1) Invitation Templates . . . don’t use them! You’re better than that! Nothing says “I couldn’t be bothered taking 10 seconds to write you a personal message” more than those boring templates. Want to stand out? Don’t do what everyone else is doing.
Don’t know how to customize an invite from the app?
From the LinkedIn App, click on the profile of the person you’d like to send an invite to.
At the top of the screen (to the right of the search box) you’ll notice 3 dots.
Click on the 3 dots.
Look at the bottom of your screen and you’ll notice an option to customize your invite.
2) Avoid “IDK’s” “IDK” stands for “I don’t know” When someone hits that, in response to your invite, you get on LinkedIn’s sh*t list. Get enough of them and they ship you off to the Gulag. Not quite, but they do get pissed and send you a snotgram warning you that if it continues you lose your ability to invite people to your network. Here’s how you limit the probability of an “IDK” First, don’t send that crappy template invite I mentioned above. Next, put this amazing line in your invite:
“Should you chose not to connect, no worries, simply ignore this message instead of selecting that dreaded I don’t know (insert your name here) option”
3) Don’t just accept invites . . . respond to them! A simple “Thanks for the invite Paul. Nice to meet you” helps you to stand out from all those who simply leave it at accepting. This is all about connecting. Let’s make a note to keep that philosophy front and center!
Want to kick that up a notch?
End that email with a question. Questions create dialogue and dialogue is how we begin to create REAL connections!
4) Status Updates: Use them! Make sure you stay on your network’s radar screen by updating daily. Do include a helpful tip, an inspiring quote, a link to a useful article, and if you want to create dialogue;
Ask a question in your status update. And do remember to respond to people who take the time to comment. Otherwise you’re going to look like a tool!
Idea: Connect with recruiters and share the jobs they post in your status update. I’m sure there’s someone in your network who’d really appreciate that!
5) Your Network’s Status Updates: Everyone has a story and wants to be heard. With business moving at the speed of light, our own individuality is often “lost in the sauce” Your network’s status updates are a golden opportunity for you to acknowledge and validate others
6) Take on a “Go Giver” mentality. Be willing to give, upfront and without keeping a scorecard. You can accomplish this by taking on the role of “matchmaker” and introducing people within your network. Give your advice freely, offer resources, mention cool books, websites, etc. I guarantee you that when you help enough other people, there is a natural tendency for them to want to help you in return.
7) Join The Right Groups!
The 5 Types Of Groups You Should Join
– Industry Groups (don’t over indulge) . Always good to know what’s going on, perhaps you want to bounce things off of peers etc. Just know that at times, this can be like that familiar face you cling to at a networking event. It’s safe and can become a convenient excuse for you not to branch out. Don’t spend all your time here!
– Vertical Groups. A Vertical Group is an industry that you are targeting. For example: If I am targeting IT, I would want to join a group from that industry. Doing so helps me spot the “hot topics”, learn the lingo, identify influencers, spot potential “triggers” that I can leverage to secure an appointment/make a sale etc.
– Local Groups & Groups In Areas You Want To Build Up. For example, I live in NY so it would probably make sense that I belong to a few local groups. At the same time, I travel quite a bit to Houston, hence my membership in the InHouston group. Easy enough!
– Professional Groups That Help You Hone Your Craft. As an aspiring sales rock star I belong to numerous sales groups, my recruiter friends belong to recruiting and HR related groups. Make sure you surround yourself with other professionals in your chosen line of work! Just be careful that you don’t spend all your time there.
– Parallel Groups: These are groups that share the same target audience as you but are in different industries. Example: I own a sales training business, so I network with recruiters who place high level senior sales leaders. I benefit from this because now I have a newly anointed sales maverick who is typically open to a new training initiative. My recruiter friends benefit because I know sales leaders who need talented sales rock stars. You can do the same in building your network through the various parallel groups!
Note: If you’d like to know how you can utilize LinkedIn groups to sell more, click here for a free, prerecorded sales lesson. You’re welcome.
8) Participate! Can’t hear me? Let me say that one louder PARTICIPATE! Oh, and just for the heck of it, participate! If all you are going to do is show up, collect connections and sit on the sidelines, please quit now! You will fail and write LinkedIn off as a huge waste in the process! You need to participate in group discussions. Add your 2 cents, start a discussion of your own. Doing so makes you visible and helps you stand out from the masses. You will learn a thing or two and get this . . . meet people who like the way you think!
9) Demonstrate Your Expertise: You can do this by offering a tip in your status update, participating in groups, publishing your thoughts via LinkedIn’s free Publisher tool. You can also include PDF’s, eBooks etc in your profile. Did I mention this is FREE?
10) Understand that the key to “Social Networking” is to be (get this) SOCIAL.To do this you have to be willing to do more than collect connections. You need to validate others, comment, share and most of all interact and not broadcast and spew “stuff” all the time.
Super Important: Run away (really fast) from anyone who tells you this is about building a massive network! It isn’t! It’s about interacting with your network. Now if you can do both . . . more power to ya dude. I’ll take “connecting” over “collecting” any day and so far my accountant agrees!
11) Move Your Connections Off The Computer Screen To Real Time! Having 2,000 connections is absolutely meaningless . . . until you do something with them! Make it your mission to connect “live” with at least 3 people each week from your network. I offer step, by step details in this free report.
12) Repeat After Me . . . Patience! LinkedIn should not be embraced as a short term strategy. Think I’m kidding? Disagree with me? Watch how fast you’ll think LinkedIn sucks when you try to rush something that experts call “Trust”. That’s what this is really about. Its not just about my network and your network. Its not just the old, “it’s not who you know, it’s who knows you”. Its about creating enough trust to move to a next step. When does that happen? The answer is simple, it happens when it happens. Patience grasshopper!
So there you have it. 12 of the simplest, easiest things to apply to make your LinkedIn experience more productive!
If you found value in this post, join us for our webinar, How To Generate MORE Leads Via LinkedIn, on February 23rd, at 11:30 am EST.
And I’m going to offer it free of “fluff”, stupid training acronyms or philosophical nonsense.
Just the tactics!
I’m going to show you:
- What to say and do, from the moment, you connect with someone. And I’m going to give you the exact templates that I’ve been using!
- How to position yourself as an expert and THE Absolute BEST choice.
- How to provide value WITHOUT conditioning a bunch of freeloaders who love to “friendzone” you! Another lesson that I learned the hard way!
- How to create a referral machine . . .Even with people who’ve never bought from you!
- How to IMMEDIATELY increase your phone appointments each week. Note: My coaching clients average 10 more appointments each week. Your mileage may vary.
- How to use LinkedIn groups, LinkedIn Publisher etc to create MORE opportunities.
- How to send inmails without paying for a premium membership.
- How to dramatically increase your response rates via LinkedIn.
- How to approach someone without coming across as salesy. How do you feel when this happens to you on LinkedIn?
- How to do this all on a tight schedule (I mean, I’m sure you don’t have all day to play around on LinkedIn, right?
And I ABSOLUTELY WON’T show you a damn thing about improving your LinkedIn profile.
Why?
Because I’ll leave that for every other “Expert” to beat to death.
Personally, I think we should focus our efforts on actually being SOCIAL on a social network. The mechanics of LinkedIn really need to take a back seat to the SOCIAL part!
The investment is only $99 and here’s what you’ll get;
(1) 90 minute webinar
Worksheets
The Recording (Sent out later that day)
2 Bonus eBooks with additional ideas
6 Templates
Email Access To Me to answer any webinar related questions
Sign up below. Just click the button and follow the instructions to register.
