Powerful LinkedIn Strategies
for Small Businesses
September 13, 2012
Maggie Barr
Kat & Mouse Co
www.KatandMouseCo.com

In This Presentation I Will
Help You. . .
• Learn a new way to “sell” to your
customers using social media that’s
more effective
• Understand the difference between
LinkedIn and other social media sites
• Build a strategy for who your LinkedIn
site will target, and what goals will
achieve
• Avoid wasting time on a generic
LinkedIn site that is un-interesting and
ineffective

Agenda
• Why use Social Media to market your
business?
• LinkedIn vs. Other Social Media Sites
• Starting with LinkedIn – What’s Your
Goal?
• How To Use LinkedIn to Find More
Customers – Them Find You!

Why use Social Media
to market your business?
• We are ALL selling something, ourselves, our
products, our services, our time, etc.
• The OLD Way of Selling….
• High pressure tactics, cold calling, fear of rejection
• The NEW Way of Selling…
• Establish authority and thought leadership
• Provide Value and resources
• Display Social proof

LinkedIn vs.
Other Social Media Sites?

LinkedIn vs.
Other Social Media Sites
What’s the difference?
• Facebook – Used for individuals, and for promoting
products to consumers
• Twitter – Used to communicate with highly engaged
customers – not everyone
• YouTube – Great for posting video, but not for
finding contacts
• Linked In – Best for finding business contacts and
building valuable relationships!

LinkedIn is Best for
Business Because…
Good for Good for Good for Good for
Posting a Good for Finding Finding Posting
Good for Business Finding Business Channel Business
Individuals Profiles Consumers Customers Contacts Content
Facebook
P P P P
Twitter
P
You Tube
P P
Google+
P P
LinkedIn
P P P P P

LinkedIn is Best for
Business Because…
• ONLY FOR BUSINESS
• Unlike with Facebook , there is no confusion about what is
business content and personal content on your profile, and your
customers’ profiles
• THE BUSINESS MINDSET
• Logging on at work, solving business problems, looking for
business opportunities
• NO PRIVACY CONCERNS
• People you reach out to won’t be concerned about privacy
when you connect with them, like they might be on facebook

LinkedIn is Best for
Business Because…
• SHOWCASE YOUR COMPANY
• Unlike Twitter and YouTube, your LinkedIn profile can have a
written intro to your company and offerings, as well as a series
of links to your website and other social media sites
• DIRECT 1:1 SELLING OK
• Unlike FB, TW & YouTube, finding and contacting someone 1:1
to offer them something of value is easy, and more acceptable
• SPAM-FREE
• Unlike Facebook & Twitter, you don’t get a ton of spam in your
news feed if you follow a company page

Before Starting with LinkedIn
What’s Your Goal?
What is your LinkedIn campaign goal?
– Generate Leads?
– Get Hired By Existing Contacts?
– Promote Products or Services?
– Promote an Event?
– Get Hired?

Who do you want to reach with your
LinkedIn campaign effort?
• When you’re reaching out to people….
– Do you want to reach individual customers directly?
– Or do you want to target key influencers who will
encourage others to check you out?
– Do you want to find channel partners to co-promote
with?
Your approach, message,
and offer will be different
depending on this!

What is Your CORE MESSAGE?
• Your core message
– Should only be one to avoid confusion, even
though it’s tempting to try and fit in more
– What do you want these people to believe?
– Why are you better than your competitors?
For example:
“We’re the largest supplier of high-end dental
equipment in the US – please try us!”

What Action do you Want the People you
Contact to Take?
• What’s your Call-to-Action?
– Buy now!
– Try now - trial offer to get them interested
– Call us now for more info!
• What incentive are you offering to get them to take
action?
– Limited Time Offer – Whitepaper or Special price?
– Get access to industry-related content they need
– Watch a really cool video!
Try several different offers
to see what works best!

How Will You Measure Your Success?
• By how your LinkedIn page
looks, compares to your
competitors?
• By how many new connections
you get?
• By how many new customers
find you on LinkedIn?

How To Use LinkedIn to
Find More Customers . . .

Create a LinkedIn Presence That Stands
Out!
• Your Personal and Business Profiles needs to be targeted
to your audience – not generic
• 3 Most important parts of your profile
– Headline
– Action Links
– Summary Section
• Your Company Page
• Should have the right wording that will attract your target
customer -- who you REALLY want to see your site
• OK if it’s not interesting to people who aren’t your target!

Create a LinkedIn Presence That Stands Out
…… to the right people
It’s OK if it’s not interesting to people who aren’t your target!
Our Target Customer

Actively Grow Your Network
• Import ALL your contacts
• Worse case, someone say’s “no”
• Accept ALL Invitations to connect
• Don’t worry about being “black-listed”
• When you meet someone in person, connect with
them right away!
• Most Important . . .
• Actively look for people to invite
• Search by company, industry, and by connections to
people you know

Actively Grow Your Network
1. Post on your own profile page with status updates – have
employees & partners do this too
2. Join Conversations that Engage Your Audience
3. Strategically join groups that your customers are in, and
post there frequently
4. Be visible everywhere by being active weekly
5. Develop an on-going content strategy…. what can you post
that is interesting next week?
6. Answer questions in the Q&A Section of LinkedIn

Leveraging LinkedIn to the Fullest
“Promote your company on LinkedIn and
make it easy for potential customers and partners to find
you, learn about your offerings, and hear about other
customers who like your product or service too!”

What We’ve Learned Today
1. LinkedIn is one of several social media sites
• They all have their plus’ and minus’ depending on what
you’re doing and who you want to reach
• LinkedIn is the best for finding business connections and
opportunities
2. It is important to have specific goals in mind, and know
who you’re targeting, what you want them to think,
what you want them to do, and why they should do it
3. Create Your Killer Profile
• Include a thorough summary of who you are, who you
serve, and what you offer……. and how they can find you

Questions?