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Mastering LinkedIn: How to Effectively Leverage the Platform for Business Growth
Why LinkedIn is Essential for Entrepreneurs
Whether you're a small business owner, coach, consultant, or corporate professional, having a presence on LinkedIn is non-negotiable. Janice emphasizes that LinkedIn's profiles rank high on Google searches, making it crucial for establishing a solid first impression. Your LinkedIn profile is often among the top search results when someone Googles your name, reinforcing the importance of optimizing this digital resume.
The Power of a Strong LinkedIn Profile
A compelling LinkedIn profile is foundational to utilizing the platform effectively. Janice outlines key aspects to focus on:
Profile Banner:
Avoid the default blue background by customizing it with professional branding that resonates with your business and services.
Profile Picture:
An updated, high-quality headshot makes your profile appear professional and credible.
Headline:
Craft a headline that succinctly describes who you are and what you do. This is your elevator pitch in one line.
Articulating Your Value in the ‘About’ Section
Contrary to what might be assumed, the 'About' section is not about listing your accolades but conveying the value you bring to your audience. Janice advises focusing on:
Your Audience:
Describe who you serve and what pain points you address.
Solutions Provided:
Highlight the benefits and solutions you offer to your clients.
Engaging Tone:
Use a conversational yet professional tone to make your ‘About’ section inviting and relatable.
Building Relationships Through Engagement
Intentional Engagement vs. Mindless Scrolling
The cornerstone of thriving on LinkedIn lies in intentional engagement. Simply scrolling and liking posts are inadequate. Instead:
Comment Thoughtfully:
Engage with posts by adding value through insightful comments.
Consistent Posting:
Regularly share content that showcases your expertise and promotes engagement.
Leverage AI Wisely:
Use AI tools for generating comment ideas but make sure to personalize them to maintain authenticity.
The Art of Outreach
Effective networking on LinkedIn involves proactive outreach. Janice breaks down the strategy into manageable actions:
Strategic Connections:
Intentionally seek out potential clients, referral partners, and strategic partners.
Reconnecting:
Revisit past connections to rekindle relationships and explore new opportunities.
Personalized DMs:
Utilize direct messaging for personalized, meaningful outreach. Opt for video messaging when possible to stand out and create a stronger impact.
Navigating the Challenge of Cold DMs
Cold direct messages are an inevitable aspect of social platforms, including LinkedIn. To manage this effectively:
Filter Inbound Messages:
Respond selectively and don’t hesitate to disconnect from overly aggressive sales pitches.
Focus on Outbound:
Prioritize your outbound engagement strategy to control your networking flow and reach out to genuinely interested prospects.
Utilizing LinkedIn Features for Visibility and Authority
Content Strategy for Visibility
Consistency in posting content is key to increasing your visibility on LinkedIn. Janice underscores the importance of:
Regular Posts:
Establish a routine for sharing valuable content.
Reposts and Comments:
Be an active participant in conversations by reposting relevant content and commenting on industry discussions.
Showcase Expertise:
Share your insights, articles, and updates to position yourself as an authority in your field.
Video Messaging for Effective Communication
One underutilized feature for personal engagement on LinkedIn is video messaging. Available only on mobile devices, sending a personalized video message can significantly enhance your communication efforts and make you memorable.
Conclusion: Taking Control of Your LinkedIn Experience
Ultimately, you are in control of how you leverage LinkedIn. By creating a strong profile, engaging intentionally, and utilizing the platform’s features strategically, you can turn LinkedIn into a powerful tool for business growth. As Janice Porter beautifully summed it up, it's not just about attracting potential clients but actively reaching out and building meaningful relationships.
By adopting these strategies shared by Janice Porter, you can navigate LinkedIn effectively to stand out, connect with like-minded professionals, and drive your business forward. So, dive in, optimize your profile, and start building those meaningful connections today.
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Transcript for Episode 370. Turn LinkedIn Into a Client Magnet
Amy [00:00:01]:
Are you ready to take your business to the next level and make the money you want so that you can create the impact you desire? Then you're in the right place. It's possible to run a successful business built around your life. Get ready for a little bit of tough love and a whole lot of strategy to grow your business without sacrificing your sanity. If you're ready to get out of your own way and step into the role of CEO, then let's go. Hi, I'm Amy Tra, and this is the Motivated CEO podcast, LinkedIn. What do you think? Is it one of those platforms that you absolutely love? You're meeting people, building relationships, growing your network, or is it one of those platforms you hear LinkedIn and you're like, oh, that's B2B. My people are not there. One more thing.
