This presentation is designed to teach prospects and partners how to leverage LinkedIn to connect with customers and leads, thus achieving business growth in the managed IT services market. Because digital marketing is here to stay, we aim to continue advocating forward-thinking business principles so as to drive revenue and profitability in the channel.

1. Getting the Most Out
of
LinkedIn

2. • Why focus on LinkedIn?
• Get your profile in tip-top shape
• Searching for people
• Using groups
• Sharing status updates + content
• Tools to help
What We’ll Cover
sources: http://theantisocialmedia.com/category/anti-social-media/page/14/
title image source: http://www.noop.nl/

3. • LinkedIn is business
• LinkedIn gets a lot of traffic and activity
• 300M+ users (100M+ in US alone), 200 countries, 20+ languages,
2.1M groups, 65.6M US-based unique monthly visitors, 178.4M
worldwide unique monthly visitors
• Content (SlideShare)
and status updates
beyond 140
characters help you
better connect with
prospects and
customers
Why LinkedIn Over Other Networks?
sources: http://press.linkedin.com/about ; http://www.marketingcharts.com/wp/online/small-biz-owners-say-linkedin-offers-them-
more-potential-than-facebook-twitter-26648/

4. 

It’s All About You (this one time)
1. Add a picture (make sure it’s professional or top-notch)
2. Make sure you profile text is current and uses highly-searched
keywords
3. Get a custom profile URL
(see notes of slide for how)
image sources: author screenshots

5. It’s All About You (this one time)
4. Add specialties, skills, any publications, connect your SlideShare
account
5. Edit your three custom links/URLs in the websites section
6. Check out LinkedIn’s take on “profile completeness”
image sources: author screenshots

6. Example: I clicked ‘share on LinkedIn’ from
SlideShare
On LinkedIn, it expands in-line in the LinkedIn feed
Options to
playback deck
without leaving
LinkedIn feed
image source: author screenshots

7. • The more relevant, targeted, accurate words (think ‘keywords’!) you
use to describe yourself, the better you’re going to do in
Appearances in Search.
• Power tip: Stop thinking about LinkedIn as a professional resume
and start thinking about it like a pay-per-click advertisement.
Construct it so it is as compelling as possible so that when you appear
in search, you get clicked.
You Are Like an Ad on LinkedIn – Look Attractive
sources: http://www.christopherspenn.com/2012/03/the-biggest-linkedin-profile-power-tip-of-all ; author screenshot

8. • Keyword-stuffing is a bad practice for websites, and even worse on
LinkedIn
DON’T Do This
image source: http://www.fillthefunnel.com/linkedin-worst-practice-youve-got-to-be-kidding/

9. Searching for People
1. Use the advanced search, or search using a regular term, and then use left
sidebar for additional filtering options (e.g., relationship, location, … )
– Example: MSP within 50 miles of 02210
2. Get more targeted by selecting some filters, like industry,
location, title, company (current or past)
image source: author screenshots

10. Searching for People (continued)
3. Paid accounts ( ( ) get additional filtering options (like seniority level
and company size)
– Depending on your needs and use, you may want to consider
upgrading your LinkedIn membership
4. Save searches for repeated use
– Get alerted automatically via email when people
meet this criteria
image source: author screenshots

11. Participating in Other Related Groups
1. Search for a term (use
quotes if necessary)
– I used MSP in this example
2. Use drop downs on left to
limit/filter
3. Join open groups, and
request access to locked (
) groups
– give it a month to test the
waters
– leave groups you don’t like
after a month
– Just stick with what works
image source: author screenshot

12. More on Groups
1. Group Profile shows who runs the show, and age of group
1. click to see more
2. then click ‘group profile’
2. Use the group statistics to tell you if it’s worthwhile to join
(more on that in a minute)
image source: author screenshots

13. More on Groups
3. See who else in your network is in the group
• Easier to get introductions this way to other people in that group!
• Also a good way to follow prospects or competitors
4. Contributing/participating in conversations gets you noticed
image source: author screenshots

