LinkedIn Leadership - Leveraging LinkedIn to Create a Following

About a year ago I had heard someone comment that they were getting leads off of LinkedIn.  Looking for free leads myself, I decided to go check it out.  I created an account.  The next step then was to create my profile.   The profile looked oddly like a resume to me.  So then I began looking around the site more and eventually concluded that LinkedIn was not for me.  The last thing that I wanted was to get another job!

Many of the people in network marketing that we know and respect today had one single advantage that got them where they are now.  That advantage was getting in on the next hot thing early, before it becomes flooded by your competition.  But then, that leaves that person in a position where they are constantly bouncing from one platform to another and always searching for that next big thing.

I am not suggesting that LinkedIn is the new ‘thing’, or that there is not much competition there.  Both of those statements would be false.  What I am suggesting is that you take the extra steps in whatever you choose to do in order to stand out from the crowd.  Usually, this comes down to some form of optimization and focus.

Creating Your Best Profile

Just like any other social site, first impressions matter.  Taking the time to do this step right up front will pay off in a huge way later.  Keep in mind the type of people that are most likely to participate on Linked In.  Unlike facebook, Linked In is more of a professional atmosphere full of people that are interested in making money.  They are looking for contacts to participate in joint ventures, hire as freelancers, or teach them better and easier ways to run their business.

Be thorough with your information and make sure you include a professional image of yourself.

You can also optimize your profile for searches.  Prospects will search for others with similar interests.  Getting your profile ranked near the top of those searches is fairly easy.

Try to think of a keyword that you would like to be associated with.  It could be anything related to network marketing, your primary company, or your specific niche.  The keyword that you choose should be one that is easily inserted as a component of your experience.  Your profile on Linked In is really nothing more than a resume. 

Search Results

There are five areas that you will want to be sure to include your keyword.

• Byline (located right beneath your name)
• Current position
• Past experience
• Summary
• Specialties

Depending on the competition for that keyword, you may have to double up and include it more than once in some of these areas where appropriate.  You don’t want to overuse your keyword or your profile will not read very well and may even look like spam.

As more and more people get wise to this little tip it will become more difficult to optimize your profile for the keyword that you want.  If you find that you are not holding the top spot for your keyword then take the time to study the profiles of those that are ranking above you to determine what you need to do to beat them out of that spot.

Inviting Friends to Connect

At some point in the profile set up process, you will be asked if you want to send invitations to your friends from other social media sites.  It is probably a good idea to do this to at least establish some connections to start with.  To get the most out of LinkedIn, I prefer to wait for others to request to connect with me.  The reason for this will all become clear by the time you get done with this report.

But for now, establish some connections with some other people that you already know.  You can then ask these people to provide a recommendation for you.  Having a few recommendations will instantly give you more credibility.

Applications for Your Profile

Linked In allows you to install applications on your profile.  This is another great way to show off your value to the community.  I am using Blog Link on my profile. 

Blog Link is very easy to set up and it automatically imports my most recent blog posts and the posts of my connections in a separate tab.  You just provide your blog URLs and then forget about it.  It will also pull the content of your connections’ blogs as well.  Visiting and commenting on the blogs of your connections is a great way to strengthen those relationships that you will be forming.  Keep in mind that this can be very time consuming, so don’t make it a high priority at this point.

The reason that I recommend the Blog Link application is that once you set it up, it provides a one click invitation to your blog. I think it is well worth taking those two minutes to get it running.

Joining Groups

Remember that LinkedIn is just another social media site.  The value that you get from it will depend on the value that you provide.  For that reason, I suggest that you join many groups.

LinkedIn allows you to join up to 50 groups.  Pick out several groups that are related to your niche. 

Become active in as many groups as you can handle.  Being active will make you a thought leader.  It is by posting content and interacting with others that people will become attracted to you.  I would recommend that you post content several days a week.  It becomes a real challenge to keep coming up with new content, but do what you can.

I went back through my archives and began posting some of my older articles.  It does not have to be new, but it certainly does need to be relevant.  The more value that you can provide, the better.  You want to put all of your attraction marketing skills into play here.  The goal is to get people requesting connections from you.

Create Your Own Group

I recommend that you create your own group.  This will be a simple way to get immediate recognition and credibility.  Your group should grow naturally over time.  Don’t worry about the size of your group.  It really doesn’t matter. What does matter is that you will be running this group.  You will start out as the initial thought leader for your group and will be able to maintain this position in your own group much easier than in some of the other groups you join. 

Keep your group niche specific.  You want to be able to keep providing relevant content, so it should be something that you love to write about.

As you make connections with people, you will be automatically inviting them to come join your group.  Initially you should invite a handful of people that you are already connected to.  It will be important to have some activity in the group, but our plan will be to grow organically over time.

Participation

Whether it is your own group, or one of the many others that you have joined, participation is the one thing that will generate leads for you from LinkedIn.  Contribute and share your experiences and expertise.

Contributing your own discussions will help make you an authority.  LinkedIn is a community and a knowledge base.  Many people visit the group discussions regularly to learn about their niche.  By participating regularly, people will begin to recognize you.  Start discussions by sharing some of your articles and others will think of you as a thought leader.  Offering advice as comments to other people’s discussions will reinforce these perceptions.

Status Updates

Like many other social sites, LinkedIn allows you to provide status updates.  These updates will appear on the home page of each of your connections.  Use them as a call to action and attach a link.  This is a must if you are hosting webinars or a radio program.  Try to keep your status fresh and update it every 24 to 48 hours.

Some Final Thoughts

The reason for getting involved with any social site is to make connections.  Get social and get involved.  Just be careful that you don’t find yourself wasting time getting too wrapped up in it all.

If your time allows, it is good practice to respond to every email that you receive.  A lot of it will come from un-savvy marketers that haven’t figured out the difference between marketing and spam.  Take the good with the bad and lead by example.