Last week I talked about what social selling is and how to find your LinkedIn’s social selling index score.  Hopefully by now you have checked out your SSI score, but if not click here for more info.

So this week I decided to share how to increase your social selling index score while simultaneously improving your overall effectiveness when it comes to social selling and LinkedIn marketing.

Today I am going to go over 5 tips that will dramatically improve your LinkedIn social selling index in the next 1-2 weeks.  But more importantly these tips will help you to 1) build your personal brand 2) find the right people 3) engage with relevant insights 4) build relationships on trust.

Tip #1 – Complete Your LinkedIn Profile

profile_strength

This may seem glaringly obvious, but you would be surprised how many people have unfinished profiles.  To check your profile strength, just log into your LinkedIn account and then look in the top right hand corner of your profile and you will see “Profile Strength.”

There are 5 possible status, including 1) Beginner 2) Amateur 3) Advanced 4) Expert or 5) All Star.  Once you get to Advaned or Expert you’re well on your way to All Star status!

NOTE: If your profile reads like a resume, don’t complain about not having any leads and how LinkedIn doesn’t work for business.  The key is to position yourself as an authority, expert, and trusted resource…NOT a job seeker or sales person! 🙂

Tip #2 – Use Advanced Search to Find the Right People 

LinkedIn advanced search is an incredible tool and very unique among social media platforms because it allows you to get very granular while searching, unlike Facebook and Twitter.

advanced search popup

As you can see from the image above, you can find and target almost any market by simply learning the basics of how to use LinkedIn’s advanced search feature.

Knowing and finding your perfect custom avatar is challenging online and equally challenging on social media, but with the advanced search feature you can find hundreds if not thousands of highly targeted leads in less than 5 minutes.

Tip #3 – Share Relevant Content 

There are 3 primary ways you can and should consider sharing content on LinkedIn.  The key is focusing on sharing information that is relevant and meaningful to your target market.

NOTE: Content should not be focused on promoting your product or service.  Most experts suggest a 70/30 or 80/20 ratio of informational to promotional.

The first way you should share is on your LinkedIn home page, which is also known as a “status update.”  This is important and should be done a minimum of once per day, but 2-4 times per day is optimal.  Studies show that by doing at least one update per day you can reach up to 60% of your network in a given month!

Click here to read a short article I wrote recently where I share a great LinkedIn hack on how to create what I call a Top of Mind Content Drip Campaign via LinkedIn.

The second way to share content is through LinkedIn groups.  LinkedIn groups can be very powerful because they are typically very niche oriented and allow you to have conversations while gathering sales intelligence that is specific to your target market.  To share an article within a group, simply go to the group and then start a discussion.  Be sure to read the group rules in advance and focus on giving value versus being self promotional or you could do more damage than good.

The third way to share, which some consider to be the most compelling way, is the “long form post,” or what I call the LinkedIn blog post.  This is where you publish original content using the LinkedIn’s publishing platform which will then be a part of the LinkedIn Pulse content network.

Publishing on LinkedIn is a great way to differentiate yourself from the crowd and position yourself as a thought leader in your industry.  Also note that not every article needs to go viral.  If 100-500 of the right people read your article and you are able to make a lasting impression or get a dialogue started, it could lead to significant opportunities in the future.

Tip #4 – Content Engagement 

While none of us should spend 3-4 hours a day surfing LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter, it’s important to remember that social media needs to be interactive and social.  So I recommend spending at least 10 minutes per day engaging with other people’s content.  NOTE: Focus heavily on your prospective customers and influencers within your target market.

engagement

Engaging with Likes, Shares, Mentions or Comments will help you in two ways.  First it will put you on the other person’s radar, which is sometimes all you need to slide your foot in the door. Secondly it will promote a dialogue between you and your perfect prospect, which can lead to significant opportunities, when nurtured properly.

Tip #5 –  Build a Powerful Network

The goal of your LinkedIn and social selling efforts should be to build a powerful network of decision makers and influencers within your target market.  The more influential they are, like C suite or VP level executives, the better.

NOTE: The more influential your 1st level connections are, the more influential your second and third level connections will be.  Unfortunately the opposite is also true!

Focus on connecting with and then building relationships with influential people within your industry and target market.  Build these relationships upon the value and expertise you are willing to provide for free and you will be shocked how many of them will be willing to consider buying or referring your products or services to others.

Did this help you?  If so please take a moment to comment below and SHARE on Facebook, Twitter orLinkedIn!

P.S. If you’re interested in getting more leads, more customer and more profits and are curious about how well LinkedIn and social selling can do for your business, click here to schedule a free 30 minute LinkedIn & social selling strategy call.

Cheers,

Dennis Brown
“Stop the madness. There’s a better way!”
LinkedIn & Social Selling Consultant, Trainer, Speaker

Connect with me on LinkedIn!
Follow me on Twitter!
Do you Facebook?