If you’ve been noticing the sudden stride in LinkedIn being mentioned in corporate and networking conversations around you, and are wondering what the hype is all about—you’re not alone. Almost two years ago, when I kickstarted Chapter IV, I wanted to explore platforms that I could use to market my brand and services. Instead of opting for an Instagram or Facebook page, I began exploring LinkedIn all over again (always had a soft corner for it) and damn, it has been one rewarding experience.
Lucky for you, I spent a lot of my time engaging with the platform and attending webinars by Vaibhav Sisinty (Growth Hacker), Shreya Pattar (Content Writer), and others that explained so beautifully, the many strategies I can adopt to best milk LinkedIn for my business. I’ve been putting it to practice and have seen tremendous results. In fact, some of my favourite brand collaborations have happened via the LinkedIn channel—beyond India—organically (no monetary investment in terms of ads etc).
You can view my LinkedIn profile here.
So I thought to myself, why not share all that I’ve learned, continue to learn to best optimise this platform as a lead generation tool. Which brings us here –
1. Build your personal profile: Remember how everyone said, “look the part”? This is also applicable on your LinkedIn profile. The aim of the game is to optimise your profile for clarity and engagement. This also means that the more you fill out, the better it is, not just to be search-friendly for the platform but to also grab the attention of leads. I like to look at my LinkedIn profile like a landing page to my portfolio, here are somethings you should take care of:
– A clear headshot of you; I initially had a typical smiley one but now I’ve got one in my natural habitat – it seems more of a right fit to me.
– Your title is very important. It’s how leads can find you and why they also might not get in touch with you. Ensure that it defines your ‘job’ appropriately, for example, mine clearly states ‘content writer’.
– We now have a background image option, I’ve used it to talk more about what I can offer, and where someone can connect with me, quickly, just in case they don’t want to view my entire profile.
– The ‘about’ summary is more like an elevator pitch – short, crisp and to the point. Use it effectively to communicate what you’re currently up to.
– My absolute favourite, the featured section – Use this to highlight the major glimpses from your career.
– Use the experience section to reinforce your work experience and display the companies you’ve worked for.
– Try to get and give as many recommendations as possible – someone who comes well-spoken for, is easier to choose.
Taking the time to fill out each section of your profile is totally worth it for the purpose of lead generation. Again, anything you can do to make yourself stand out on the platform is a plus.
2. Start a conversation: What do I mean by this? It’s simple really, just share your experiences. These could be daily encounters with potential clients and how you work around it, dialogues with your team or just learnings from a webinar or book. When these raw experiences resonate with your audience, you will build a connection like no other and get a conversation flowing. No one does this better than Shreya Pattar on LinkedIn, according to me.
3. Connect and comment: Get in touch with everyone you’ve worked with. Conduct a simple search, press connect and add in a personal message for that enhanced touch. It is always good to comment on posts that you resonate with. Commenting on others posts brings more visibility to your profile as well. Not just a ‘me too’ but something that adds value – questions or your perspective. Thus, leading back to the vicious cycle of comment, connect and converse.
4. Lead people to your landing page: When I decided to kickstart Barefoot: the blog, I made a conscious decision of it being a part of my Chapter IV website; I thought they can thrive side by side, bringing more attention to each other. Besides commenting on others’ posts, I mainly post my blogs on LinkedIn – always leading my viewers to my website. I have seen a major jump in engagement and views on my website since I started doing this.
5. Analyse your dashboard: Your dashboard contains all the insights to your profile. Who’ve viewing it, how your posts are doing and how much your profile pops up on the search page on LinkedIn. Remember, this is private to you. But begin noticing how this changes once you become more authentic and consistent on this platform.
LinkedIn as a platform is pretty unique as it allows you to publish relatable content and directly reach out to leads as well. Getting to those leads, requires strategy and the above tips can help position your profile to get maximum visibility and help your brand get more recognised by your target audience—pretty much what we’re all looking for, right?!
I’d love to hear from you. If you have more questions for me regarding this, post them below or tell me what your LinkedIn lead generation strategy entails and has that generated high-quality leads for you? Let’s talk.