Xplore.net Seminar Notes: LinkedIn

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1 The current business landscape: 98% of businesses rely on referrals for new business. LinkedIn is an online referral management system. - making it an important business resource. LinkedIn Facts: Over 100 million registered users. Users in more than 200 countries. 1.5 million users are in Australasia. Executives from all Fortune 500 companies are on LinkedIn. 71% of users were over the age of % of LinkedIn users are male. 52% of LinkedIn users are company decision makers. 72% of users earn $60,000 + p/a. 560,000 professionals visit the LinkedIn homepage every day A new member joins every second of every day

2 How LinkedIn is being used by marketers: Top used social media platforms In 2010, LinkedIn was one of the top used social media platforms by businesses. Social media tools used by B2B v B2C in 2010 In 2010, LinkedIn was favoured by B2Bs as a platform to generate business (second only to Twitter).... Social media marketing In 2010, marketers recorded the average cost per lead was 60% cheaper using social media marketing, when compared with traditional marketing.... Marketers intended use of LinkedIn, in % of marketers intend to increase their use of LinkedIn in 2011.

3 How LinkedIn works: LinkedIn is a business orientated social networking site that is the perfect platform for generating sales. It was designed, built and marketed specifically for professionals to use, to do business. Personal Profiles: Company Pages: Groups: These pages are free to anyone to setup and act as an online CV, providing information on: Previous work experience. Education. Highlights online recommendations. Links (e.g. to websites, blogs, etc). Supporting applications (e.g. portfolios of work, etc). Connections who they know on LinkedIn. Business owners can setup and manage a basic Company profile page on LinkedIn that provides information such as: Overview of the company. Statistics (e.g. number of employees, etc). Areas of expertise. General contact details. Specific products offered. A feed from corporate Twitter account. Groups can be setup by any LinkedIn user, on any topic. They allow users to establish new business relationships by joining industry, company or professional groups and sharing information. They are ideal for: Establishing new business relationships. Demonstrating your expertise. Creating interest in your offerings. Stimulating leads.

4 Getting started on LinkedIn If you don t already have a LinkedIn profile, simply go to and start filling out the form on the right hand side of the screen. This will take you through a three step process to setup the bare minimum information required, in order to have a LinkedIn profile... Getting the 100% mark of completeness You are 40x more likely to receive opportunities through LinkedIn, if your profile is 100% complete. To achieve 100% completeness, you will need to... Upload a photo: This should be an 80x80px image of you (not your company logo), staring straight at the camera with a smile! This is your first impression with people who may not yet have met you, so make sure it s an approachable one.

5 Getting started on LinkedIn cont Create an executive summary: Provide an outline of your professional experience and goals (outlining what you have done, what you are doing and the kinds of things you are interested in). Consider keywords when crafting this summary use keywords that you want to be found under when people search for your area of expertise in Google.... List your education: Don t feel obliged to add every institution you ever studied at (unless you think this will influence your target market). Just list any higher education you ve had or degrees you have achieved.... Outline your work experience: Add your three most recent positions (including your current place of employment). Make sure you use the fields provided (when you click the add new position button) to outline how your previous work experience contributed to your current area of expertise. Remember, your LinkedIn profile is all about positioning yourself as an expert in your field.

6 Getting started on LinkedIn cont Three recommendations from your network: To have a 100% complete profile, 3 other LinkedIn users will need to write you a LinkedIn recommendation. This is an online testimonial of you (as a professional, in your field) that appears on your LinkedIn profile and adds credibility to your presence on LinkedIn. 78% of consumers trust peer recommendations, so recommendations are essential.

7 Setting up your LinkedIn profile to act as a lead generation tool Xplore.net Seminar Notes: LinkedIn The following are hints and tips to help you make your profile stand out from the 100 million other users. These tips are also designed to not only give you a presence on LinkedIn, but turn your profile into a self-service lead generation tool. Change your public profile settings: By default, your LinkedIn profile (when first created) will be setup to appear as anonymous to anyone who is not connected to you on LinkedIn. In order to make it easy for people to find you (when searching in Google, or on LinkedIn), change your profile settings to make your page visible to everyone, by: 1. Going to your profile. 2. Clicking the Change Public Profile Settings link (on the right hand side of the page). 3. Selecting the Make my public profile visible to everyone option. 4. Use the tick boxes below to select what information people who are not connected to you on LinkedIn will be able to see. Create a custom link name, for your profile: By default, all new profiles are named with a string of numbers not a very easy to remember website address. To change this, and select a 5-30 character word to be your new profile link, please: 1. Go to your profile. 2. Click the Change Public Profile Settings link (on the right hand side of the page). 3. Click the Customize your public profile URL link. 4. In the box provided, enter a word to be your custom profile link. 5. Click the Set Custom URL button. Hot Tip: Try to use your name (or an abbreviated version), as your custom URL, to foster name recognition with contacts.

