Some useful hints and tips on Linkedin updated June 2013

1. How to avoid the 7 Mistakes of LinkedIn
and succeed with the world’s biggest
online Business Community
“The Most Cutting Edge Information Available on Using
Linkedin To Grow Your Business”
A Free Report edited and updated by Gary
Perkins of TheBizLinks

2. 1. Not taking this amazing platform seriously!
Linkedin is the world’s biggest business community ever created. It can provide
a path way to just about anybody in business, any time for free. If you are just
starting out in business, an established sales person, a CEO or a hardened
business owner key decision makers in your market.
In terms of prospecting what else can give you the means to search with large
companies, markets, locations, job titles and then provide you a clear path way
to engagement that removes gatekeepers and middlemen.
The community has now grown to over 150million members with 45% of those
major decision makers for their companies. No matter what market you are in
there are 1000’s of people on their right now that need your services.
I could go on about the amazing benefits Linkedin can bring but in so many
cases it’s a waste of time because too many people just don’t invest in the time
needed to make Linkedin really work.
How to avoid this mistake!
Don’t just set up a basic profile and dabble – develop a clear strategy
Commit to 30mins per day of focused proactive work
Make Linkedin a core part of your business strategy in most cases Linkedin can
help you achieve your short and long term objectives.

3. 2.Not setting any Goals
Creating a Linkedin profile and having a “presence” without any meaningful
goals will merely create extra work and give little value in return.
Linkedin is an activity just like everything else and it should be aligned with
your over all business strategy, tactics, goals and targets.
At TheBizLinks we encourage our clients to set very specific goals which sets
clear direction and we also like ambitious goals too because we all know that
aiming for the stars means in most cases hitting the moon at the very least.
The goals you set for Linkedin should in most cases be set around generating
Sales since Linkedin is one of the most effective ways to find and develop new
clients and customers. Don’t think that you cannot make money by being
“Social” you just need to do it in the right way.
An example of defining your goals, strategy and tactics
Goal: Increase sales by £x (defined amount)
Strategy: Target (e.g. Marketing Directors) via Advanced Searching, use first
line network for introductions, making connection and arranging phone
conversations / one 2 one meetings.
Tactics: Create a strong and value driven profile relevant to the target
audience
Build network of contacts with routes to targets
on Connection offer a free 30min phone session on (e.g. 3 great tips for digital
marketing) once a connection has been made.
Repeat process until say 5 conversations are made per day

4. 3. A dull and boring profile!
Your Linkedin profile is critical to your success so don’t think listing your
experience like a CV will cut it as it wont – CV’s are boring and people don’t like
to read them. You success depends on you’re key influencers taking an interest
in your profile. You MUST have the following:
Clear value and (What’s In It For Me) WIIFM quickly and clearly
Crystal clear Evidence that supports your value
Specific to the people you want to engage
The people you want to engage only really care about themselves and their
own world, define your value first before your job titles etc. For example
stating that you can find talent staff that can sell is more engaging then saying
you’re a Recruitment Manager.
Keep it simple and focus on the following 4 keys areas:
Profile picture – invest in a professional picture this is not Facebook!
Professional headline (see below)
Summary – short punchy and packed with passion!
Recommendations – 20-25 quality ones that back up your value statement
Professional headline
Your headline gets noticed first and also summarises you when you appear in
searches, groups etc even when you are being Google’d! You have 120
characters use them all and follow this format.
[Job Description] ► [who you help / value] ► [Keywords]
See our Founders profile below for an example – notice he focusses on the
benefit which is making money as no one really wants training!

5. 4.A small network of contacts
Your Linkedin network works like this
1st
Level (your network) > 2nd
Level (your 1st
Levels connections) > 3rd
Level (2nd
levels own connections). It is important to build a decent sized LinkedIn
network (300+) is good target to aim for and is important for the following
reasons:
More opportunities and better results
On average each Linkedin member has around 150-200 connections; when you
connect you their network is added to your 2nd
level network giving your new
people you can reach via one introduction.
The larger your network the more effective you can be in the community
A large network means you can help more people, get more introductions and
be viewed with more value within the community it’s as simple as that!
How to grow your Linkedin network
The key to growing your Linkedin network is to find and connect with people
that are in and around your key influencers and target market. Rather that
simply mass uploading connects via webmail accounts or exported CSV files
use the following steps to grow you network steadily making personal
engagements.
1. Always Be Building (ABB) Sounds simple because it is! Every time you
engage a new people in business via the phone, meetings or events
connect with them
2. Reconnect – Find those you have lost contact with in business over the
past few years, even ex-clients (you may be surprised!) Your draw of
business cards is a great place to start, apart from it being good fun
there is already momentum in terms of relationship.

6. 3. Linkedin groups – Find suitable groups to join and then search and
connect with the members, stating your mutual group association as the
reason.
5. Not engaging your new contacts
Linkedin is an amazing platform for finding contacts, and making connections.
Once the initial contact has been made LinkedIn’s job is effectively done. The
rest is down to you to then build the relationship ideally by picking up the
phone and making a call to introduce yourself.
It is important however NOT to sell, as I have lost count of the amount of
people who have connected with me, and then fired a generic cut and pasted
sales message at me! Playing this numbers game on Linkedin will not work.
The key to making a successful first contact on Linkedin is to be genuine and
helpful. Ask yourself what could you give the people you connect with that
would be of genuine value? Free advice is always a good approach; another
very effective first engagement approach is to be a good networker …
“Thank you for accepting your invitation to join my network first of all please
let me know the type of people you are looking for and I will see if I have any
contacts on my network I can help you with…”
This works particularly well for contacts that need clients themselves, if you
repeat this you will soon learn which contacts are more valuable to you and
actively seek them on and offline at networking events.
The key to being a success is to use Linkedin to help other people get what
they want, as the saying goes Givers Gain so don’t play the numbers game and
sell directly to those you connect with.

7. 6. Not Integrating LinkedIn with other Business
activities
The potential of Linkedin as a tool for finding clients and customers becomes
even more powerful when combined in a strategic way with other business
activities.
Three examples of using Linkedin to maximise other business activities
Twitter is not very effective at finding top people and getting initial dialogue
started, but Linkedin is far more effective and great at developing a
relationship. Used together they can complement each other very well
The time invested in attending business events can be much more effective if
you can plan beforehand and arrange meetings with key people. Linkedin gives
you a massive amount of information about the business events you want to
attend.
After attending a networking event, if you have a handful of business cards you
can connect with them on Linkedin to check them out, find out who they know
and decide on the most suitable people to engage further.
Linkedin can help you increase sales, build brand awareness, strengthen your
key business relationships, increase web traffic, improve customer service, and
develop new ideas. The key is to think outside-the-box and see where and how
Linkedin can help. In most cases it can in a big way, so use your imagination
and be tenacious.
The core features of Linkedin include;
Advanced search – Search the whole community for specific contacts
Groups – thousands of groups specific to your types business and activity
Homepage updates – your community posting their recent activity
Answers database – thousand of questions on all types of business
Company pages – in-site into companies, their employees, activity etc
List all if your current and future activity and see where Linkedin can add real
value

8. 7. Not making use of my help and support!
As a LinkedIn user since 2007, I am in a position together with The BizLinks
network to help you to make the most of your LinkedIn profile and enable you
to help to build stronger relationships which can positively impact your own
business life.
For more information or to see forthcoming events that I am running, then feel
free to either go to my own profile http://uk.linkedin.com/in/garyperkins or
visit my Bizlinks homepage at http://www.thebizlinks.co.uk/events-gary-
perkins to see the current list of scheduled public events such as my monthly
“Linkedin for Business Workshops”, Public Speaking Events or other free
Speeches.
We offer a full range of Social Media Coaching services ranging from the
impactful Workshops through to 1-2-1 or Group Coaching (in-house or remote
via Skype or Go-to-Meeting) as well as In-House Half Day Workshops, Full Day
Workshop and Coaching Courses and our latest programme of 30, 60 and 90
day Coaching programmes which include new additional modules such as
“Making Company Pages Work”, “Twitter for Business”.
Please contact me or email me direct at gary.perkins@the bizlinks.co.uk or call
on 01905 380920 or 07770 755846.