Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile
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Definitive guide on how to optimize your LinkedIn Profile with search terms, keywords, who to follow, groups to join, and how to connect with people both inside and outside your network.
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Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile
- 2. Linked Set up a Profile Find Prospects Join a Group Engage People
- 3. SET UP PROFILE Revise your HEADLINE & PICTURE Update SUMMARY What do you do? Who do you sell to? Use SEARCH WORDS 3
- 4. HELP PEOPLE FIND YOU Use SEARCH WORDS OPTIMIZE your profile! 4
- 5. Basic Search vs. Advanced Search FIND PROSPECTS 5
- 6. Find their PROFILE Look for online ACTIVITIES What do they care about? Group memberships Leverage “People Also Viewed” RESEARCH A PROSPECT 6
- 7. CONNECT Ask for INTRODUCTIONS Send InMAIL MESSAGES CONTACT PEOPLE DIRECTLY 7 John Doe SVP of B2B Marketing; Sales & Marketing Integration; Business Development Greater New York City Area, New York | Marketing and Advertising AT&T SalesForLife Columbia University
- 8. ENGAGE YOUR NETWORK POST Regularly One Post Per Day LIKE or COMMENT on Relevant Content SHARE Content ASK Questions 8 M2M Stars USA
- 9. JOIN GROUPS FIND your CUSTOMER’S Groups SELECT the Right Groups PARTICIPATE in Discussions 9
- 10. SOCIAL SELLING INDEX Social Selling Index Stats – 10
- 11. KNOW YOUR SOCIAL SELLING INDEX 11 Know Your SSI Go To: www.Linkedin.com/sales/ssi Give Your Instructor Your SSI Score
Editor's Notes
- Welcome to this social selling course. Social selling is an exciting opportunity for you to grow sales and create relationships with customers and prospects online. This content has been developed by DT and Thought Horizon, an Atlanta-based consulting firm. Let’s begin by taking a look at the key takeaways you will gain by completing this course.
- This section will introduce LinkedIn. LinkedIn is the largest professional online network in the world – with over 433 millioin users worldwide. Whether your customer is a small business or works in a large enterprise the chances are he or she is on LinkedIn. To effectively use LinkedIn for social selling you will need to: -Set up a profile -Find your prospects online -Join groups to learn and demonstrate your expertise & finally -Engage with customers and prospects directly online… Our first step is to create a LinkedIn profile. Even if you have one, this section will give you tips on finding ways of generating more interest in you by the people who matter to you most: your prospects.
- Your contacts (including prospects) will view your LinkedIn profile to learn more about you. What does your profile need to say about you? Let’s now walk through this executive’s profile to review some best practices for LinkedIn profiles. Create a strong headline. You need a headline that will succinctly explain how you help customers. The above example reads, “Providing business wireless solutions to mobilize the workforce, track assets and protect data.” 2. Select a location: Pick the metro area for your sales region. 3. Upload a photo - Use a good headshot It needs to present an image of you that is business professional. Ask yourself if your customers would want to connect or interact with you based on the picture you plan to post. Make sure your face is visible and you have nothing distracting in the background, such as loved ones, pets, etc. 2. Provide all of your contact information Include your email, phone and any other social media networks. 3. Update your Summary Section Use both your headline and summary to answer ‘Why DT?’ and “Why call me?” 4. Include your Experience List all your experience, including your current role. Write your job descriptions in terms of how you have helped businesses improve using the skills and expertise you bring to the table. Now that you have a profile, consider what you could improve to help generate more interest and visibility with your prospects
- Ask yourself, when a prospect searches, will they find me or me or my competitors? Here are a few things you can do to be found and generate more interest for people to click to your profile. 1. Revise your headline. Sometimes the headline and your photo is the only thing someone will see in a list. Search yourself and compare your headline to others who appear in the list. Check out your peers and competitors. What could you say to make a prospect click your name and see your entire profile? 2. Use your summary and experience to explain how you help customers. Write it from the point of view of introducing yourself to your ideal client. How exactly can you help them? Who do you ideally want to talk to? If you sell to multiple titles, be sure to list them all. Look at other DT social sellers to get ideas on how to make a good profile even better. 3. Insert key search words throughout your profile Consider what words your prospects may use to find you in a search. These words may include….GSM, Smartphone, wireless, iPhone, Samsung, mobile, business, IT. You may also want to include some industry specific key words such as: Healthcare, Local Government or HIPPA. Include key words that tie you back to your customers business such as “small business” or the name of the vertical markets you serve. We covered how people find you. Now let’s talk about how can you find prospects using LinkedIn?
- There are 2 ways to search for people on LinkedIn: Basic and Advance Search. For the Basic Search: Go to the top bar on the LinkedIn Home Page. There is a box where you can type a few key words (look at the space below the first magenta arrow in this slide). Now, hit the ENTER key or click the blue magnifying glass icon (near the second arrow). You will get a list of contacts, groups, and companies that include these keywords. For a more advanced search: You can click on the ‘advanced’ button next to the search box (see the red box on the upper right) and the page shown here will appear. Use Advanced Search if you are unsure of who you are looking for. It gives you a much more granular view. You can search by industry, location, name or title. These searches improve your chances of finding your prospect because you can be much more exact about who you are trying to reach on LinkedIn. Let’s assume you have found your contact and you are now ready to do some social selling. What exactly should you do next?