Amy [00:00:56]:
Well, today's guest, Janice Porter, is a relationship marketing specialist and LinkedIn guru. She works with business professionals to increase their sales by building relationships online and nurture them offline. She is here to demystify this whole beast of LinkedIn for us, squash those myths, and really teach us how to leverage it as a powerful resource in our businesses to attract clients to build those relationships and to help us thrive as entrepreneurs. Janice, thank you so much for joining me today.
Janice Porter [00:01:39]:
Oh, my pleasure, Amy. Thank you for having me. I'm excited. Love to share my take on LinkedIn with people.
Amy [00:01:45]:
Exactly. So let's dive right in. I feel like LinkedIn, we were talking before we hit record. People have a love hate relationship. They love it, they hate it. They're like just B2B. What is your opinion? Is LinkedIn a platform that can be used to really attract clients, to build these relationships and grow our businesses?
Janice Porter [00:02:07]:
Absolutely. But to use a word that you like to use, you have to be intentional. Right. First, you have to understand the basics of it. And if you're going to jump in and use LinkedIn, I always say two things. One, do a good job of your profile, make it work for you. And secondly, know that you may have potential clients, referral partners, strategic partners there that can help you with your business. And so if you know that and you know who they are and you've identified them, then you know that you can be intentional in building, you know, in.
Janice Porter [00:02:49]:
In reaching out to find those relationships.
Amy [00:02:52]:
You are speaking my love language. Because having that clarity is often one of the biggest missing pieces for entrepreneurs. We want to be for everyone. But taking the time to establish that clarity and unpack exactly who it is that your services are for Taking the time to do that can be a game changer. And as you said, the intentionality being intentional. If LinkedIn is going to be another thing on your list where you're just consuming, no, this isn't going to work for you. But you said something about engagement, actively and intentionally using the platform for engagement. So let's back up a little bit.
Amy [00:03:36]:
Who should be on LinkedIn?
Janice Porter [00:03:39]:
Yeah, basic, but really good question, right? Because I think really the generic answer is if you're in business, you need to have a presence on LinkedIn. And I don't know if your audience knows this, but. And LinkedIn is a different beast to Instagram and Facebook. They all have their own flavor, right? And the thing about LinkedIn, it is B2B. But I, I'm gonna just back up a little bit before I answer the question in that during COVID there was a real exodus from Facebook with a lot of people to LinkedIn, because Facebook was losing, you know, it wasn't doing what we wanted it to do. And so I found a lot more smaller businesses and entrepreneurs, coaches, consultants were coming over, but they still thought it was Facebook and they had all these emojis happening and all of this. It isn't that, but it is somewhere that small business owners, coaches, consultants and so forth can hang out initially. Because if you meet somebody or they Google you, which people still do when you meet them for the first time, whether it's online or in person, LinkedIn ranks really highly in the Google searches.
Janice Porter [00:04:59]:
So your result, the results will come up in the top three to five results. So whether it's good or bad, your profile is going to be there. So you want it to give the best first impression if people are going to look at it. So to me, that's the basis of LinkedIn. So you've decided you're going to go on LinkedIn, you're going to create a profile that fills all the boxes and in doing so attracts your audience. So why else should you be on LinkedIn? Because what I said before, your possible clients, referral partners, strategic partners, are there.
Amy [00:05:38]:
That is an excellent point. Absolutely. Because, yes, people are still using Google, people are still searching. And you're right, it always pops up near the top of the results. So they're going to be seeing your profile if you're on there. So that's why it's so important, as you said, to optimize that and really make it work for, for you.
Janice Porter [00:06:02]:
Well, can I just give a brief example? So you know, when you go to somebody's profile what do you see? You see their banner behind their. The. The first thing you see is. And a lot of them are blank. You know, the default blue background. You see their headshot and you see their name and their headline. Those are the things you see as a first impression. How long do we get today to make a good first impression? What, seven seconds or maybe last.
Janice Porter [00:06:27]:
Now know, you blink and you've already had that first impression, so that's where it starts. But of course it's more than that. But that's the first impression and that's really important. Okay, so I would suggest that your listeners, if they're on LinkedIn now, they go and do that. They look at their profile from a first. Somebody seeing it for the first time, do they get a good first impression or not?
Amy [00:06:52]:
Yeah, just taking that outside perspective can really make a big difference. And it's such a simple thing to do. Looking at something, something from the eyes of the consumer, getting that different perspective can make a huge, huge difference. What other simple tweaks can we make to really optimize our profile?
