LinkedIn and Lead Generation

LinkedIn is one of the most popular social media platforms for professionals, with over 700 million users worldwide. But LinkedIn is more than just a an online networking site – it’s also a powerful tool for lead generation!

In this blog, we’ll explore how to use LinkedIn to generate leads for your business.

Optimize Your Profile

Your LinkedIn profile is your digital business card, and it’s often the first thing people see when they search for you on the platform. That’s why it’s crucial to optimize your profile to make a great first impression.

Here are some tips for optimizing your LinkedIn profile:

•             Use a professional profile picture

•             Write a compelling professional headline that includes your industry and expertise

•             Write a summary that highlights your skills and experience

•             Add your work experience, education, and certifications and also include these in your featured section

•             Include relevant keywords in your profile to make it easier for people to find you

Connect with the Right People

Once you’ve optimised your profile, it’s time to start connecting with people. But don’t just connect with anyone – be strategic about who you connect with.

Here are some tips for connecting with the right people on LinkedIn:

•             Connect with people in your industry or niche

•             Connect with people who work for companies you’re interested in working with

•             Connect with people who may be interested in your products or services

When you send a connection request, make sure to personalise your message and explain why you want to connect. This will increase your chances of getting accepted.

Engage with Your Network

Once you’ve built up your network, it’s important to engage with your connections. This means liking, and commenting on their posts, as well as posting your own content.

Here are some tips for engaging with your network on LinkedIn:

•             Share relevant industry news and insights

•             Share your own blog posts, articles or newsletters

•             Ask questions and start conversations – join in other discussions too

•             Offer advice and support to others in your network

By engaging with your network, you’ll stay top-of-mind and build relationships with potential leads.

Use LinkedIn Sales Navigator

LinkedIn Sales Navigator is a premium tool that allows you to find and connect with potential leads on LinkedIn. With Sales Navigator, you can search for leads based on industry, job title, company size, and more.

Here are some tips for using LinkedIn Sales Navigator:

•             Use advanced search to find the right leads

•             Save leads and accounts to keep track of them

•             Use the lead recommendations feature to find similar leads

•             Use the InMail feature to send personalised messages to potential leads

By using LinkedIn Sales Navigator, you can target your lead generation efforts and find high-quality leads for your business, but this does come at a premium financial cost.

In summary, LinkedIn is a powerful tool for lead generation. By optimising your profile, connecting with the right people, engaging with your network, and using LinkedIn Sales Navigator (if you have the budget), you can generate leads and grow your business on the platform.

Need training for you and your team or are you looking for a longer-term outsourced solution? Call Ann Davies on 07752 539719 or email info@bizwizuk.co.uk.

Stand Out On LinkedIn

Your LinkedIn profile needs to stand out because there are over 500 million users worldwide, and with this kind of reach there are potential customers searching every day, looking to connect with people who have your skills, products or services.  The secret to being successful on LinkedIn is making your profile visible and having it show up consistently when users are searching for people with your skill set.  Furthermore, if there are many users in the same business as you, your profile needs to rank higher than the others, for you to catch the eyes of potential customers.

I offer a whole host of complimentary downloads that you can get here.  Alternatively, here’s some tips that you can use in order to achieve the success you long deserve:

Don’t be faceless…upload a professional-looking photo

Take the best photo you can but it should be appropriate to you and your industry and don’t take selfie!  Since LinkedIn is a professional business platform it is better to have an appropriate head and shoulder shot.  If you are camera shy or don’t feel confident, you can always outsource the task to a professional, we recommend Chris Foster. 

Professional Headline – by default it is always your current job role…

However, I advise you change it.  Stand out my being sparky, use words that prompt a response when someone is looking for your area of expertise.  Provide more detail than what is on your business card.  For example; “consultant specialising in town planning” is much clearer and concise than just “consultant”.  Describing what you do in a clear way will help people to source you as a potential supplier.  Consequently, people you want to connect with will find you more easily if they are drawn to your Headline!  In my training, I often refer to your professional headline as your elevator pitch.  Try making a change and ask your colleagues for feedback!

