Houghton LinkedIn Guide

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A G U I D E TO G E T YO U S TA R T E D

I LinkedIn for Your Business I formation media ltd

T H E D I G I TA L

EVOLUTION

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[ #proven @formation ] CONTENTS

Step 1: Be known!

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Connect with people you know

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Connections – people you can connect with and how to connect with them ...............................................................................................................

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Sell yourself – prove your values!

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Advanced people search

Step 2: Be liked!

Create a unique profile

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Make your profile personal ..........................................................................................

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Socialise

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Step 3: Be trusted

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A great introduction

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[ #proven @formation ] STEP 1 – BE KNOWN!

> STEP

1

> Build your network – invite potential clients to view your LinkedIn profile > Send an invitation to connect – always add your own personal message > Use the advanced search – find the people and industries you are specifically looking for > Ask for an introduction – does one of your existing connections know someone you are interested in getting in contact with? > Join groups – have discussions and let people know who you are – Also a great way to invite new people into your network > Welcome new connections – once connected send a message thanking them

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[ #proven @formation ] STEP 1 – BE KNOWN!

You want to give people who view your profile a reason to connect with you, why should they link with you?

What can you offer?

How can you add value?

CONNECT WITH PEOPLE YOU KNOW Be sure to add this reason to your offline marketing tools for example, email footers, stationery, business cards etc.

Go through your collection of business cards, how many people could you reconnect with?

Find them on LinkedIn and send them a small message explaining who you are, where you met and that you’d like to keep in touch.

When sending an invitation to connect you should always include a personal message – you are more likely to have the person accept your invitation, it comes across as a more professional approach and you are also already starting to build up some rapport.

ADVANCED PEOPLE SEARCH The advanced search option is a great tool if you already know whom it is you are looking to connect with. If not it is also great to pin point people within certain companies, industries, with specific job titles, areas and countries.

You do have limited search options from the free LinkedIn account but still enough to help you. You may wish to upgrade your account depending on how in depth you want your searches to be. People with high seniority may be harder to connect with through a free account.

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[ #proven @formation ] STEP 1 – BE KNOWN!

CONNECTIONS – PEOPLE YOU CAN CONNECT WITH AND HOW TO CONNECT WITH THEM 1. 1st Connections – These are people you are already connected to on LinkedIn. 2. 2nd Connections – Someone you are already connected to knows this person, one of your shared connections has this person as a connection. Your shared connection may be able to introduce you to this person via LinkedIn. 3. 3rd Connections & everyone else – These are people who are not connected to anyone you share a connection with via LinkedIn. They will be linked to a 2nd connection.

If you opt to connect with a 2nd connection then you can find out on this persons profile who it is they know from your contacts list. You may then wish to ask your shared contact to introduce you, this can be done via inbox message or via the person’s profile.

Alternatively you can ask the person yourself to have them connect with you, perhaps adding in the personal message who it is you share as a connection. Tell them what values you can offer to them and always ask the question “would it be acceptable to connect with you?” They are more likely to accept the invitation but you are also giving them the option to reject. Inform them that you have knowledge within their sector/industry, that it would be great to connect with them and that perhaps you could help each other with business.

Once a person accepts your invitation to connect it is only manners to then message them, thanking them for connecting with you. This shows great professionalism, they are more likely to remember you and again it starts to build rapport.

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[ #proven @formation ] STEP 1 – BE KNOWN!

SELL YOURSELF – PROVE YOUR VALUES! Give them a reason to see why ‘YOU’ stand out from others in your industry.

Joining useful groups can also lead to potential custom; it gets your name out there and is a great way for you to prove yourself. You are able to check the activity within the group for example, the seniority of members, demographics and is the group growing – are new members joining daily? This allows you to make the decision as to whether it is the correct group for you to join. Groups introduce you to a large audience in which you can choose to link with.

Peoples profiles can also be used to retrieve phone numbers and emails if they are not set to private, this is useful if you wish to contact them straight away before linking.

You are able to view the members within the group, allowing you to see if there is anyone of interest and could they be useful as a connection?

Again you can see if they share any connections with yourself. You are able to connect with 3rd Connections and Everyone Else. The only people you cannot connect with is those who choose to have their profile set to private, these people only accept InMail. This can only be done through an upgraded account and limits you to so many per month. This option is only useful if there is no other contact you can speak with other than that exact person.

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[ #proven @formation ] STEP 2 – BE LIKED!

> STEP

2

> Use your profile to its full potential – Explain what values you can add

> Remember key areas – Photograph, professional headline, summary, recommendations and contact details

> Share – Be informative, entertaining and empowering with your content

> Publishing content – Decide what you’ll share, when and who with – Groups, tags or all?

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[ #proven @formation ] STEP 2 – BE LIKED!

CREATE A UNIQUE PROFILE Your biggest goal will be creating a compelling profile, something that stands out and gives people a reason to want to connect with you – make your profile share-likeable!

One of the key areas and one that almost all will be attracted to first is your photograph; this visual allows others to see exactly whom they are connecting with. Your photo should be a reflection of who you are offline as well as online, whilst still remaining appropriate; there is no problem with standing out for the correct reasons.

Creating a professional profile doesn’t come from giving information about yourself, but from a detailed description about your business and what you can offer.

Give as much valuable information as possible and make it detailed enough to come across as professional but not enough text to put people off.