Janice Porter [00:07:13]:
Great question, too. I think that I like, when I'm teaching or when I'm doing LinkedIn training, I'm working with my client, not for them. Like, I'm not doing it for them. So I actually, one of the things I love to do the best is work on the about section, which is really the meat of the LinkedIn profile. And there are many mistakes that are made in doing that, especially with business owners, entrepreneurs, because that is a misnomer that it's about you. It's really about who you serve and the pain points or the solutions that you bring to those pain points. So you're helping your. If people are reading that, they're then able to say, oh, she's talking my language, or I think I want to know more.
Janice Porter [00:07:58]:
I want to reach out and see if she. If it is a fit for me or, or, you know, whatever the reason is. But it's a good overview of how they can help me and the benefits I may have of working with that person. So I love to bring out the things in the clients I'm working with that light them up so that we can put that into that section. And then it's about really filling in as much as you can of your profile so that the people who are paying attention, like me, are looking for a point of building rapport if I'm going to want to talk to that person. So they're looking at the minor stuff, they're looking at where they volunteer. Do they? Like animals? Did they? Do they. Are they a football fan of, you know, or are they a hiker? You know, whatever.
Janice Porter [00:08:54]:
Those, those things are only in there, in small little places that if, if someone's paying attention, they'll find them. And they're usually the better points to start with instead of jumping right into, you know, talking to a stranger about, gee, I may be able to help you because I have, you know, this product or that service. No, we want to build rapport first. And those little things mean a lot.
Amy [00:09:18]:
Yeah, people buy from people. It comes down to that. And we often forget that we're so focused on the thing that we're selling that we forget that people buy from people. And nothing makes me cringe more than when I get those cold dms like, you need to buy my thing. It's like, wait, who are you? You know, there's.
Janice Porter [00:09:39]:
How do you know I need to buy?
Amy [00:09:41]:
Exactly, exactly. How do you personally navigate that? Because that's something that I've talked to a few people and they're like, I won't get on LinkedIn because I get too many cold DMS from people trying to sell me things. What's your perspective?
Janice Porter [00:09:54]:
Well, I think part of that comes from not being visible enough yourself and sort of staking your claim on there. See, I think LinkedIn has three sections. The first one is the profile, and we've talked about that. The second one, for my liking, is the DMs. It's the outreach. It's the knowing how to search effectively to find the kind of people that you want to connect with. And so the. That's the intentionality piece that's like, don't leave it up to the people reaching out to me to make it work.
Janice Porter [00:10:31]:
You do the outreach to make it work for you, and then you can handle the inbound message requests or the DMS that are pitching you stuff by just, you know, ignoring them, or by messaging someone back and saying, thanks, but not interested, you know, or. Or unconnecting from that person. You can do that too. You know, that's fine if it's just interesting that, well, sometimes you're not connected, they're in males, but. Which means that they can reach you if you're not first level connected. But I think if you focus on the things that it can do for you, it helps to offset that because, let's face it, we get those on all the different platforms. Right. And then the third piece is content.
Janice Porter [00:11:19]:
It's to build your visibility, show your authority in Your field and LinkedIn seems to like that the best because they can control that. So if you're posting content, occasionally it'll send your article or your post to whomever on from your connection base. But if you're doing it more regularly and consistently, it will broaden that through the algorithm. The algorithms are what they are. You can't say, well, it doesn't work because it never goes to anybody. You just have to work with what they give you and be consistent. That's really key.
Amy [00:11:57]:
Yeah. So yeah, it really is. It is about consistency. Consistency. And something else you mentioned too was the outbound engagement, that outreach actually being an active participant on the platform rather than just scrolling. If you're just posting all the time and scrolling, chances are that algorithm isn't going to show your things to many people because you're not engaging right now.
Janice Porter [00:12:25]:
I will say for newcomers that don't want to or aren't comfortable yet doing regular posting on there. It's even good to scroll, but limit yourself to your time on there and be the but scroll intentionally. Again, that word is so good because you want to perhaps be following 10 people that you really want to then maybe get to know a little bit better and reach out to connect with. So if you go to and they're posting regularly, you become the commenter. You engage with people on their posts. That's a really good strategy to get you started because remember, then you're going to be seen by their audience. Right. And so then conversations will start that way.
Janice Porter [00:13:13]:
So if you know who you want to reach out to. I had an interesting thing happen to me just the other day. I have had an issue with this piece on LinkedIn that's about verifying yourself. And I wrote it in my newsletter and then I decided to make a post about it two days ago. And it's actually been one of the most seen posts that I've done in a long time. And that's because it was personal, it was about LinkedIn. But it was something that was annoying me and I'm having to deal with. You may see if you, if anyone looks at my profile, and it depends when this airs and when they.