Customise your Public Profile URL

LinkedIn profiles have URLs that look like a whole load of numbers and characters.  Stand out by adding your name on the URL (linkedin.com/name) or if your name has been taken, also add your company name.  Remember, I’m looking for you to stand out.

To get a custom URL, go to your ‘Edit Profile’ screen:

Utilize LinkedIn SEO

Identify certain keywords and industry terms that you would want your profile to be associated with, and add these to your:

Job title

Specialties

Career experience

Personal interests

Key achievements

This will help when someone searches any of the words that you want to be associated with (i.e. your keywords above), and your profile will possibly appear in their search results.

Your LinkedIn Presence is Just as Important

How do you engage with your network, how do you become thought-leader in your industry, how does the right audience see your posts?

Write a post which is relevant to your industry and area of expertise and associate it with a hashtag, ideas include:

Share your expert opinion on topics that you feel passionately about

Share quick tips for your audience

Offer some free and valuable advice by asking your network to ask questions and tag other people in

Share something you’ve experienced, relating it to business; “has anyone experienced……”

In Summary

Time to spring clean your LinkedIn profile? Remember:

Don’t be faceless – upload a professional-looking photo

Use relevant keywords in your profile summary and headline

Utilize LinkedIn’s SEO capability

Connect with the right people to grow your network and engage with them

Show authority within your industry with published content

Should you have any questions please don’t hesitate to get in touch, whether that’s for a bespoke LinkedIn workshop for your team, a face to face or a remote-based one to one workshop or ongoing, outsourced social media marketing support, we’ll help ensure that your brand stays on top in 2019.

By Ann Davies, Director

Social Media Competitor Analysis

What is a social media competitor analysis and why is it important for your business?

It’s important to know what other companies in your sector are doing, and the aim of a social media competitor analysis is to learn from your competitors and identify any strategic opportunities.

Is a social media competitor analysis essential?

It should be a vital part of your company’s marketing plan. By undertaking a competitor analysis, you can benchmark your business, learn from your competitors’ strengths and take advantage of their weaknesses, establish the level of service that your target audience expects, what they engage with the most and determine a niche to set your company apart.

Investors and key stakeholders will be particularly interested in a competitor analysis; they want to know that you are both realistic about your positioning in the market and thinking strategically about what direction you need to be heading in to future proof your business.  Here is a useful article from Entrepreneur which also gives you an overview and contact us for details of how we can help.

How do you do it?

Firstly, you need to know who your competitors are; a minimum of three competitors should be identified at local level and at least one at national level.

You should then determine where each holds an online presence across the various social media platforms. On each platform, you should note:

• Are there core channels that each competitor is active on?
• How are your competitors using these core channels to meet their goals of sales, brand engagement and customer service?
• What is the frequency of updates? Are they taking a consistent approach, or is it an ad-hoc?
• What content is being used and how?  Do they use a mix of media content?
• What people/companies respond to the most/best?
• Are they creating tailored content for each channel?

Summary

Once you gather this information for each competitor you will be able to identify who are the leaders in each area, what they are doing best, what your target audience responds to the most, what everyone does well and what nobody does well.  Once you have this information, it will allow you to benchmark your social media marketing plan, by creating an easy to understand competitor matrix, rating each area on the above set of criteria. 

To compete in the world of business you must know your competitors!  For more information on the services BizWizUK offers please click here, call us on 0161 826 7181 or email info@bizwizuk.co.uk.

By Ann Davies, Director

Mistakes to avoid on LinkedIn

When it comes to LinkedIn, there’s etiquette and best practices involved which makes this professional networking platform stand out from others. Avoid these mistakes and make those small changes, that will really make all the difference.

Overusing hashtags looks spammy

Overusing hashtags on LinkedIn looks very messy, makes your post difficult to read and only drowns your message in unnecessary noise.   You might use lots of hashtags on Instagram, but LinkedIn is not Instagram!  If you’re hash-tagging every possible keyword in the hope of being found in every possible search, you’ll put a lot of people off.

I would recommend that you use hashtags strategically, here’s some great resource on LinkedIn tips and tricks.

