Is your business having trouble generating leads on social media?
All social media networks are effective in generating business to business leads but there is one that stands above the rest.
Linkedin.
I’m sure you have heard of Linkedin.
Linkedin is a social media network you can’t ignore.
Here are some stats that might convince you of Linkedin’s marketing power:
- Linkedin is 277% more effective for generating leads than both Twitter and Facebook.
- Over 65% of companies acquired a customer through Linkedin.
- Linkedin now has over 400 million users worldwide.
- 5 in 10 companies are more likely to buy from a company they engage with on Linkedin.
- Linkedin drives 83% of all social media leads.
The Power of a Good Profile
Your Linkedin profile will form the base of all your campaigns with Linkedin.
You should treat your Linkedin profile like a sales page because it is.
You are selling yourself to the world.
If you have a powerful Linkedin profile you can:
- Generate leads.
- Form new partnerships.
- Get a new job.
- Build authority.
Every word counts on your Linkedin profile.
You have to be extremely aware of what you put on your profile.
In the post below, I’ll highlight 10 mistakes that you should avoid on your Linkedin profile.
Mistake #1 Not Having a Good Professional Photo
We live in a judgmental world.
People make snap judgments based on your appearance.
If you want to use Linkedin as a lead generation tool for your business, then your profile photo should be a professional head-shot.
Your Linkedin profile is 11 times more likely to be viewed if you have a photo.
Avoid selfies.
Invest in a professional photographer to take a head-shot of you.
You can find them on Craigslist or Groupon. A solid background works best
Mistake #2 Not having a value driven headline
The headline is the first thing people see when they view your profile.
The headline is also something people see when they are searching:
Why would a person click on your profile?
If you have a value-driven headline people will more likely click on your profile.
Make sure to test different headlines and see what gets the highest clickthrough rates.
A succinct value-driven headline usually works best.
For my headline, I’m targeting the health/fitness industry.
Many people have contacted me based on my headline alone.
They’re interested in learning more because of the problem I might solve them.
Mistake #3 – Not having your own custom URL
Make it easy for people to link to your Linkedin page by customizing your URL.
You can do this easily.
The first step is to edit your Linkedin link as shown below:
Next click on the edit link arrow:
If you are lucky and have an uncommon name, then your name might not be taken yet.
If you have a common name then you add your middle initial to see if the URL is available.
This makes your Linkedin profile easy to link to and also gives you better brand name recognition.
Mistake #4 – No CTA on your Summary Section
If you treat your Linkedin profile like a sales page then not having a call to action is one of the most fundamental mistakes you can make.
Without a call to action, your prospects are more likely to forget you.
There are many studies that show adding a call to action will increase your conversion rates.
Make it easy for people to contact you.
I add my personal cellphone number and my email address on my page.
If people are really interested in talking with me they can call me and/or email me and I will listen to what they have to say.
I also offer a free consultation to anyone that is interested in talking with me.
I might change this later to a different ethical bribe.
Mistake #5 – No Compelling Description of Your Company sServices
Your company page should have a summary of the services you provide.
If you lack a description of your services, then people won’t know how you can help them.
Remember your profile page is SEO friendly.
Write your description with powerful keyword-rich sentences.
- Be specific with your offerings-tailor your offering to your audience.
- Link to testimonials or case studies- add proof to your company’s work.
- Add Video or a Slideshare presentation- people love to watch videos. This can make your content more compelling.
Mistake #6 – No clear definition of your audience
Your Linkedin profile gives you the opportunity to define the people and companies that you want to work with.
When you make edits on your profile make sure to always have in mind the potential audience you want to engage with.
By focusing on a specific audience will help you:
- Speak their language.
- Find the common pain points.
- Build expertise within your niche.
Here’s an example of something that I wrote:
“I’m looking for fitness/health/wellness business owners and marketing managers that want to grow by:
1. Increasing the number of customers/clients.
2. Increasing spend per customer.
3. Increase sales conversion rates.
4. Revenue, Profit Margins, and ROI.These are the types of companies we look to work with:
-Established fitness/health businesses with revenues from 2 million to 50 million.
-Strategic alliances where can add value-added services.”
I might change this later.
I’m always optimizing my message to tailor my audience.
Mistake #7 – No Recommendations
How can people on Linkedin trust what you say?
It’s always much better when others recommend your services.
This adds social proof.
As humans, this is one of the most powerful ways we can be influenced.
A well-written recommendation can be much more powerful than anything we say ourselves.
Normally, when we gloat people might not take it the right way.
But, when others gloat about us, people won’t mind as much.
Linkedin allows you to request recommendations and send an automatic email.
Here are the instructions Linkedin provides on requesting recommendations:
You can ask your connections to write a recommendation of your work that you can display on your profile:
- Move your cursor over your photo in the top right of your homepage and select Privacy & Settings.
- You may be prompted to sign in.
- Under the “Helpful Links” section, select “Manage your recommendations”.
- Click the “Ask for recommendations” tab at the top of the page.
- Follow the prompts to request the recommendation.
- Click “Send”.
Here are some tips on scoring great recommendations on Linkedin:
- Make your request personal- Linkedin automatically sends a default template on your behalf. Make sure to change your message and make it personal.
- Make your request specific- Recommendations are a lot more powerful if they have a specific result attached to them.
- Have a variety of different recommendations.
Mistake #8 – Lack of Attention Grabbing Result
When people see big numbers they intuitively stop and want to learn more.
What is your biggest accomplishment to date?
Be sure to mention it and deliver it in terms of specific value you created for a company.
If you add a short testimonial plus an attention grabbing result, then your Linkedin profile will be much more powerful.
For instance, take a look at a Quicksprout example below for ways that you can use your Linkedin profile page:
Mistake #9 – No original content
Linkedin Pulse is one of the most powerful ways to promote yourself on Linkedin.
When people view your profile it helps a lot if you have original publish content on Linkedin Pulse.
Publishing original content builds your authority.
I usually re-post things I’ve written before and alter it slightly for Linkedin.
When you publish on Linkedin, you can talk about your experiences and share your expertise.
The best type of content is educational.
Make sure your content delivers value and teaches something using your experience.
Here are a few of the benefits of publishing on Linkedin:
- Your original content becomes part of your professional profile. It is displayed on your Posts section of your LinkedIn profile.
- It’s shared with your connections and followers.
- Members not in your network can now follow you from your long-form post to receive updates when you publish next.
- Your long-form post is searchable both on and off of LinkedIn.
Mistake #10 – No Keywords
Your LinkedIn profile can be searched like a search engine.
Keywords will make your profile easier to find.
You can add keywords in several locations of your profile.
- Name – You can add keywords to your name although I don’t recommend this.
- Headline – This is the first thing people see. People can search on Linkedin with different keywords. For example, when I searched for SEO, SEO was highlighted in the headline and the name:
- Summary – Although this section is not highlighted, people can still search and find when you add keywords to your summary section.
Conclusion
Your Linkedin profile page is a tool you use to sell yourself to the world.
It’s important that you spend a lot of time to think about the message you want to convey on your Linkedin profile.
Make sure to avoid these mistakes and you’ll have much better results.
Quicksprout did an infographic on creating the perfect Linkedin profile page.
Check it out below:
