Are you perplexed by the idea of investing in LinkedIn? Are you hesitant to take action and optimize your profile? Do not be afraid. With more than 680 million subscribers, LinkedIn is the ideal platform for any professional looking to grow their business opportunities.
The secrets behind LinkedIn are gaining more and more value. In an age where B2B marketing is directly linked to relationship marketing, those who use LinkedIn regularly generate more sales and leads. With the help of our strategic advice, you will ensure you move forward on the path to success, and unravel the mystery behind Social Selling!
1st secret: expand your network
Building a compelling profile on LinkedIn can be a challenge. But every moment that you give to perfecting your image on the platform makes the difference between a beginner profile and an absolute expert! Once done, you increase the chances that your invitations will be accepted. In order to expand your network, here are some steps to consider:
Gradually develop your professional network. Make invitations on a daily basis. Be sure to send them a personalized note with your invitation. Your first goal in increasing your network size is to achieve 500+. This indicates to your prospect a good level of professional activity and makes your invitation more attractive from a networking perspective. Tailor the invitations to the person you’re speaking to. Impersonal messages tend to be viewed as spam, which will undermine your chances of connecting. Adopt a warm and professional conversational attitude in your invitation message. You should not rush the interlocutor with a message that is too “sales”. Opt to let him know that you want to network. It is important to exchange with your contacts. If you want to maximize your visibility in the research of your expertise, you must interact with your audience, either like, share or more importantly, comment on each post. LinkedIn’s algorithm favors profiles of members with high interactions on LinkedIn, so use it to your advantage!
2nd secret: Post content on LinkedIn
It is clear that the content published influences the image of your business. By properly planning a content marketing campaign, you will ensure that you are read by a receptive and engaged audience. In the same vein, it is therefore important to publish relevant articles, at the right time and regularly. Before preparing your content, you must target your audience. After taking this step, you will be able to grab the attention of your target audience, engage them in discussion and exchange.
When it comes to the consistency of your posts, you need to make sure you’re not only consistent, but relevant as well. The added value that your posts convey to your target audience should be a priority, because that is when you will see your audience grow and take action.
To write a post that will have good organic reach, authenticity is essential; think about topics that matter to you in life, including work-life balance, professional advice or tips, teamwork, etc. On the other hand, this writing proves that you listen to people’s expectations, says a lot about your employer brand and diversifies the topics covered not only to your service offering. This also follows the philosophy of Social Selling.
As for the best times to publish and be read, we suggest that you write and schedule their publication according to a specific schedule.
Indeed, Tuesdays and Wednesdays are the best days to post on LinkedIn. The hours to recommend generating the most engagement are: 7:45 a.m., 10:45 a.m., 12:45 p.m., and 5:45 p.m.
However, also trust the news and your knowledge of your audience. A post in the heat of the moment can also generate traffic, depending on the nature of the story, and the popularity of the topic.
With a low rate of users who post weekly on LinkedIn, or 0.5% of all members, posting regularly is a great competitive advantage. By doing so, you position yourself among the pioneers of the platform, you strengthen your notoriety and you contribute to increased efficiency of your Social Selling initiatives. If you publish relevant content, regularly and at the right time, you will gain the trust of your target audience!
3rd secret: ask for recommendations
Whether it is to find a new job, to hire, to discover new business opportunities, or to expand your network, your LinkedIn profile. On the platform, profiles are classified by level: beginner, intermediate, advanced, expert and absolute expert.
In order to maximize your visibility or your notoriety, it is desirable to aim for the absolute expert level. To achieve this goal, the first steps are explained in our article “Practical advice to improve your professional image on LinkedIn”. The last step is to get peer recommendations. The more detailed your profile with recommendations from former colleagues, employers, collaborators or experts, the more reliable it will be and will give weight to your offer.
Is there a difference between a skills approval and a recommendation?
Yes indeed!
You can put 50 skills on your profile, and those skills can be endorsed by other people much like “likes” on social media.
This is a great step, albeit more passive than the recommendation.
A recommendation is a paragraph that other people will write in honor of your expertise or professionalism. It evokes in more detail the appreciation of your qualities and your professional strengths!
With the help of specific recommendations from people with whom you have already communicated or worked, you increase the credibility of your profile, which will make your future initiatives shine!