Tag people only when it’s relevant to them

I am sometimes tagged in LinkedIn posts that have nothing to do with me – and I believe that this strategy can backfire. I believe LinkedIn’s algorithm is getting smarter and apparently it now de-emphasizes posts in the news feed if those people tagged within it don’t engage with it. Don’t get me wrong, it’s fine to tag someone when the post is relevant to them.

I wouldn’t generally recommend this action but if you want to stop connections from tagging you in their posts*:

• Click the Me icon at the top of your LinkedIn homepage.
• Select Settings & Privacy from the dropdown.
• Click the Privacy tab at the top of the page.
• Under the How others see your LinkedIn activity section, click Change next to Mention or tags by others.
• Switch the toggle to No.

*Source LinkedIn.com Help Centre.

However, for best practice when someone tags you for the right reasons or shares your content please make a point to like their post and leave a ‘thank-you for sharing’ comment.

Posting the wrong types of content

Most importantly, LinkedIn is a business networking platform, yet many people confuse it with Facebook. Mindless and irrelevant posts have become all too familiar with its members.  None of these are appropriate for LinkedIn, so ask yourself:

• Is it relevant?
• Does it provide value?
• Does it solve a problem or challenge for my ideal client?
• Will it help my ideal clients to know, like and trust me more than they did before?

Think of LinkedIn as an extension of your workplace; it’s a professional environment where people do business.  If I were you, if you wouldn’t say or share it in the workplace, don’t share it on LinkedIn!

Here’s a great article on things you should avoid posting on LinkedIn.

Posting too frequently

You don’t need to provide your connections with a running commentary of your day or even broadcast every thought that pops into your head. This will only create noise and will annoy your connections, which in turn will result in them removing you as a connection or at least unfollowing you.

I recommend that you post only when you’re inspired to share something that’s more relevant even if that means you only post once or twice a week or even less.  Personally, I believe that less is more.

Vanity metrics

It’s easy to be fooled by vanity metrics, large social media numbers can be tempting however, when reviewing your analytics pay attention to those posts which get the most visibility and engagement, and also pay attention to competitors in your sector, especially those who get good engagement.  A good rule of thumb is that if a post gets a lot of engagement and views or call to actions clicks (CTA) increase, try to recreate similar posts, where possible.

Summary

If you’ve made the mistake of doing any of the above, then I hope this has inspired you to use LinkedIn more professionally than you may have in the past. I’m confident that if you make a few small changes now, LinkedIn will be more rewarding for you.

My LinkedIn in-house workshops are tailored specifically to your company’s aims and objectives, offering real, practical, intensive and hands-on training that works.

Whether you’re looking for a one to one or group workshop I can help. Prior to your workshop, we’ll discuss your objectives and your workshop will be tailored accordingly. All workshops include 8 weeks’ follow-up, mentoring and support to ensure you succeed as a result.

Get in touch with me at info@bizwizuk.co.uk or call me on 07752 539719 or via our contact page.

By Ann Davies, Director

Are you Open for Business?

Have you taken advantage of the new LinkedIn Open for Business feature yet?  They say that this feature allows small and medium business owners and professionals to network and connect with others who are looking for the services that you might offer.  Here’s a short video to explain in more detail.

So, what does this really mean for you?  When a LinkedIn member searches for a service provider with your area of expertise, your profile will appear in that search.  It is then up to your potential clients to get in touch if they are interested in your services.  However, you must remember to tick the box that allows LinkedIn members whom you’re not connected with to message you for free!

💡 If you haven’t downloaded the LinkedIn app, you’re missing a trick.  The app is free and connects you effortlessly to your account from your phone. I think it is very easy to use, with features constantly being updated.  It lets you check your enquiries and messages, invite people to connect, and review updates.

Of course, if you haven’t updated your profile in a while then I recommend you do the following; Choose a profile picture of yourself, not your company logo, add your work experience, include relevant work experience, add a summary – use this space to explain things such as why you started your business or role, experience and more. For more information about updating your profile click here.

Summary

Your LinkedIn connections are one of the best ways to help source experts who you trust, as well as building relationships with those key prospects.  By opting in to Open for Business, (which is free of charge), you will show up on any relevant search results (see video link above).