- Before engaging a prospect, you should next do some research. Open the full profile of your prospect by clicking on the prospect’s name in your search list. Hover over the triangle to the right of the blue ‘connect’ button. You will see at the top “View Recent Activity.” If your prospect is actively posting, you will see activities from the past 2 weeks. This is the easiest way to see what is important to your prospect and it gives you a way to interact by responding to their posts. You can even see what groups they have recently joined. Next, scroll down the profile. On the right-hand tool bar you will see a section called “people also viewed.” It shows what other profiles people are likely to view when searching on this individual. If you click, it reveals a list. Often this section shows other people at the same company you may want to research or interact with. It may gives you clues about the company’s organization. Finally, scroll down some more. In the center of the page you will find the LinkedIn Groups listed that your prospect belongs to. Groups are important for social selling and will be covered on a future slide. After reviewing a profile, you can now strategize on the best way to interact with them online.
- The simplest way to communicate using LinkedIn is to directly talk to contacts, offer ideas and ask for meetings. See the arrows on the lower right of the screen: If you click the Connect Button you are asking to be part of this person’s network. This means they will see what you post on their home page (similar to Facebook). However, you must first have a reason to connect. Plan to put this reason in the “request to connect” message rather than using the default message provided by LinkedIn. Connecting after a face-to-face discussion or phone call is perfectly normal. Even if you have just shared a conversation in the comments section of a LinkedIn post, you have every reason to ask to connect. Connect with other DT employees and leaders to expand your network. If you don’t want others to see your contact list or online activities, you can change that in your profile settings. But please note: connecting out of the blue does not work. If you don’t have a reason to connect, please don’t jump the gun by attempting to do so unwarrantedly You can also ask for “introductions” to others using LinkedIn: If you are already connected to someone, you can ask them to introduce you to one of their contacts you wish to know via the LinkedIn tool. If you have done business with someone, this is a great way to ask for referrals. Finally, you can also send messages to LinkedIn users using LinkedIn’s “InMail” Messages You can send direct messages for free to any of your connections. If you are not a connection, you can send a message if you have the LinkedIn Premium services. Just like a call on the phone or a personal email, you need to include a reason for requesting a meeting or requesting assistance. Ask yourself “what’s in it for them” when contacting others on LinkedIn? What are some other best practices to engage others and get noticed on LinkedIn?
- Start building your reputation online as a wireless expert by engaging with others on LinkedIn. Here is a great example of how you can like or post something to educate or create interest with your prospects. Be sure to post regularly (weekly if possible). Keep reminding your network that you are out there and ready to help. A post can be an article about improvements we are making in the network or how the iPhone is making it easier for you customers to do business. You can also ‘Like’ or Comment other people’s content If you see a great article or something that a prospect has posted, you should respond. You can Like it or write a comments. When you do so your prospect and their connections will see it too. And it give them a reason to click your profile. Finally, you can Share Content Find something you want your customers to see and post about it. This can be DT press releases or industry articles. We will be talking later about DT tools that will help you bring content quickly and easily to your customers using LinkedIn. Remember that your activity impacts your search engine rankings. This means the more active you are on LinkedIn the more LinkedIn will put your name in front of others. Being seen by your customers in LinkedIn is highly dependent on this ranking. What’s another way to engage more people online?
- Cut picture for left 4 groups With over 1.8M groups, LinkedIn has a group for every: geography, market, and industry. LinkedIn users can belong to up to 50 groups. Most people belong to one or more groups. The benefits of joining groups are: Learn about topics that are important to you You get to know people with a common interest and hear what is on their minds. Show off your knowledge in front of your customers. You can search groups using the search box. You might use key words such Wireless, Atlanta, or CEO. Pick a topic that relates to the wireless industry, the customers you serve, or a group in your location area. Example: Join the Dallas Small Business Chamber or the Texas Wireless Association. To select a group, consider the following: Don’t join groups that are too big (15,000 members and up) or too small (under 500). Stay with groups that have lots of discussions and comments, leave others that do not. Once you have joined a group remember to participate in group discussions: Check in regularly and read the online discussions. Respond to discussions – Like a post, make a comment, or thank someone for posting Post content of your own. Ask questions to get responses from other group members. Never be salesy. If members feel you are just there to sell or push product, you may be asked to leave the group. When posting articles, consider what could educate the group or create interest: For example, “How can small businesses leverage tablets to search inventory real time?” Use the 80/20 rule. Listen and respond 80% of the time and only post your own material 20%. This will create real relationships in these groups that will allow you to then talk offline about business deals. We have covered some basics for using LinkedIn for social selling. We should also discuss best practices for Twitter.
- LinkedIn has developed a way to measure your social selling activity to give you a score out of 100. This score is your “SSI” or “Social Selling Index”. LinkedIn Research shows that SSI leaders: Create 45% more opportunities per quarter! 78% More Likely to Outsell your Peers who aren’t on Social Selling! Are 51% more likely to hit quota! Meaning, as anyone in the client facing business world, having a high SSI will attribute to your success.
- SSI 15 min Exercise Look up your SSI score on linkedin.com/sales/ssi As you can see from the title graphic, reproduced below, the index starts with two broad performance measures: How you measure up against your industry How you measure up against your network