Janice Porter [00:13:55]:
When this happens, because in order to verify yourself on LinkedIn, which they keep encouraging you to do, you have to have your legal name up there. And my legal first name is Susan, but I've never in my life used that. And it's just. But it's on my passport, it's on my driver's license, so I couldn't get verified. So I Decided I'd try it. So I put Susan up there in bracket. I hate it that it's up there. It's really annoying me.
Janice Porter [00:14:24]:
But I've had a lot of engagement with people about this and I'm going to give it a month and then I might get rid of it because it just doesn't feel right. Okay. However, somebody commented and I don't know this person. We were not directly connected but he made a comment and I saw and so I went to see who he was and turns out he knows several people that I know. He's on my same time zone, which is often a good thing. And. And he does work that might parallel and support what I do. So I thought he might be an interesting guy to talk to.
Janice Porter [00:15:02]:
So just from that comment and we. I responded to that engaged back with him and then he reached out to connect with me and so I asked him, you know, how he found me and. Or I said, I see you know this person. Have you done work with him? And he said no, I've talked to him several times, but that's how I found. How I found him was on your podcast. Well, I didn't know he was a listener of my podcast, so I love him already. Right. So just interesting the way things can happen if you're out there doing the right things, talking to people.
Amy [00:15:34]:
It really is what an interesting story. Now is there benefit to verifying yourself? Because I see that all the time. You know, it's one of those things that do we do it, do we not do it? Because it involves a few different steps that you have to scan in documents.
Janice Porter [00:15:51]:
And yeah, it's not that big a deal. But the thing, the reason that I'm doing it now to test it, because I tried it where I put my name up there a few months ago and I got verified and then I took my first name off there the next day and they unverified me. I still, I don't think it's the end of the world and I think after this month I will probably take it down and not worry about it. I felt a bit creepy the when I first did it because you have to put your, you know, your information in there. But I know it's with a company that uses the. I think it's called Clear, I think they're affiliated with them that do the thing at the airport, right.
Amy [00:16:30]:
Where you can fast track the information's out there all over the place all of the time. So it's just a matter of being an informed consumer and making this yeah.
Janice Porter [00:16:38]:
But I wouldn't worry about it. You know, if it's a big if. If it is like for me, a big deal, then. Right. But if it isn't, you know, I wouldn't worry about it.
Amy [00:16:47]:
Sure. And this brings up a great point that you get to control your experience on these platforms. Like you said, you can unconnect from someone if that experience isn't going how you would like. You get to control how much you are consuming, how much you are creating, how much you are engaging. And like you said, by just putting yourself out there and making a comment on someone's post, other people see you, it creates this ripple effect. And that's truly what all of these platforms were originally intended for, was to connect. I mean, look at Facebook, you know, and Mark Zuckerberg back in College. And now LinkedIn, you know, it's to link us together and we forget that so easily.
Janice Porter [00:17:36]:
Yeah, I think initially with LinkedIn it was more corporate and it was more about finding jobs, but it definitely isn't that completely anymore. It's so much more. And what I'm finding now is there's a real trend to using AI to help us make. So when you talk about engagement and commenting on people's posts, you see people doing their scroll and they like your post. It's a waste of time. If you're going to do that, give me some comment that is shows your value, that shows that you're interested in the topic or whatever. And if you can't think of something intelligent, there are tools now that you can. Like I've got one that I'm testing on mine where I just click on this button and it will give me a response to that post and then I can make it my own.
Janice Porter [00:18:30]:
But I haven't had to think it up to start with. And it will do it based on the Persona that I've created in that platform. So it knows that I'm a relationship marketing person. Sometimes I think it's too. I don't like when it says that, so I take it out. But it gives me a, you know, a point of view that I can work with and that helps people easily become involved in commenting because commenting and reposting are way more important. I think that I, as I said, I spend more time doing the outreach, looking at people that I want to connect with. And don't forget this, reconnecting with people that you have connected with and don't talk to on a regular basis.
Janice Porter [00:19:15]:
Those are warm calls. Those are, hey, it's been a while. I'm making a concerted effort, and this is in the dms. I'm making a concerted effort to reach out to my connections and see how you're doing. I noticed you changed jobs in the last few months. Or are you still doing blah, blah, blah? You know, if you feel the need to reconnect with them for a reason, you could say, would you like to jump on a call next week and just have a catch up? You know, don't say you're trying to sell them your new product yet, have that catch up, but it's still a warm outreach. Right, right.
Amy [00:19:49]:
And that will make you stand out because 99% of people aren't taking the time to do that. We're so focused on getting more, more and more, getting more and more visibility, more people in our audience, that we forget to connect and reconnect with the people that are already there. I mean, what a great piece of advice. Take that and run with it. If you are listening to this, you can do this on any platform. Go back and see who you're connected to, even over on Instagram. They'll show you your least engaged people. Go.
Amy [00:20:25]:
Really engage. Yes, exactly. But something I wanted to highlight too, about the AI piece, I think it's awesome and I can be such a wonderful tool in our businesses. But you said something that I think is worth noting. It's going in and making it your own. It's not just copy paste, post. No, make it your own. Because as consumers, the more and more the AI kind of grows into this beast that it is, we have to use it right.
Janice Porter [00:20:57]:
We have to pay attention.
Amy [00:20:59]:
We do, we do. But I think we can definitely tell who's copying and pasting because there are very similar phrases that it will say and trigger. It's like, oh, boy, that was definitely AI. But what you said is the missing piece. How to make it your own. Go in there. It's just, it's a starting point.
Janice Porter [00:21:19]:
Exactly, exactly. The other thing, if I can just go back so one, on LinkedIn, you can export your contacts and when you do that, you get a CSV file with them all on it. So then you can highlight, who do I want to go back to? Who do I want to get rid of? Oh, that person died. I'm so sorry. But they're still in my list. Right? So you can do that and then start your outreach based on, you know, color coding or whatever you want to do. I guess I'm going to ask you this question in the sense that when you find somebody new on LinkedIn, do you follow or do you reach out to connect? Because I know you know, it's that Instagram mentality on Instagram, it's that you follow. That's it, that's the connection.
Janice Porter [00:22:02]:
But it's not the same on LinkedIn. And so I don't know, I'm used to on LinkedIn, if I want to talk to someone, I don't want to follow them. I want to reach out to connect. So I just wondered what your thoughts were on that based on. I know you use Instagram a lot, right?
Amy [00:22:20]:
So what I, what I had heard a while back and this is kind of what I stuck with, that if I know them, if I met them on a networking call, if I have had contact with them, I will connect. Or as you said, if it's someone that. Okay, you know what? You would make a really good guest on my podcast. I really want to talk to you more. Yes, I'll send out that connection request versus Follow. I'll follow some of the bigger names because I want to see some of the things that Mel Robbins is posting and sharing. I want to see some of the things these industry leaders are. But I don't feel as though a connection request is really necessary because we've.
Janice Porter [00:22:58]:
Never met well, and some of those people you probably can't connect to anyway because they have too many connections. However, you said something just then that's a really good point too, which is when it's someone like an influencer, like Mel Robbins or Brene Brown or whatever, whoever you, you know are, your, your people, a strategy to use for them is to go and comment and be seen on there. That's the example I used before. Be seen on their content because not only will you, they may not see it, it might be their social media person that sees it, but the people that are on there commenting, they're your people. If you both love Mel, Mel Robbins, for example. So now you can start interacting and finding out who those people are and making those new connections, which I think is a really good tactic to use. The things with people are really underused strategy is to use video messaging in the dms. So you can only do it on your phone.
Janice Porter [00:24:03]:
That's why I held up my phone. But it then is shown in your messaging list on all your platform, on all your devices. But if you send a video message to somebody, it immediately stands out as you know, because nobody does it.
Amy [00:24:19]:
I didn't even know you could do it. That's a great tip.
Janice Porter [00:24:21]:
You can only do it from your phone, but you can do it. And so, yes, it's a great tool to use, especially if you're comfortable on video. I still hate doing it, but it's once in a while. It works every time people go. I was on someone's podcast actually last week, a guy who. He's pretty. Pretty out there with his stuff, and he went, what? And then he. He'd never heard of it either, and he then, after our call, sent me a video message.
Janice Porter [00:24:46]:
I sent him one on the call, I think, and then he sent me one back. He was so excited. So, yeah, it's a. Definitely a way to stand out.
Amy [00:24:53]:
Definitely. And that's what we need. We need that in this world where attention spans are shorter than a goldfish. Now we need to stand out. Janice, you gave so much value, wisdom, strategy, and really helped to change our perspective of LinkedIn and shared with us how we can use it to attract those aligned clients to get seen amongst the noise. I appreciate you and thank you so much for being here.
Janice Porter [00:25:22]:
My pleasure. Remember, it's not just about attracting, though. It's about reaching out and building those relationships yourself. So definitely, yeah. Thank you for having me, guys.
Amy [00:25:32]:
And until next time, cheers to making the money you want so you can create the impact you desire. Are you loving what you're hearing? Do us a favor and hit that subscribe button so you don't miss an episode.
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