Description – This should give detail of what your specialist area is, not so much your average job title. Use keywords that will be searched through Google, these will be picked up and read, thus making your profile more noticeable and more likely to be found during a search of your industry.

Summary – Here is the area that a large percentage of people go wrong, your summary is your chance to really sell the services and products you produce, let everyone viewing your profile know what exactly you can offer them and how you can be of value to them. The majority of people use this section to give information about what they do in their job on a day-to-day basis and what they have done in the past; this would only be valuable if you were searching for a job! The experience section is where you can add this information.

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[ #proven @formation ] STEP 2 – BE LIKED!

MAKE YOUR PROFILE PERSONAL You have a perfect opportunity to add videos, photos, portfolios and links to your company website. This will improve your organic SEO and drive Google browser rankings as you are diverting people to the company website from your LinkedIn profile.

If you are friendly with a few of your connections you may decide to request a recommendation from them, they can highlight your skills within the job and to your specialist areas. This looks good to people viewing your profile as they are seeing firsthand how competent you are at your job and that other clients value your skills. You can always offer to return the favour by giving that person a recommendation or endorsing them for their skills.

Personalising your profile gives a brief overview of who you are outside of work, add your interests and hobbies, people will always prefer to connect and work with people they feel they will like and get on with. Adding all skills that you have is an advantage, it shouldn’t be seen as boasting but more proving how good you are at your job.

Likeable content – • News feed • Groups • Private & tagged messages Setting up tags for your connections allows you to keep everyone organised into industries, making it easier to target a certain audience with specific content aimed just at them; you will be engaging the correct audiences to what is suited to them. You may also wish to target specific people through private inbox messages, if they have linked their profile to their email address it will also be delivered to them through this route also.

SOCIALISE When posting content be informative, be empowering or be entertaining. Socialising on LinkedIn is key; consistency is a must!

Share information with your connections; show them recent work carried out, awards won and upcoming events. If you come across an article posted by a fellow connection, which interests you, or you feel you can help them then you are able to repost this and share with your connections. This may help build rapport and you will find the person will be thankful for it.

Share something empowering – do you believe in a certain motto? Is there a quote that you find inspiring? Or do you have any words of wisdom to motivate your connections? If yes then share them, people feel drawn to this type of content.

Share something entertaining – if you have found a content containing humour which others wont find offensive then share it, this could be pictures or news articles. This may also include inspiring stories.

Join in with conversation, start a conversation – attract people to your profile and give them something to engage in. They will start talking and start to remember you.

Become friendly with your connections, build up rapport before going straight in with that hard – sell approach. Introduce yourself via inbox message to a new connection, explain who you are, what values you can bring to them and always add that you are always happy to help them where possible, be this through introducing them to connections of interest you are linked to or passing on information about upcoming work they may be interested in. Tell them that you will pass on their details if the chance arises.

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[ #proven @formation ] STEP 3 – BE TRUSTED!

> STEP

3

> Consistency – Decide and implement a daily presence > Value – Show how you can help and add value to other and socialise where possible

> How much help and work? Help 80% of the time and sell 20% of the time

> Pick up the phone – When the time is right give the potential client a call

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[ #proven @formation ] STEP 3 – BE TRUSTED!

A GREAT INTRODUCTION LinkedIn can be a very powerful platform for businesses; it’s a great way to introduce yourself, build rapport and a good working relationship with potential clients.

A persistent and consistent presence is a must – people seeing your name daily will begin to stick in their mind, they will begin to build a like and trust towards you and will not forget your name.

Even one or two updates a day will get you noticed.

Rule 1: Build rapport – gain their trust Rule 2: Pick up the phone – call potential clients Rule 3: Explain the reason for your call – introduce yourself

You could explain that you had recently connected via LinkedIn and decided to call up and introduce yourself properly, mention that you always try to speak to people in your network to see if and how you might be able to help each other in business.

If you don’t follow through with your actions then you will never gain what you seek. Use LinkedIn as a call to action and value its full potential, a platform to open channels of connections to broaden your business and working spectrum.

• 3x higher lead rate / conversion rate • 50% of people more likely to buy or use your services

> KEY FACTS

• Builds relationships and rapport • Gets you noticed • More likely to have your name passed on to other potential clients

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[ #proven @formation ] WHY FORMATION

> Evolution ................................................................

Established as a graphic design agency, soon realising clients wished to have a supported on-line presence, we commenced as any other agency does by completing the imagery and designs then outsourcing the coding and development, this caused great problems, due to the lack of control and the poor standard of development.

> Formation

Formation reorganised the business to establish a complete and commercial offering to digital marketing. We employ our own designers, developers, media technicians and social media managers, this skill-set collection allows us to handle complete marketing campaigns for you, dealing directly with your account manager who is responsible for your success, all supported with data analysis to ensure your budget is spent wisely.

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Our job is to engage with your potential clients and make them your customers... #proven @Formation

We can help, we’d like to help... call us today for your FREE consultation.

Formation Media Limited, Unit 2, St. George’s House, Cape Road, Warwick CV34 5DJ, UK T: 01926 298 777 E: info@formationmedia.co.uk W: formationmedia.co.uk

L@formation_media

I formation media ltd

© Formation Media Limited 2018 – Document written and prepared by David Dunlop. #6249