Help encourage new prospects to come to you, give Open for Business a try!

My LinkedIn in-house workshops are tailored specifically to your company’s aims and objectives, offering real, practical, intensive and hands-on training that works.

Whether you’re looking for a one to one or group workshop I can help. Prior to your workshop, we’ll discuss your objectives and your workshop will be tailored accordingly. All workshops include 8 weeks’ follow-up, mentoring and support to ensure you succeed as a result.

Get in touch with me at info@bizwizuk.co.uk or call me on 07752 539719 or via our contact page.

By Ann Davies, Director

Photo credit: LinkedIn.com

Time for an Autumn Review?

As we’ve entered last part of the year, and busy it will be too, it might also be a good time for an autumn review. Look over your social media platforms, profiles and website, to ensure everything is up to date and accurate.   Here’s some simple ideas to ensure you tick off any outstanding points on your social media “review” list:

Review your page and profile details

Scan your social media bios and see if they need updating, you might be surprised to see that they are out of date.  What about your individual LinkedIn profiles, have you looked to see if they have your correct contact information, company website links, does the headline need reviewing?  Would your LinkedIn profile benefit from any other aesthetic changes?  Watch out for any old or outdated banner images.  You may have had a rebrand but haven’t changed your social media logos and images?  Look to see if anything is off brand, this needs to be reviewed and changed accordingly.

Secure your accounts

Did you know that you can apply two-factor authentication to further secure your accounts and it is time to review your passwords?  Don’t forget to check your LinkedIn company page admins; do you have ex-members of staff on your LinkedIn company page as admins, this will need addressing ASAP!

Revive old LinkedIn conversations

Have you forgotten to reply to LinkedIn messages or conversations from the past?  It’s not too late, have a look at your LinkedIn inbox and check.  You just never know; it could be the difference between landing a business deal!

Review your website

Evaluate and update your content, is your services and blog out of date? Do you need to add more client testimonials and/or case studies and do you need more call to actions? Here, you’ll find some ideas to improve your website here.

Review your overall plan

Have a look at what is working and what isn’t and look at new ideas.  Would it help to incorporate a mix of media, encourage your whole team to engage in your posts?

BizWizUK can take your business to the next level by supporting your social media marketing plans. If you don’t have the in-house resource or expertise, we provide an outsourced tailored solution.  Get in touch with me at info@bizwizuk.co.uk or call on 0161 826 7181 or via our contact page.

By Ann Davies, Director

Back To Basics

Not every social media platform is right for every business and before you get started, let’s get back to basics, starting with the what, which and who:

What are your company’s goals for using social media?

Are you raising awareness, promoting your products and services, raising awareness of your culture, updates on projects, success stories, or engaging with stakeholders?

Which platforms are we going to prioritise?

Where is your audience/s and what platforms are your competitors using?

Who is going to take ownership?

Who in your company will take ownership for your social media strategy, or will this be a shared role?  Are you going to offer any training to support them, this needs to seamless because mistakes on social media will affect your company’s reputation, and how will you review and evaluate their effectiveness, always testing and measuring success?

Complete a competitor analysis

A competitor analysis in social media marketing is an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of your current and potential competitors. Your analysis should be able to identify opportunities and threats.  This doesn’t have to complicated, here’s our guide. 

What is your content strategy?

Your content strategy should relate to the planning, development, and management of content, whether this is written, video or other.  Consider the sources of your content, will your content come from reputable sources, will someone within your company write the content, such as blogs, commentary on latest industry news, case studies or success stories, or will it be outsourced?

Get the tools!

If you don’t have the right tools to help you manage your social media strategy, it will become all too overwhelming.  There’s a never ending array of tools, here are some ideas and recommendations for you to try, depending on your budget.

Evaluate

Over time, you will get to understand, what topics your followers like, and the imagery working alongside.  How many enquiries or call-to-actions (CTA’s) did you receive, or which posts had the most engagements?  You can set your company’s own key metrics depending on what you deem suitable. However, it is important to start at the beginning, back to the basics.

Leave it to us!

We pride ourselves on getting to know our clients’ business’, their products, services and audiences, tailoring solutions to suit.