14. Last Bit on Groups
The group statistics tell a great story
• Overall summary gives total
member count, start date, and a
snapshot of activity (comments last
week)
• The seniority snapshot gives you
a quick indication as to whether
you might want to join
• Demographics tab gives insight in
seniority, function, location, and
industry
• Bar chart breakdown gives quick
visual makeup of those four
classifications
image source: author screenshot

15. Last Bit on Groups
The group statistics tell a great story
• Growth gives sense of the velocity
of a group. Stagnant growth in
recent times indicates little
vibrancy.
• New member join rate is telling as
to how attractive (and find-able) the
group is.
• Activity is the pulse of the group.
Look for high volumes of comments
and discussions.
• Lots of discussions and little
comments typically indicate
shouting and little listening. High
comment count = thoughtful
engagement.
image source: author screenshot

16. • Not just into groups. Instead, think of it as a professional news
feed… because it is!
• Sharing out public updates builds credibility and trust in you
• Shared updates also factors into the algorithm of LinkedIn’s
Pulse news (LinkedIn’s curated “News You Are Interested In”)
Share Content as Status Updates
image source: author screenshots

17. • The more people share or comment on the same story, the sooner it
starts to rise in the “Your network’s talking about” section in
LinkedIn
- and starts to appear in your connections’ news feed!
• Accordingly, you should consider connecting with your customers on
LinkedIn directly, outside of LinkedIn groups
Share Content as Status Updates
image source: author screenshot

18. There Are Tons of Ways To Share!
• Clicking the ‘Share
to LinkedIn’ icon
lets you do a lot!
• Pushes out from
your feed (a status
update)
• Can also post to a
group or groups
• Can also tweet
• Can mention a
person’s name
(tagging)
image source: author screenshot

19. Not Sure What to Share? Here’s a List of Go-to Items
1. Mention what you’re working on.
2. Share what you’ve read.
3. Share (professional) advice/opinion.
4. Ask questions.
5. Like other content, comment on discussions.
6. Mention events and organizations you’re part of.
7. Share content from other sites.
8. Cross-post tweets from LinkedIn status updates (via the pop-up).
9. Share job opportunities.
10. Directly promote your product or service—but only infrequently.
Remember the Golden Rule:
sources: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/linkedin-company-pages-marketing-tips/ ; http://www.123print.com/blog/7-ways-to-
improve-your-linkedin-company-page/ ; http://blog.marketo.com/2012/07/the-4-1-1-rule-for-lead-nurturing.html ;

20. Examples of Newsfeed Content on LinkedIn
image source: author screenshots

21. Use Free Tools to Help Streamline + Automate
• HootSuite (free) version lets
you connect up to five
social networks
– Add Twitter, your LinkedIn
profile, and then up to
three LinkedIn groups!
• Install the browser extension to
share interesting content, as you
browse, from within your browser
image source: author screenshots

22. Use Free Tools to Help Streamline + Automate
• When posting inside the dashboard (browser and mobile), can post
to multiple places at once
• HootSuite provides lots of options and features, like character count,
ability to select an image, and even post scheduling (limited)
image source: author screenshots

23. If You Want to Learn More
• http://blog.eloqua.com/top-10-linkedin-tips-for-lead-generation/
• http://socialmediab2b.com/2011/11/b2b-social-media-linkedin-group-
statistics/
• http://www.slideshare.net/scrawforditm/power-prospecting-with-
linkedin
• http://press.linkedin.com/understanding-linkedin
• http://www.marketingprofs.com/charts/2011/4890/leads-via-linkedin-
groups-most-likely-to-convert?adref=nl042511
• http://www.christopherspenn.com/2012/03/the-biggest-linkedin-
profile-power-tip-of-all
• http://www.hubspot.com/eBooks/learning-linkedin-from-the-experts

24. BONUS CONTENT

25. Leverage Your Alumni Network
See who else you know
in similar groups, at
companies, or industries
image source: author screenshots

26. Be a Snoop. Look Who’s Looking at You and Your Stuff
image source: author screenshots