5 Steps to Building Quality LinkedIn Connections

Are you trying to find quality leads for your business on LinkedIn?

Are you rising above the noise with quality engagement?

Using your LinkedIn profile to connect with market influencers and potential clients is smart–when done right.

In this article, you’ll discover a five-step process for building the solid relationships you need to generate a steady flow of leads from LinkedIn.

LinkedIn is a great marketing tool if you create relationships based on trust. Image source: iStockPhoto.com.

#1: Get Your House in Order

 

Before you start looking for leads on LinkedIn, it’s important to understand LinkedIn basics and the expectations of its users.

Take a few minutes to make sure you have a professional profile and picture, and join a few groups to get a feel for how they work. Go a step further and figure out the best engagement times to post on LinkedIn.

Even little details, like a completed profile, affect how potential leads respond to you.

When you’re confident you have the basics down and are ready to start meeting others and creating leads, make a spreadsheet to track your progress and connections.

I like to keep track of current personal connections, new connections, groups my target influencers and customers are in, popular group topics, how many members are in a group and which members are most active.

#2: Find Your Market Influencers on LinkedIn

 

Before you post and push content to your intended audience, be crystal-clear about their interests. Only then can you create ads or messages that speak directly to them.

As you look for market leaders, review your personal connections and existing clients, then find them on LinkedIn. You most likely already have a priority list of companies and people whom you want to connect with. Next, go to LinkedIn and search for other companies and people who are active in your market.

Search for all of the companies you’d like to follow.

When you connect with people, don’t send network invitations with “Hey, we’re in the same network, I thought that…” or “I liked your website, I have a question…” types of messages to connect with them. They’ll get deleted, ignored or flagged.

#3: Join Relevant LinkedIn Groups

 

It’s not enough to find the leading voices in your market, you have to know where they hang out and what topics they find interesting. LinkedIn groups are a good place to get a feel for this.

Look at which LinkedIn groups market leaders are participating in, then join the ones that fit your needs.

Look at your list of influencers, then visit their LinkedIn profiles and scroll down the page to see their Groups section. Here you can see all of the groups they’re part of.
Visit these groups and join the ones that fit your needs.

#4: Create an Editorial Calendar

 

When you visit a group, you can sort the conversations by Popular and Recent to see which questions and content are most relevant to members (and who offers the most responses). These conversations are your target areas of opportunity. Let those topics guide your own contributions.
Make a note in your spreadsheet about popular topics and the names of the most active group members. Use that information to develop an editorial calendar.

As you create your calendar, remember that generic content won’t get you the attention you deserve and want. Instead, ask intriguing questions and share thoughtful, useful information to build a high-converting customer/client-building funnel.

In one of my market-relevant groups, the topic of tools for writers came up, so I shared an article I’d written that has related tips and detailed information about writing resources and tools. The content was relevant and it linked to my blog; I added value to the group and drove traffic to my website.

Create engaging posts that speak to your audience.

#5: Post the Right Kind of Content

 

Your content should address the issues being discussed in the group and offer help or more information without being a sales message in disguise.

When you publish new online content, use your website’s social sharing widget or plugin to push the post to your targeted LinkedIn groups. When you click the LinkedIn Share option, check the Post to Groups checkbox and enter an intriguing question as the title.

Target your message directly from your blog via the LinkedIn Share plugin.

If you post and share often, keep both shared content and your question relevant to each group’s discussions to avoid looking like spam. When visitors hop over to your blog post or website, rely on the conversion tactics you have in place to capture your new leads.

Make sure you have notifications turned on so you’ll know when you get a LinkedIn comment. You don’t want to miss a chance to respond.

Conclusion

Hard sells (e.g., self-serving emails and posts) just don’t work on LinkedIn. Comments, likes and direct responses to your content aren’t permission to pitch. Instead, continue the conversation and carefully consider the content you share and how you present it.

Research what each group wants, then offer yourself as a resource. Ask more questions, make recommendations and offer solutions—or if you can’t help, refer people to someone who can. You can rise above the noise with quality engagement that makes you stand out.

What do you think? How do you generate leads from LinkedIn? Are you happy with the quality of your interactions? Is there a tactic that has worked well for you? Leave a comment with your advice or questions below.

5 LinkedIn Company Page Tips to Enhance Your Marketing

Do you use LinkedIn for business?

Do you have a LinkedIn company page?

In this article, I’ll show you how to get the most from your LinkedIn company page, in five easy steps.

Why a LinkedIn Company Page?

The benefits of a well-oiled LinkedIn company page include engaging followers with company news, updates, events and relevant content.

There’s also the improved search engine rankings as LinkedIn pages often perform well in company searches.  And let’s not forget lead generation opportunities from your content marketing.

In fact, research shows that 50% of LinkedIn members are more likely to purchase from companies when they engage with them on LinkedIn.

Here’s how to make your LinkedIn company page work for you:

#1: Optimize Your LinkedIn Page

Showcase what your business has to offer. Smart marketers who build out their products and services page tend to attract twice as many company followers than those who don’t.

Use this page to tell members what you do best and give them compelling reasons to follow you.

Remember that you can link to just about anything from your products and services page, including your latest and greatest white papers, case studies or how-to content.