If you’d like advice or to talk through your current social marketing plan and how we can help, whether it’s a training requirement or outsourced solution, please contact us or give me a call on 0161 826 7181 or connect with me on LinkedIn to discuss ways my team and I can support your business.  Alternatively, we have a whole host of complimentary fact sheets to help you on your own social media marketing journey, right here.

By Ann Davies, Director

Outsource Social Media?

Should I consider outsourcing our social media marketing?  This is a dilemma for small business owners as there be a temptation to try and do everything in-house and, in some instances, this can be a wise decision.  However, hiring experts to manage certain tasks can mean all the difference; knowing when to outsource can help reduce labour, increase efficiency, save time and money.

If you have a project requiring a high level of expertise, it would be time consuming for you to undertake this in-house meaning you’ll only put it off and the work will simply not get done.  By choosing to work with us, you can be assured that the project gets started quickly and is completed on time.

Small businesses outsource their social media marketing to us and we are in a position, having built solid relationships with other agencies over the years, to recommend various other aspects of digital marketing such as content marketing, website design, PR and graphic design, to these trusted agencies.  We keep up to date with changing marketing trends so our clients don’t have to, but bear in mind the following advice to make certain that outsourcing works for you:

Cost efficiency

One reason you might want to outsource is to reduce operational and labour costs while improving the bottom line.   This comes into question if your project is left in the wrong hands, so choose your expert carefully.

Your Business’ Reputation

It is vital that the highest possible standards are maintained when managing reputation; businesses live and die by their reputation.  Failing to take a business’ reputation into account when outsourcing may be the biggest mistake you could make.  Ensure your expert company has excellent processes in place; do not allow service levels to drop or your identity to be at risk.

Innovation

Internal constraints in businesses can stifle development projects.  For example, a software development company recently outsourced their marketing to us because internal team members were too close to the business to “think outside the box”.

Ultimately, outsourcing your areas of business to us means you can focus on what you should be doing: running and growing your business in the knowledge that your social media marketing activity is being expertly handled.

Take time to reap the rewards

Outsourcing is a key element for small businesses today and to dismiss it as an unnecessary function is short-sighted leaving companies at risk of being left behind by their competitors. Efficiency will be lost for those who attempt to manage all areas of their business in-house without external expert support.

Leave it to us!

We pride ourselves on getting to know our clients’ business’, their products, services and audiences, tailoring solutions to suit.

If you’d like advice or to talk through your current marketing plan and how we can help, please contact us or give me a call on 0161 826 7181 or connect with me on LinkedIn to discuss ways my team and I can support your business.  Alternatively, we have a whole host of complimentary fact sheets to help you on your own social media marketing journey, right here.

By Ann Davies, Director

Create a Great LinkedIn Headline!

Your LinkedIn headline is one of the most visible sections of your LinkedIn profile.

Is it boring or does it tell your audience who you help, and what you can do for them?  Think about it in the concept of your elevator pitch; describe what you do and how you help others in the shortest time as possible.

What is a LinkedIn headline?

A LinkedIn headline is the section at the top of your profile where you can describe what you do in 120 characters or less. This appears next to your name in search results. LinkedIn will automatically choose your headline but if you customise yours, you’ll instantly differentiate yourself, giving prospects an interest in your products and services.

Ask yourself….

1. Which specific prospect do you help, what is their job title and are they based in a specific geographical location?
2. How do you help your prospect achieve their desired result?
3. What is the benefit/s as a result?
4. Add keywords that relate exactly to your industry and areas of expertise.  Using ‘strategic’ keywords will help you appear in more searches.  If you want your LinkedIn account to be a way that people discover you… place an emphasis on keywords¹.

Top tip….

Don’t have enough character space?  If you have an iPhone, edit your headline via your LinkedIn app as it gives you more character space than the normal 120 characters!  As I understand it, this is not available to other android phone users.

Once you have identified the above, it’s time to put that all together to create your perfect LinkedIn headline.

Let me summarise…

• Your LinkedIn headline is one of the most visible sections of your LinkedIn profile so make the most of it. 

