SEM & Digital Marketing Advice New Orleans, Louisiana | WSI

In the last of our LinkedIn tips series of blog posts, we’ll take a look at some of the more advanced features of the platform – including groups, content sharing and advertising.

Tip #1 – Find Groups & Learn to Participate

I recently completed a social media training course for mortgage professionals, and during this training several of the loan officers who were active on LinkedIn talked about the ways they connect with realtors, builders and borrowers online.  The ones having the most success were using local groups.

Now, there are many types of groups on LinkedIn.  In fact you should have no problem finding a group for just about anything you are interested in.  But professional groups can be scary for those who are new to LinkedIn; so I suggest starting with something easy and moving up to professional type groups.

For example, here in New Orleans one topic everyone loves is food – especially “po-boys.”  In one of the local groups I found a harmless question “What is your favorite po-boy?”  Now this is a great question to start with because really there is no wrong answer.

The idea is that by participating in group discussions that aren’t related to business, you can get a feel for how they work, and also learn to spot what not to do. Because in that same group, someone had posted “The best po-boys are at my shop (unnamed here) and you can get one for (xxx) price on whatever days of the week.”  The rest of the group slammed this person for advertising on the forum as that was not what the group was there for and this type of blatant selling on LinkedIn is considered spam by most.

Once you have a better feel for how it works, it’s time to venture into professional groups where you can really showcase your expertise.

Tip #2 – Create and Share Your Content

If you are taking the time to create a newsletter, blog post, newspaper article or other content, there is no better place to share it than LinkedIn.  Although Facebook has much larger numbers in terms of members and usage, I would argue that LinkedIn is the better place to share your professionally generated content as those who have connected with you have done so on a professional basis.

Sharing your content on LinkedIn will help build your online reputation as an authority in your area and is a great way to provide value to those in your network.  This is especially true if you take the time to create content that is focused on what your connections want.

And don’t forget about sharing your content in groups.  If you are active in a group and present your content in the form of sharing expertise, don’t overlook the fact that it could get in front of hundreds of potential clients with the click of a mouse!

Tip #3 – Apps, Apps, Apps

These days everyone has “apps” and LinkedIn is no different.  The trick is to find the apps that you can use quickly and easily to get more out of your LinkedIn experience.  A few we recommend are:

1. Mobile apps – this is a “must have” if you want to make posting updates a snap.  Most smartphones will allow you to download some version of a LinkedIn application that will allow you at least the basic functionality like posting status updates and responding to messages via your phone.
2. Browser Toolbar – Many web browsers have toolbars that you can download and use for quickly posting new content to your favorite social channels.  Shareaholic for Firefox is one that we like but there are many others out there depending on which is your favorite browser.
3. Aggregators – Tools like Ping.fm and Hootsuite are called “aggregators” as they allow you to manage multiple social sites in a single dashboard.  These tools are free and can greatly reduce the amount of time it takes to either post to sites like LinkedIn or keep tabs on what’s happening on those sites.

You can view a full list of the LinkedIn Apps on their website and see which ones interest you.

In our continuing series of blog posts on LinkedIn, we will share the top things that we see people failing to do on LinkedIn and how you can fix the problems quickly and easily.

Mistake #1 – Failing to get recommendations

One of the things we like best about LinkedIn is the transparency.  Unlike other social sites where spam is prevalent, LinkedIn offers you the ability to read and see if the people you interact with are real and credible.  For instance, if you have a recommendation in your LinkedIn profile, anyone you are connected to can click through the recommending person’s profile.  This lends tremendous credibility when I can see what type of person is making the recommendation.

It therefore goes without saying that having testimonials are very helpful on your profile. They’re a great indication of the quality of your work and the relationships you maintain.

Ask and you shall receive…

The reality is that testimonials won’t just shot up in your profile without a little work.  You have to ASK for them.  Remember that everyone has a few hundred connections and if we all took the time to write recommendations about everyone we know, we’d never get to work.  So be sensitive that others are busy too, and send a note asking for a recommendation to someone you think can provide a good one.

Tip – the easiest way to GET a recommendation is to GIVE one first.  When you write a testimonial for someone else, LinkedIn asks the person to approve it, then suggests they write one about you.  It’s quick, easy and the fastest way to get testimonials showing up in your profile.

Mistake #2 – Waiting for people to come to you

This is one of the big mistakes, and unfortunately one we see all the time especially in our social media training courses.  Someone sets up a profile and then sits and waits, then complains that LinkedIn doesn’t work as they don’t have any connections coming in!

Just like any other form of networking, if you want this to work take the initiative to reach out and make connection requests yourself.

Here are some easy ways to promote your profile:

• Include your profile link and icon in your email
• Promote your profile on your website and traditional marketing materials
• Look for mentions of LinkedIn profiles on Facebook and Twitter
• Use all of the connection tools LinkedIn offers including Outlook Connector and Search
• Answer questions on the Q & A boards
• Look into mobile apps for your smartphone to make it easier to post updates
• Consider LinkedIn ads

Mistake #3 – Wasting new connections

After all this work, you finally get someone to connect with you.  Now what?  I suggest you type up a quick “Thanks for connecting” email and send that to new connections.  Think about what you are trying to get out of your LinkedIn participation and craft the message that way.

For example, if you were in real estate and were using LinkedIn to make new connections and maybe sell more houses you could try something like this:

“Hi New Connection,

Thanks for taking the time to connect with me on LinkedIn.  I look forward to keeping up with you on this great tool.  As you know I am in the real estate business, and if you would like to keep up with information about real estate in your area, take a moment and checkout our blog http://blog.example.com where we update the most important information buyers and sellers need to know.

Again thanks for connecting with me on LinkedIn!”

Remember, tell them why they should care that they connected with you and what they can get out of it.  Don’t sell hard, just remember to remind them of the value you bring to the table.

Continuing on our series of blogs about how to use LinkedIn, here are 3 easy to make mistakes that we often uncover during our social media training classes, and some tips you can use to avoid making them!

Mistake #1:  Having a Poor Profile

It’s easy to fall into the trap of making a nice, safe LinkedIn profile.  After all, the system prompts you to fill in the blanks and all you have to do is comply.

However, chances are you aren’t the only person who does what you do and is trying to find some new connections via LinkedIn.  So in order to make your profile stand out, I recommend you create a profile that grabs a potential prospects attention and stands out from the crowd.  We suggest that you introduce yourself as someone who solves problems or handles big issues and see what happens.

Mistake #2 – Failure to optimize your profile

“Optimize” is one of those words that makes people’s eyes glaze over.  But when we are talking about “optimizing” a LinkedIn profile it shouldn’t be that scary.  What we mean is to make sure your description includes lots of good keywords that people might be searching for.

Remember that one of the most important features on LinkedIn is “search” where users can search for people based on any keyword they want.  So if someone wanted to find a social media training course in New Orleans, I had better make sure those keywords or services are in my profile and chances are it will show up.

A secondary benefit is that these LinkedIn results DO show up in Google.  So when someone searches for what you offer in Google, there is a chance that your LinkedIn profile could show up for just the right keyword combination!

Mistake #3 – Failing to give recommendations

One of the most powerful tools LinkedIn offers are Recommendations.  Ideally you will eventually have your profile filled with glowing recommendations from real customers or people that may make the difference between someone reaching out to you or going to the next listing.

The easiest way to GET recommendations in your profile is to give them first.  When you give a recommendation on LinkedIn, the system sends it to the recipient for approval.  It then asks if they would like to recommend you as well, and suggests an introduction.  So by giving recommendations you can expect to get at least a few back in return.