How to stop wasting time on LinkedIn

LinkedIn is great isn’t it?

Your potential customers are all on there and we feel really good that we are doing our bit when we share a company post.

But you are also finding that your posts just aren’t getting the engagement you want and all this time and effort is NOT converting into new business opportunities.

So are you just wasting your time?

If you don’t really know what you are doing, the likelihood is - you are.

Therefore let me give you a really quick overview of the things that you should and shouldn’t be doing.

THE DOs

Sort your profile out!

There are lots of reasons why you HAVE to spend time sorting your LinkedIn profile out. Not only do you need to create the right impression to your target audience and communicate the right message, but if you don’t tick all the right boxes then LinkedIn will punish you and won’t push out your posts to as many people. Things that will help include:

• Profile picture - Just make it professional and friendly and don’t include your partner, kids or pets!
• Banner image - Have a striking banner that says what you do and how you add value.
• Headline (the bit under your name) - Make it tell a short story of what you do and who you work with.
• About - Don’t tell your life story. This is the bit where you can really sell what you and your business can offer.
• Featured - Showcase your best work, posts and case studies. Show people YOU are the person for them.

Know yourself, be yourself

Your personal profile is all about you. There is no point being fake or trying to adjust to fit in. The most successful people on LinkedIn are unashamedly themselves. People want reality. They want to discover the real you, not the business mask that we all put on. Don’t try to be perfect, be brave and it will pay dividends, I promise. Talk about:

• Your opinions.
• How you feel.
• Your recent struggles.
• Landmark moments.
• What got you here.
• How you learned from an experience.
• What you truly believe in.

The relationship journey

Think of your content like a business relationship and break it down into this journey:

1. Hello I exist - This is emotional content that will create a reaction. LinkedIn LOVES ‘comments’. This will get pushed out to the widest audience if you do it right. The things I mention in ‘know yourself, be yourself’ work really well here. You are just trying to get people to know you exist and break down walls.
2. I am relevant - This is where you talk about things that are relevant to your target audience - a post that resonates within your industry or area of expertise. What you want here is your target audience liking and commenting, believing “ah this person understands my pain points.”
3. I am good at what I do - This is the moment when you show competence. Share case studies, testimonials, knowledge and success stories. You want your target audience thinking, “I could do with him/her doing that for me.”
4. Do you want me? - You are at the point now where your audience knows your name; that you are in the sector and you are pretty good at what you do. Now you give them the offer - download a blog, enrol on a webinar or book a consultation. 

It’s not all about you

As important as creating engaging posts is showing love to your target audience. Follow industry hashtags and people with influence and following in your sector, and go and like and comment on their posts. Why do this? One, you are being nice and two, when you do this, all of their network will get to know your name. Simple.

THE DON’TS

• Before you start - Don’t do any of this until you have read this whitepaper on the 5 basic steps to grow your business. In short, you need to know your business, understand your customer, grow that customer base and look after each and every contact.
• Don’t waste time - Liking and commenting on random people’s posts without a strategy in mind will only waste time. Stick to your goals and target audience, and make every minute count.
• Don’t share posts for engagement - Sharing is caring but don’t do it if you think you will get any sort of engagement from it. So, if you want to promote an important company update, or product launch, don’t share the company post, LinkedIn will NOT push it out to a wide audience. If you don’t believe me, go back over your shared posts - chances are you will have one or two likes. It is far better to create an ORIGINAL post about the same subject with your own viewpoint. Engagement will be much better.
• Don’t be boring - Be yourself, share your story and stand out from the majority of people sharing bland content. Each week I chart the top 10 LinkedIn posts in the manufacturing and engineering sector and the majority of time, the winning posts are not business related.

If this all sounds like far too much work, or not your skillset, then get in touch - we can help!