• Who are your prospects?  How do you help them to achieve their desired results?

• What are the benefits as a result? 

• By using ‘strategic’ keywords, you’ll appear in more searches.

Should you have any questions please don’t hesitate to get in touch, whether that’s for a bespoke LinkedIn workshop for you, your team either face to face or remote-based.  We also offer an outsourced social media marketing support service, helping you to get on with what you do best.

By Ann Davies, Director

¹ LinkedIn Help Centre (2017)

What Your Franchise Should Know

LinkedIn is a great professional networking tool to communicate with existing and potential franchisees, connect to peers, monitor competitors, and find new talent for your franchise.

Many franchisors don’t realise the true power of LinkedIn and this is great news for those who do, as they can easily fill that void with a lesser amount of effort than on more crowded social channels.  Many have started leveraging LinkedIn to different ends – from monitoring their online reputation to developing and nurturing a loyal community and attracting franchisees.  Your franchise should be listening to your audience, responding and opening conversation, encouraging them to engage with your brand.

How are businesses using LinkedIn?

1. 94% of B2B marketers use LinkedIn to distribute content ^*
2. 80% of B2B leads come from LinkedIn ^*
3. LinkedIn has the highest visitor-to-lead conversion rate of all social media platforms at 2.74%, compared to Facebook at .77% and Twitter at .69% ^**
4. 46% of social media traffic to B2B sites comes from LinkedIn ^*
5. 79% of B2B marketers believe LinkedIn is an effective lead generation source^*

LinkedIn can have a big impact on your capability to generate franchise leads and opportunities and convert prospective buyers into new owners.  Here’s your snapshot of what you need to know:

Know Your Audience and Reach Out

Who are your prospective buyers on LinkedIn?  The better you understand and can answer this question, the easier it will be to engage, connect and position your franchise.  Search for people who fit your ideal franchisee or are based in areas where you’re recruiting. Reach out to them because even if they aren’t a good fit, they might know someone who is!

Competitors

Review your competitors’ LinkedIn company profiles, as well as a few personal profiles of employees.  This will help you to better understand how they’re positioning themselves toward their (and your) target audience. Take notes on what their profile and company page tell you about them and the franchise.  Can you do better, do prospective buyers really get what your franchise is all about?

Company Page

Post regular educational, informative and fun news about your franchise together with any team news and PR that your brand receives. Not only will this show the ‘human’ side of your brand but will increase the awareness of your brand, when people research their franchise opportunity.  Examples of content to post could include: video, mentions in the media, any market expansion, new location openings (newly signed up franchisees), awards and recognition, franchisee testimonials or case studies about their investment, and charitable activities.

Showcase

Develop a showcase page that focuses on your franchise opportunity.  Showcase Pages are extensions of your Company Page designed for highlighting a specific product or service. Create your Showcase Page for aspects of your franchise with its own content, to attract your target audience.

Share

Amplify your voice and encourage employees to share updates via their personal profiles, maximising your exposure and help keep your brand top of mind with employees’ friends, contacts and business connections: these types of connections are historically excellent at helping to make referrals and recommendations on your behalf.

Groups

Engage with any LinkedIn Groups relevant to your target audience.  Share your content relevant to keep top of mind with those people who may be a potential franchisee in time.

Sponsored Updates

Use sponsored updates to cost-effectively maximise a post’s visibility; target people based on parameters such as location, work experience, current job title, age, skills and educational background.

Upgrade Your Membership

LinkedIn has different Premium account options for those who want to get more out of LinkedIn. If you have a free account and want to upgrade, you can compare account types described here.

LinkedIn is an excellent platform for supporting your franchise development efforts.  If you’d like to chat about any LinkedIn training requirements, bespoke to your company either on a one to one or group basis, or ongoing management and support, please contact me on 07752 539719 or 0161 826 7181 or email info@bizwizuk.co.uk.

By Ann Davies, Director

* https://business.linkedin.com/marketing-solutions/blog/linkedin-b2b-marketing/2017/10-surprising-stats-you-didnt-know-about-marketing-on-linkedin

** https://bebusinessed.com/linkedin/linkedin-statistics-figures/