Part
1/2
Six months ago I decided it
was finally time for me to dive into the world of “social selling” for the very
first time. After a few quick google searches, it became clear that LinkedIn
would be my prime asset into becoming a social selling genius, so I decided
early on to make LinkedIn my work horse.
Being a newbie to the
LinkedIn community, I chose to do some exploring throughout the site and
browsed as many profiles as I could to get an idea of how I could best create
mine to be just as, if not more, effective than the profiles I viewed. After
gaining a decent amount of knowledge in regards to getting started, I did just
that. I created a profile, dove in head first, and began to take full advantage
of all the resources and benefits LinkedIn can offer. Although this work horse
of mine has proven to be a hell of a mighty horse that has greatly improved the
effectiveness of our sales team and their retention, I have learned many of
things along the way that I wish I knew sooner! In an effort to save you and
other LinkedIn newbies from making some of the same crucial mistakes I may have
made, I’ve listed a few key facts that would have been vitally helpful had I
known them from day one.
- If you only do one thing to your LinkedIn profile today, make that one thing to be claiming your customer LinkedIn URL. Go ahead, google “Derek Veenstra.” See what the first search result item is. Here is a link to claim yours.
- Get yourself a professional headshot. This may seem unnecessary at first glance, but you’re creating a brand for yourself, for anyone and everyone to view with just one click. You want that brand to come across as professional and classy. As proud as you may be of that epic photo featuring you chugging the biggest beer of your life in record time; that’s not a quality professionals are seeking. Save those impressive photos for Facebook; LinkedIn wants you looking your finest as well as acting your finest.
- Don’t blindly add connections. LinkedIn will blacklist you and will actually freeze your account if need be.
- As you begin to establish yourself as a trusted LinkedIn member by adding people you personally know, start adding everyone you come in contact with that will remember your name and face. Although you may feel like you're always the one sending connection requests at first, I promise you will reach a point when you start becoming the one who receives. Persevere, it’ll be worth it.
- Endorse people to stay in contact. Treat it like a “professional poke” version of a Facebook poke. Be strategic though! Aim to endorse each person for only one thing at a time. This will establish you as more thoughtful and make it clear that the endorsement was personal and targeted directly towards them.
- Create a profile that includes “buzz words” that will be searchable so you can be found when someone inputs those words. I.E. If you’re in sales, find all the words associated with what your company sells and try to integrate as many as you can into your profile.
Well that about wraps up Part 1
of my helpful hints in making LinkedIn your work horse in the path of becoming
a social selling genius. Part 2 is written and will post next week. Make sure to provide your email so you can get updates as new and useful content posts to the Vast Future.