8 Setting your LinkedIn profile to act as a lead generation tool The following are hints and tips to help you make your profile stand out from the 100 million other users. These tips are also designed to not only give you a presence on LinkedIn, but turn your profile into a self-service lead generation tool. Transform your profile headline into a calling card By default, the text that appears just under your name (known as the headline text) will be your current job title. Because this is the first text a user will read on your profile (aside from your name), you need to make sure it summarises who you are, what you offer and grabs their attention. Add links to supporting material To customise your headline text (so that it grabs your users attention): 1. Go to your profile. 2. Click the Edit link (next to your name) 3. In the Headline text field, enter your new attention grabbing headline. 4. Click Save Changes.... Your LinkedIn profile allows you to feature up to three website links and an additional link to your Twitter account (if you have one). Use these links to direct your profile readers to information/examples of work that showcase why they should get in contact with you (e.g. link to you corporate website, blog, portfolio, etc). When adding a link (by clicking the add a website button), make sure that you select the Other option from the dropdown box provided this will allow you to give your links your own label. Make sure you links labels include keywords and text that entices people to click them. Encourage staff to setup LinkedIn profiles, and link to your website, to help boost your search engine rankings.

9 Adding additional functionality to your profile In order to draw people in to discover what you have to offer, and how you can help them, you need to show off your company s best sales collateral on your LinkedIn profile. You can do this by using applications. To add an application to your profile, simply scroll down to the Applications section of your profile and click the add an application link to see a list of available applications.... Some of our favorite applications are Portfolio Display Perfect for anyone in a visual or creative industry this application provides you with a small portfolio of recent work, on your LinkedIn profile. Slideshare presentations Ideal for anyone who provides consultancy or strategic planning services this application allows you to showcase PowerPoint presentations, sell sheets and other sales collateral, on your LinkedIn profile. Tweets This application allows you to link your Twitter account with your LinkedIn profile, providing users with a list of your most recent tweets.

10 How to leverage LinkedIn to grow your business Social media will not make you money. You make money by doing business with people who know, like and trust you. Staying top of mind with prospects and existing clients You market with social media to develop relationships with people so that they will know, like and trust you then (and only then), will they buy from you. So, engaging and interacting with people is the key to success on LinkedIn.... Staying top of mind with prospects and existing clients On average, consumers need 5 interactions with a sales rep, before they will make a buying decision. Existing clients need to hear from their suppliers at least once every 90 days, or they are susceptible to competitor s advances. With these two principals in mind, you can use LinkedIn (in conjunction with your normal sales call/contact cycles) to stay top of mind with your prospects and existing clients. The LinkedIn newsfeed will automatically show your LinkedIn connections any posts you have made allowing your name to pop-up time and time again, in association with interesting information (if you post comments to LinkedIn regularly). You can also use the feed to comment on (or like) posts that your connections make another great way to keep in touch.

11 How to leverage LinkedIn to grow your business Generating leads by establishing credibility One of the best recognised ways to generate leads, is by ensuring you (and your business) are perceived as experts in your field. To do this, you need to actively post comments, thoughts and information on your LinkedIn profile and in LinkedIn Groups. All sales professionals should join LinkedIn groups, related to their sales focus, and actively post helpful advice.... Top 5 Tips for writing social media comments: 1.Don t act any differently to what you do in real life. - use the same tone and voice you would offline. Post nothing and you ll attract the same. Seeking out referrals Actively use LinkedIn to: 1. Research who your contacts know. 2. Create a hit list of people you would like introductions to. 3. Request introductions/referrals from your contacts. 4. Create new business opportunities through proactive contact management The goal of social media is not to keep all interactions online it s to provide additional opportunities to connect with people. So, once you know who you want to do business with put down the mouse, pick up the phone and make a real world connection. 2.Always consider What s in it for me?, from your readers perspective. - make sure your posts are crafted to encourage people to contact you. 3.People want to know the do s and don ts of your area of expertise - build trust by providing invaluable industry insights. 4.Don t tell someone something you can ask them. - ask leading questions that help people realise they should contact you. 5.Learn the art of education and communication v promotion. - keep your posts informative and educational, rather than pushy and self-promoting.