Although I usually work with small to medium-sized businesses, I do occasionally work with professional freelancers. I’ve had clients who are business writers, graphic artists, and digital designers. Freelancing is a great way to work because you have very low overhead and, if you know what you’re doing, you can make a killer income. The only real issue that most freelancers face is finding clients. And, that’s where LinkedIn comes is. Last year, LinkedIn launched a new service called LinkedIn Pro Finder. Basically, this service connected freelancers with people who need their services. If you’ve ever heard of Upwork, this is LinkedIn’s version of the same idea. Potential clients come…
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How to Become a Thought Leader on LinkedIn
Being a thought leader is a good thing! They make more money, get more business, have bigger mailing lists, and in general have more influence. In today’s Internet governed business world, I’d almost venture to say that you can’t reach your potential without becoming a thought leader. So, if that’s true, and I think it is, how does one do this? Well, the good news is that you can do this right on LinkedIn. And, guess what else? There is no bad news! Here are a few things you need to get into place and consistently do in order to establish yourself as a thought leader. 1. Be yourself! Thought…
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LinkedIn Isn’t Just For Getting a New Job!
Before I got on LinkedIn and started using it for business, I thought it was just for finding a new job. At best, I thought of it as sort of a virtual Rolodex. I had no clue that it is the best platform around for networking and getting new clients! That was a long time ago. Now, most of my new clients come from LinkedIn! And, the best part of it is this—I don’t have to spend hours every day beating the pavement looking for business. A few minutes each day on LinkedIn does wonders for the bottom line, if you know what you’re doing. How would you like to…
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How Service Businesses Can Rock LinkedIn
Most service businesses depend on slowly built up word of mouth for client acquisition. Of course, referral clients are the best. They come pre-sold on your services. But, that’s a slow way to grow or maintain your business. Not only that, it’s impossible to actually get a business off the ground through referrals. There’s no one to refer anything to you because you haven’t had any customers. A lot of service businesses that I talk to don’t have a marketing plan in place other than word of mouth. And, as I just stated, that’s problematic. I’d like to make a suggestion to you, if that’s you. Try LinkedIn! Most folks…
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How to Snag Your Next Job on LinkedIn
I’ll be honest with you. I run and business, and I use LinkedIn as a prospecting tool for that business. Having said that, I have a lot of clients who have used LinkedIn to find their next job, or conversely to find their next employee. I’ve coached a lot of people on how to do this. The method for finding a job is exactly the same as how you find a client. In this article, I want to tell you what I tell my coaching clients, when they ask me how to do this. Step 1: Make sure your profile is current. This includes a killer head shot, a headline…
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End of the Year LinkedIn Clean Up Strategies
I do all of the following once a year and suggest all my clients do the same! You’ll see what I’m talking about in a second, but having a daily, monthly, and yearly routine for LinkedIn keeps my account fresh and current. Nothing is more of a turn off than a LinkedIn account that looks like it hasn’t been touched in the past five years. Read my list and see if this won’t work for you. The first thing I do is update my head shot. I’m a stickler on having a professional, up to date photo of myself. As my rolls at my business change, I need to change…
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Why You Need to Monitor Your Privacy Settings on LinkedIn
Your goal on LinkedIn is to network, right? You want people to find your profile, scan it, and hopefully reach out to you. Or, if you’ve already reached out to them, you want them to accept your connect request. If that’s not happening, LinkedIn isn’t working for you! When I take on a new client for social media marketing services, one of the first things we do is audit their LinkedIn account. We check the quality of their head shot, their headline, their profile summary, and everything else, including the number and quality of their recommendations. In addition, we also check their privacy settings! Oddly, it’s here that I often…
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How Social Selling Works on LinkedIn
According to Paul Sowada, Marketing Development Manager of Binocular, social selling is “taking out the pitching component of sales. You’re creating conversations about your product and services which organically can produce sales conversations.” Basically, social selling puts the relationship first, and the sales pitch, or sales presentation second. Instead of selling first, then building a relationship, you build a solid relationship first, then the product or service sales falls naturally out of that. LinkedIn feels that social selling works! LinkedIn is after all a social media platform, one that’s geared specifically towards business. So, you’d think they actually have the “inside skinny” on this. And they do! According to their…
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Six Ways to Grow Your Brand on LinkedIn
Unlike other social media platforms, LinkedIn is just for business—nothing else! So, it would make sense that LinkedIn should be your “go to” platform for personal and business branding. In this article, I’d like to show you a few things you can do to harness LinkedIn’s amazing power to brand either yourself or your business, or even a client’s business! LinkedIn Pulse LinkedIn has a blogging feature called Pulse. If you’re not using Pulse, you’re missing out big time! Creating and posting blog posts on LinkedIn will not only get you a lot of eyeballs on your profile, but it will help people really learn who you are, what you…
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How to Turn Your Connections into a Tribe on LinkedIn
According to Google’s online dictionary, a tribe is “a social division in a traditional society consisting of families or communities linked by social, economic, religious, or blood ties, with a common culture and dialect, typically having a recognized leader.” Seth Godin popularized the idea of tribes in his book, aptly named Tribes. The idea being that people tend to find each other through the Internet, and also that businesses and thought leaders can take advantage of this phenomenon to sell more of their products and services. So, having said all of that, wouldn’t it be great if you…yes you…could build a tribe for yourself? Fortunately for you, LinkedIn is a…