You’ll best attract customers when you turn your products, services or anything else relevant to your business into focal points. Here are just a few examples of what to feature prominently:

• Products: The software you sell or the apps you’ve built
• Services: A list of your résumé writing services or your tax consulting brochure
• Other: Webinars you host or your company’s white papers or ebooks
  

  Use the products and services page to raise awareness of your brand, promote career opportunities and educate potential customers on your products and services.

Company pages are also very SEO-friendly. Google previews up to 156 characters of your page’s text. Be sure to edit your description so that it leads with powerful, keyword-rich sentences. Plus, members can search for companies by keyword on LinkedIn, so include words and phrases that describe your business, expertise and industry focus.

Finally, remember to include your company contact information, descriptions of offerings and your areas of expertise. Your primary attributes can also function as keyword tags.

Once you’ve done that, ask your customers to recommend the products and services they favor. Authentic advocacy equals credible endorsement!

#2: Engage Your Audience

With LinkedIn company pages, you can now like and share content as a company. Before, you could only do so as an individual. This is a big change, so use it toengage other members!

For example, your company page admins can like and respond to member comments that are made in response to something you post on your company page.Consider sharing your customers’ and prospects’ content—from their corporate blogs, product updates and company posts—to get these kinds of interactions going. And don’t forget content from their employees! You’ll develop trust with buyers while developing a more professional corporate brand identity.

Hands down, content that’s customized to your followers’ and customers’ professional interests resonates the most.

With LinkedIn’s targeted updates, you can easily tailor your message to your audience. For example, when you create an update, you can choose to share it with “all followers” or to a “targeted audience.”

Choose the latter to send your update to a subset of followers based on geography, industry, company size or level of seniority. Just as with any social network, LinkedIn is a community where targeted engagement is essential for success.

Company updates allow your administrators to directly engage with viewers and followers of your company page. You can post and share items like company news, promotions, relevant industry articles and YouTube videos.

When you update from your company page, use these two essential tips for creating compelling content:

• Think like a journalist. Don’t bury the lead! Concise intros and snappy headlines are more likely to result in higher engagement than long, dry copy. You have only moments to show your audience why they should care, so being succinct is crucial. Grab your readers’ attention right away by starting your update with your most important thought.
• Make your content valuable and “snackable.” Develop quality content that is quick to consume, so members will want to share it with their connections and networks. In fact, our data shows that the most successful updates include a picture, chart, video or link to an article. When you do not have a link or image to include, engage your audience by asking a question.

Lastly, keep in mind that professionals will check your updates on multiple devices.

#3: Attract More Followers

The more the merrier on the social merry-go-round. Here are some simple, effective strategies for attracting more followers with your company updates:

• Engage your colleagues. Employees are 70% more likely to engage with your company updates, so don’t forget to ask them to do it! Initiate communication and make it easy for them to respond.
• Cultivate a larger following with a multi-channel approach. Encourage your teammates to add a link to your company page in their email signatures. If needed, ask your designer for help creating a customized banner or button.
• Add a Follow button to your website. Your web team can pull code for a Follow button from developer.linkedin.com to add to your blog or website. This lets LinkedIn members follow your company with a single click.
  

  Add a Follow button to your website, making it easy to grow your LinkedIn company page follower base.

#4: Follow the 4-1-1 Rule

The 4-1-1 Rule was coined by Tippingpoint Labs and Joe Pulizzi of the Content Marketing Institute. The rule states:

“For every one self-serving tweet, you should retweet one relevant tweet and most importantly share four pieces of relevant content written by others.”

Consistent posting: Create an editorial calendar of updates within your company, and highlight relevant third-party material. Then share it with company followers. Image Source: Tippingpoint Labs.

Apply this simple rule to your activity on your LinkedIn company page, and you’ve struck gold. You’ll authentically engage in conversations, build awareness and interact with LinkedIn members without giving the impression that you’re a self-centered know-it-all.

For marketers, the 4-1-1 Rule is particularly useful when applied to building relationships with prospective customers. This kind of trust hinges on your ability tofoster an informative dialogue regularly. It also keeps you at the front of prospects’ minds as they move through the buying phase.

As Jay Baer says, “Sell something, get a customer for a day. Help someone, get a customer for life.”

#5: Analyze for the Prize

Company page administrators have access to LinkedIn Analytics that help them better engage with their followers and monitor their success. There is a goldmine of insights available to help you focus and refine your strategy, including:

• Engagement % — Engagement = interactions + clicks + followers acquired. In other words, this metric answers the question, “Of those who’ve seen my update, how many are truly engaging with it?” Look at updates with higher engagement rates, and note the type of content, people targeted, date and time. Then you’ll know how to optimize future content around what’s proven to work.
• Demographics — From seniority and industry to company size and function, demographics give you a snapshot of your followers. With this information, you cantailor the type of content you share on your company page, as well as the tone in which it’s delivered. Demographics will also help you determine segments to target with targeted status updates.
• How You Compare — Knowing how your company page compares to your competitors’ pages is a great way to determine whether you should change your strategy.

Watch this video to learn more about the new LinkedIn company page analytics.

Bonus Tip

Host a company “Lunch & Learn” to evangelize the power of company updates, and share tips and tricks with your team. This can have a significant impact on your company page’s overall reach.

Consider third-party apps like GaggleAMP and Addvocate to show employees which updates are most important for your company and are pre-approved for sharing.

Over to You

What do you think? Are you using LinkedIn’s company pages to connect your business with the professionals you most want to reach? How do you update your followers on company news, products and services and job openings?Leave your questions and comments in the box below.