Here are 3 LinkedIn hacks I discovered while walking my dog.
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New Webinar: How to Convert Your LinkedIn Connections into High-End Customers
Thursday September 22nd at Noon Pacific/3 PM Eastern
Video Transcript:
I'm sure you've had those AHA moments where an idea just comes to you out of the blue when you least expect it.
This weekend I was walking my dog, as I do every morning, in the hills behind my house and this idea came to me. It was actually a realization that I'm missing out on a huge opportunity.
Here I am teaching one thing and I'm not following my own advice.
Let me share with you the 3 LinkedIn hacks that get more clients inspired by a weekend hike with my dog Lilah.
It’s amazing how simple these hacks are and you need to take advantage of them right now.
In case you don’t know me, I’m Ted Prodromou and I'm the author of ultimate guide to LinkedIn for business and ultimate guide to Twitter for business.
Did you know 83% of B2B professionals view your LinkedIn profile before meeting with you or doing business with you?
Yes 83%.
This may sound high to you but I bet you use LinkedIn to research people you are about to do business with. If you’re not, you need to embrace LinkedIn because it’s become the defacto standard for researching business professionals.
People are looking at your profile whether you know it or not so now’s the time to get your profile in order.
Did you know 60% of LinkedIn traffic comes from mobile devices?
This stat actually came out in January 2015, almost 2 years ago. LinkedIn hasn’t updated this statistic but I estimate mobile LinkedIn traffic is easily 70-75%.
We’ve become a mobile society and this explains why LinkedIn has been updating their mobile apps over the past 2 years.
People are viewing your LinkedIn profile from their mobile devices so you need a mobile optimized LinkedIn profile.
you never get a second chance to make a great first impression and your LinkedIn profile is the first impression you make on other business professionals.
LinkedIn hack #1 is you need a mobile optimized LinkedIn profile.
This is what my LinkedIn profile looks like on my iPad. This is the first impression get of me. I'm really proud of my brand and it took a long time to get this point.
Your profile picture is front and center so you need an appropriate photo. Here are some tips for your profile photo:
1. Use a professional photo. Your photo should be a headshot with you smiling and looking straight ahead, like you’re looking at the person viewing your profile. You want to look approachable.
2. Wear what you would wear when you’re meeting with a client. Business casual is fine if that is what you wear in business meetings. It doesn’t hurt to step it up and wear a business suit in your picture.
3. If you are a home inspector or service professional, you can wear a polo shirt with your logo if that is what you wear to work.
4. Don’t use a cropped photo or a blurred photo. Make sure you use the correct sized photo which is clear.
Next, people will see your name. In my photo I added CPCC, which is one of my certifications as a professional coach.
I bet you have no idea what CPCC is but I added it to let other coaches know that I’m a certified coach.
Be careful not to add more than one certification to your profile. When you add too many certifications, it looks cluttered. Also you are using valuable space in your last name field and it may make it hard for people to find you when they search for your name.
Your professional headline is your next chance to make a great first impression.
At least 90% of LinkedIn profiles use their job title as their professional headline because this is the default setting. Unfortunately, this doesn’t help you stand out from your competitors.
For years I taught my students and clients to create a benefit-related professional headline. What I mean by this is to tell people how you can help them or what problems you solve.
Take a look at Alisha’s professional headline. This is a great example of a benefit-related professional headline.
This grabs their attention because they have a burning problem and you have the solution which you are stating in your headline. This approached works really well.
Last month I decided to change things up and I went back to a keyword phrase/skills related professional headline. This approach helps you rank well in LinkedIn searches. It also shows viewers your diverse knowledge and skillset as they skim your profile.
I know most of my clients need help with LinkedIn lead generation so I added that as the first phrase in my professional headline.
Within 24 hours two people reached out to me asking for help with LinkedIn lead generation. Not bad!
Bonus: Add a background image like I did in my profile. I use the same banner I use on my website, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.
The background image is a JPEG, PNG or a GIF under for 4MB in size and the resolution 1400 x 4 25 pixels. You will have to tweak it and move it around to make if display properly on all browser and your graphic designer can help you.
LinkedIn hack #2 - The first line of your summary appears in your mobile profile view
Take advantage of this opportunity to grab people’s attention when they view your mobile profile.
Focus on their burning problem that keeps them up at night.
My clients need more leads so they can grow their business so I use that as the first line of my summary. I also let them know I’m here to help.
LinkedIn hack #3 – Know your numbers
Monitor Who’s Viewed your Profile at least once a week. There’s a ton of valuable information in there.
The more people I entice to view my profile, the more business I generate
· How many profile views you generate each week
· Are you trending up or down in profile views?
· What activities you performed to generate those profile views
· A list of people who viewed your profile
Bonus data
· What companies people work at who viewed your profile – this lets you know if you’re getting the attention of the companies you want to work with. I teach detailed strategies like this in my Linked Accelerator class
· What locations are viewing your profile
· What job titles are viewing your profile – again great information to know
· What industries are viewing your profile
Can you see how powerful this data is?
Thank you for watching these 3 simple LinkedIn hacks that will get you more business. Connect with me on LinkedIn and visit my website at tedprodromou.com
I also invite you to take my free LinkedIn class to learn more business building strategies like this. Go to linkedaccelerator.com/free for instant access.