LinkedIn is a misunderstood goldmine that can be leveraged as both a marketing and sales tool if used effectively. It provides high visibility through its large user base and connections feature. Content marketing is key to building authority and generating leads. The profile should be optimized to increase credibility and engage prospects through valuable content before converting them into sales opportunities. Tracking metrics allows continuous improvement of strategies.
2. 1- Let’s start with a few riveting high-level
considerations…
3. • 430 Mill users as of Q2 2016 – Growing by
circa 20 Million users PER QUARTER
• http://www.statista.com/statistics/274050/qua
rterly-numbers-of-linkedin-members/
• By very far, most effective SM platform at lead
generation and BD: http://goo.gl/pz4FS0
• Average # connections per user: 800-900
• 49% of traffic now from mobile
• Mobile users 150% more involved
4.
5. Why is it the best platform for BD
• 1. Create awareness and improve reputation.
• 2-3 new user per second, that can be reached by update, blogs, groups, ads,
sponsored ads.
• 2. Thought leadership and influencer marketing.
• Platform natively allows for thought leadership through effective blogging, profile
detail and functionalities. Viral nature. Groups.
• 3. Selling and generating leads.
• LI allows for all the required social media steps:
• Social Listening: Know what your core audience cares about (Groups, Posts)
• Content creation and promotion: Pulse, wall updates, tagging, groups.
• Social Monitoring: Immediate notifications
6. • 4. Social CRM.
• All contacts are potential clients, or referrals. All have their contact details listed,
history, group memberships. (See: LI Sales funnel)
• 5. Smart Traffic building.
• Beautiful blogging platform, allowing rich content: Video, Infographics, polls, articles.
Tagging of users.
• Blogging allows for the creation of Calls-To-Action (This link will lead you to a page with a
couple of CTA’s at the bottom) OR THIS is actually a CTA leading straight to a landing
Note: A landing page can also simply be this or that.
• 6. Listening and gaining insights.
• Great tool for social media listening.
• Followers
• Groups
• Updates and blog entries originated by your LI network cue you in very quickly.
7. Traditional uses
• Jobseeking
• Clickbait, « solve if your a geniuz 99% will get it wrong ».
• Huge reservoir of potential resources, but usually bluntly, directly tapped into:
• Ex: InMail: « Heeeeeey… I see you are the procurement manager at XYZ tech! Which is bril-
li-ant since I sell X and Y! »
• Recruiters: « I have this job, pays £20k per annum (inc. holidays) Location: Ebola 9. Inbox me
for details. »
• Supplier: Wall update, or Group parasitic fodder such as « Buy 10 shots and and get 1 free
tonight at Pete’s smashage drinkery! So awwwweessome lolz »
8. Fundamentals of Inbound
Marketing
• Have a why
• Listen to your core audiences
• Offer valuable content
• Offer value
• Nurture leads
• Talk about your audiences
• Do not talk about yourself
• Capture traffic
9. Fundamentals of Social Media Marketing
• RoI is x2 to x3 that of traditional marketing at least, across most industries:
http://www.socialmediatoday.com/marketing/how-social-media-marketing-stacks-against-
traditional-advertising
• Visibility (Reach, network size, content
cycle, etc.) * Authority (Social proofing,
case studies, endorsements, etc.)
• Main platforms and their #1 use:
• LinkedIn (B2B Marketing) Facebook (Lookalike audiences)
• Twitter (Social Listening) Instagram (CPM buy)
• Periscope, Snapchat, Whatsap, etc.
• Content is King:
• Old / Obsolete: Text Minimum: Text + Great picture
• Good: Video Great: AR / VR
10. A few more basic principles
• Social media is not free:
• Time expenditure can be high, at the
beginning especially. Sunken investment: Most clients
need a good 3-6 months of committed work to yield
results and get into RoI (SEO around 2 years)
• Also: Rise of hybrid content (See FB or LinkedIn’s
increasingly limiting content display rules)
• Content fatigue: There is more and more noise out there (Twitter particularly)
• You can optimise your RoI with a variety of CMMS of different quality, breadth and cost:
• Buffer & Hootsuite
• Hubspot
11.
12. OK so what does that mean for LinkedIn then?
• Recap: Visibility * Authority + Business objective
• Visibility:
• Reach / network size
• Exponential
• Authority:
• Endorsements
• Recommendations
• Personal branding
• Social Proofing
• Business Objective:
• Leads converter
15. 2- So then, how do I turn my LI profile into a lead
generation turbine?
- Content marketing:
- Content
- Call to action
- Landing Page (Website /
Natively now on some
platforms)
- Email converter
- Smart email marketing
- Sales funnel / CRM
- Connect with new leads
- Get intelligence
- Nurture and manage the
sales funnel
- Offer value
- Take it offline as soon as
realistically possible.
BOTH REST ON THE ESSENTIALS: Visibility * Authority + SMART Objectives tied to Business
16. Basics of your LI profile
• Completion
• Visibility (network strength)
• Authority (endorsements, recommendations, % and $)
• Summary effectiveness
• Style, tone and keywords
• Visual Impact
• Content value (past employers, academic background)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bx5Yggf0azXRSFIyc1UwN09vVk0/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bx5Yggf0azXRa3B3OVRkM1RFQm8/view?usp=sharing
18. OK Stéphane, cool cool, but where’s my money?
• You seem to recall the words “Misunderstood goldmine” being used. Fair enough.
Besides jobseeking, you can use LI:
• 1- As a marketing tool.
• Content marketing to either Build branding or Generate leads
• Reassure visitors as part of their « nurturing » (8-12 touches from stranger to client)
• 2- As a sales tool.
• Online CRM
• Sales funnel
19. LinkedIn as a Marketing tool:
• Reminder:
• Grow your network size
• Build your on-page authority
• Build Branding
• Generate Leads
• HOW?
• 1- Start with your why 2- Social Listening
• 3- Define & Document Core Audiences 4- Produce & Promote smart content
• 5- Convert Traffic into Leads (CTA / SP) 6- Close
• 7- Measure & Repeat
20. LinkedIn as a Sales Tool
• Reminder:
• Grow your network size
• Build your on-page authority
• Sales funnel: http://topdogsocialmedia.com/social-selling-funnel/
• Step 1: Identify Prospects Step 2: Send a Connection Request
• Step 3: Send Thank You Message Step 4: Send Relationship Building Messages
• Step 5: Engage on Shared L.I. Groups Step 6: Connect & Engage On Other SM
• Step 7: Move Relationships Offline
21. A fool-proof action items list
BEFORE VISIBILITY & CONTENT
• Grow your network size (# of connections and reach at 1st, 2nd, 3rd degrees)
• Build your on-page credibility, authority, expertise (Endorsements & Recommendations)
• Conduct social proofing: Followers of your Co. Page / Showcase Pages
• Do some social listening: Google Alerts, Twitter (tweetdeck, crowdfire), Talkwalker (Co >
1-2 Mill per annum most likely) Research, or outsource research, intuit, etc. And…
• Define and document your core audiences: (3-4 to start) For Sales & Mkg. SEO.
22. AFTER CONTENT
• Produce and Promote smart, targeted content on LI (Wall, Groups, Pulse)
• Convert visibility into leads, outcomes or at least measured branding
• Call to Action
• Landing Page
• Close your leads. Learn how to use a free, high-perf. email server (Mailchimp)
• Measure and Repeat
• Try a new topic (commonly known as “pain” in the jargon)
• Try a new audience
• Try a new landing page
• Try a new A/B testing for your smart email campaigns
23. A few more tips and tricks because you’ve been so
nice:
• Grow your network effortlessly and effectively by:
• Searching LION members and sending invites. Schedule that in your agenda. Will take you
all of 50 seconds per week. 100% hit rate on “No-IDKs”
• Inserting your LI direct URL in your email signatures, business cards, etc.
• Showcase pages: Get some! Multiply your online assets, and give each a more specific
LI SEO value!
• Figure out network sizes: Ex.: https://goo.gl/yki59S - Go to “Recent Activity”
• Use Boolean searches: ((Engineering Director) OR (Engineering Manager) OR (Head of
Engineering) OR (Lead Engineer)) AND ((LION) OR (LinkedIn Open Networker)) AND
((Dallas) OR (Texas) OR (Tx)) NOT ((Oil and Gas) OR (Natural Gas) OR (Oil))
24. • Jobseekers: Never ask for a job again. Ask for genuine company intelligence, and
then apply, knowing EXACTLY, what you REALLY need to write in your application.
• Hide “viewers of this profile also viewed” – You are just giving a major “out” to
your LinkedIn traffic. Zero use to you. You will benefit from plugging that hole,
whatever you are on LinkedIn for.
• Check out your followers: Homepage – Followers. They like what you do!
• Check out who’s viewed your posts: Same same here.
• Re-order your skills to showcase the most relevant ones.
• Get recommended: By friends and family if you need to, but get at the very very
least 2 recommendations per experience. 5+ becomes good.
25. • Know your lead BEFORE contacting:
• Go to your connection
• Hit the arrow next to « Endorse »
• Look at recent activity…
• Hide your connections from the competition…
• Go to Privacy and setting – Privacy tab
• Choose who can see your connections. Set to « you » (only)
• Hide the « viewers of this profile also viewed » - Plug that traffic hole
• Optimise your keywords (header, title, content, body, etc.) LI is nowhere near Google
in terms of algorithm sophistication.
• Rearrange the order of your groups so that the most relevant ones come up first.
Hide the ones you do not want to see listed (LION, etc.)
26. • Know the exact amount of connections of anyone
• Enter name in search bar + hit the blue magnifying glass
• You will see « 500+ » display in the preview results for that person
• Hit that – You will see the exact # of connections they have in top-left corner
• Export your connections:
• Hover over « My network » tab and click « Connections »
• Click the gear icon on the top right corner
• Under « Advanced Settings » click « Export LinkedIn Connections »
• Choose your file type and export
• (Warn your connections too – And be quick if you want to do this, LI had disabled that
feature only to backtrack temporarily)