LinkedIn Training IFMA Fall 2016

1. Using LinkedIn For Networking
and Business Growth
Bridget Gibbons,
InspiriaMedia Group

2. LinkedIn
● The world’s largest professional network with over 300
million registered members in 200 countries and territories
worldwide.
● Executives from all Fortune 500 companies are members
and 66% of LinkedIn users are decision makers or have
influence on purchasing decisions for their companies.
● