkedln can be summed up in one simple phrase; “sharing, caring, and giving without the expectation of receiving”.
As a sales or marketing professional you have to learn to throttle back your “close the sale” instincts and let the relationship grow organically. I know you are probably thinking “Whoa, Dave I am on Linkedin to find prospects and close sales - sharing, caring and giving without expecting anything in return does nothing to fatten my bank account”. The fact is, you are on Linkedln to socialize but socializing with a business purpose. You’re actually investing in a relationship first and allowing a reasonable measure of time for your prospect to become comfortable with the reward of making yourself more approachable. I know I’m pounding the drum on this point but it’s critical to your success in building a local, national, and even international network of prospects, business partners, and possible employers.
If you apply what I am sharing with you, the financial rewards will be there. And the financial rewards will be more abundant than if you immediately jump in trying to close a sale before the relationship develops. The concept here is that you provide value and benefits to others, which encourages them to reciprocate either by becoming a client or referring others who might.
You Gain More By Being Helpful
Understanding the culture of Linkedln will gain you trust and respect from other members. With that trust and respect comes untold business opportunities and valuable information. Communicating with other Linkedln members can mean direct responses from successful business owners and corporate level executives. Try calling a midlevel executive at a fortune 500 company asking to partner with them on a project and you’ll most likely get nothing but the runaround from an assistant and never talk to the executive. However, on Linkedln, you’re much more likely to receive a direct reply. It may not always be the reply you want but you at least you know you were heard.
This isn’t a numbers game the way some people use Facebook and Twitter. You don’t want to randomly send out requests for people to connect with you to build up a meaningless network. Before sending out any message, put some thought into why you think connecting with a specific person will benefit both of you. Then include that logic in your request.
Once you do connect with a new person, move slowly. Don’t immediately start telling them what YOU want or are searching for. You wouldn’t like it if you stepped into an elevator and a person, whom you don’t know, immediately started telling you what he or she wants from you. You’d be offended and probably get off at the next floor even if it wasn’t the one you wanted. Don’t do anything similar on Linkedln. Build a relationship before seeking a business sale. This is where most marketing people have their first disconnect when it comes to prospecting on Linkedln. They assume that any connection is a warm body (i.e. possible prospect) that should immediately hear what THEY NEED or WANT. The Linkedin culture of respect demands that you focus on the connection as your primary goal and that you seek to move that person forward in a positive way. Gaining a new 1 st level connection is your first reward.
Messaging Etiquette
Did you know that Linkedln etiquette considers it rude not to reply to a message within a few days? Try not to let messages lie there for more than two or three days (replying within 24 hours is best). This applies to messages you send out also. If you don’t hear back regarding a connect request or any message you send out, don’t start sending multiple messages because you think the person didn’t read the first one. You’re a busy person right? You should assume everyone else is too and give them sufficient time before sending another message. My experience has proven to me that your chances of receiving a response are much better on Linkedin than any other platform or method. Important: When you are sending out a value added message to a bunch of your connections, be sure to unselect the option saying, “Allow recipients to see each other’s names and email addresses”. The message might be going to five or six people but you want it to look like each one was the only one you sent it to. Doing this will make people feel like you care enough about them to share valuable information that you don’t share with your entire network.
Here are some generic email templates to get you started
Connection Invitation:
Hello Carla, It seems that you and I share some common interests.
I thought it might be mutually beneficial for us to be connected.
If I can be of service please let me know.
Connection Thank You:
Hi Gary, I wanted to send you a quick note to say “thank you” for connecting with me here on LinkedIn.
I’m really looking forward to keeping in touch.
If there is anything I can do to advance your network or business please let me know.
Value Added Message:
Hello Mark, I recently discovered this (article) (video) (report) and thought you might enjoy it also. I thought these (1 or 2 points) were interesting - let me know what you think?
Webinar invite:
Hi Stephanie, I thought as a fellow group member you might be interested in a free webinar I have coming up, (Insert Webinar Title). Well be going through (Insert Topics Discussed). Here’s the link for more info and to register (Registration Link).
I hope you can attend; it’s really going to be packed with useful, actionable information. Feel free to pass this on to anybody in our group that you feel would be interested.
Thanks,
Keep Track of it ALL
Linkedln offers a strong organizational tool with the Relationship Tab from which you can tag your connections. If you only have a few contacts, you may not need this tool but when you begin counting connections in the hundreds, tags enables you to keep track of your contacts much easier.
Finding the Relationship Tab
Go to any of the people you are connected with (from your home page) and click on the link to their profile.
Next, you click on the Relationship Tab appearing below the person’s picture. As you see in the graphic below, you can record information here in several different ways. By clicking on the note link, you can write notes about the person in any form that you choose. Don’t worry, only you see this information, it doesn’t go to the person you are taking notes about.
The next link is the Reminder link. This is a very helpful feature that you use to remind yourself about anything related to the person.
You type into the message box what you want to be reminded about and the software will send you a reminder note at the time you request. As you see to the right, you can pick when you want to be reminded. This is great for reminding you to send a monthly note to this person or anything else you want to be reminded about. Clicking on the “Recurring” button allows you to set the reminder once and it continues reminding you repeatedly, until you turn it off.
If you set the note on the person’s birthday and set the reminder for every year, you’ll get an annual reminder. If you need a reminder for a day outside of the preset ranges, you can type the number of days from today that you want to be reminded. The How You Met link is similar to the Note link. If you plan to keep adding notes about this person in the notes function, you make a note here about how you met so it doesn’t get lost in your other notes. There is also a box under this link to record who introduced you.
The Tag Button
The Tag button enables you to organize your connections in ways that are meaningful to you. Not every contact that you make is for the same reason. Linkedln provides you with five preset categories for you to place your contacts in. That’s fine but the more important button is the “Add new tag’ button.
In fact, the preset categories have limited application other than keeping contact with classmates, colleagues, and friends. For instance, you’re going to belong to many different groups based on multiple subjects. A single category for groups isn’t going to do it. You’re won’t be sending out the same information to groups from your industry as you will be to your to prospects. Therefore, you need to separate your groups into at least two different categories and probably more.
For instance, if you are a small business consultant, the industry groups you might belong to include the industry groups 5MB Professionals Group and Freelance, Independent & Professional Services Management and Consulting, among others. However, for prospecting purposes, you’d also belong to the Marketing Network for Small Businesses and Entrepreneurs and the Small Business Marketing Network. The two categories are very different. The power of the Tag button on Linkedln comes from your ability to quickly send notes and information exclusively targeting different groups with messages unique to each. For prospective clients, you might send out a message when you offer a new service or something highlighting a major success you’ve achieved for a client. For the related industry group, you might send out a notice of an upcoming webinar that you think will be of interest, a link to an interesting article, or even a request to partner on a major project.
But the division of categories is likely to go further than that. For those that you are seeking to provide services to or sell products to, you almost certainly want to subdivide these into at least two subgroups. One group would be those that are still prospects and the other for current customers. To prospects, you send information about “what” you think they need to be doing (but not the “how” because that is what you sell). To current customers you probably want to send an occasional message about tips and tricks that will be of benefit to them that includes both the “what” and the “how”.
Back on the related industry side, you might subdivide those into a general group that you send broad-based information to and into another subgroup of people that you are trying to develop alliance with (to whom you send the most valuable information).
I think you get the point...
Tagging is Easy Tagging someone is pretty straightforward. Start by going to your Linkedln home page and hover your curser over the “connections” tab. A drop down window appears that includes a link to “keep in touch”. Clicking this link brings up all of your contacts. Next, hover over the profile picture of the person that you want to tag. The tag link appears. When you click on the tag link, a list of your categories appears for you to select which category to place the person in.
You can also tag multiple people simultaneously. To do this, go to your list of contacts. You’ll see a checkbox next to each profile picture. Simply go down. your list of contacts and click that box for all of the people you want in a specific category. With all of the boxes checked, click on the tag link for anyone one of them and all of them will be added to that category. You can also put individuals into more than one category. All you need to do is click multiple categories when you are tagging someone. Or go back after tagging them in one category, to check the box of additional categories to add them to multiple categories
Removing someone from a category is also simple. Use the process above but instead of adding the person to a category, uncheck the box to remove him or her from a category. This will not delete them as one of your connections but it does remove them from that tagged category.
Once tagged, the tag information becomes visible to only you when you view that person’s contact information or profile. When you click on one of your tags, you’ll be able to see all other people that you have tagged into that category.
Not Much to Managing Tags
Whenever you go into a tag link, you’ll find an option to “manage tags”. When you click on it, the box below appears.
Clicking on the pencil allows you to change the name of the tagged group. Clicking on the “X” will delete the tagged group, so be careful. That’s about all there is to managing tags. Tagging Long-Form Posts Linkedln has made it possible to tag your long-form posts. However, this is a new and evolving technology and there are bound to be multiple changes that can’t all be captured here.
At this time, you can add up to three tags to each of your long-form posts. At the bottom of your post, you’ll find a “tag” link. Click the tag link and a list of “channels” appears. Select the three (or less) that you want to send it to - such as small businesses, entrepreneurs, and marketing.
A text box will also appear. Be aware that your long-form post may or may not go out to only your tagged categories. Linkedln is still developing an algorithm to use what you type into this text box to further distribute your post. Linkedln will use what you type into this textbox to help determine how your post should be distributed.
You can’t currently select the specific channels (Linkedln tags) that your post is sent to (your recommending them). The algorithm selects the channels based on the words you enter into the textbox and the content of your long-form post. However, you can increase the chances that the algorithm sends it where you want it to go by including words in the textbox such as Project Management, the skill Webmaster, and industries such as Retail.
As you see, Linkedln is constantly evolving with a primary goal of helping you connect with contacts, stay in touch with contacts, and managing your contacts.
There You Have It!
As I said in the introduction the purpose of this book was to lay out a step-by-step system that will get you started generating unlimited FREE leads from Linkedln.
It was not meant to be a 500-page tome on the intricacies of Linkedln as that would be an unobtainable goal in the first place, why?
Because, Linkedln itself is constantly changing and evolving as the platform seeks to find the best way to monetize its services.
That is why my invitation to sign up for your FREE Zero to Hero membership is so important. Inside your membership is where I will keep you up to date on Linkedln changes that affect how you prospect and make sales.
I will show you what I call workarounds to some of the apparent challenges or roadblocks that Linkedln will throw up from time to time. • How to find anyone on Linkedln even though they are far removed from you?
• How to instantly see a person’s profile that Linkedln won’t give you access to?
• How to use Linkedln services to become a publishing rock star in Google’s world?
•.and much, much more!
I will also share other awesome online services I use, many of which are free or available at a very low cost that will make a huge difference in managing your business for success in our technological world.
I’ll see you on the other side -
David Cole
http://www.zerotoherolinkedin.com/signup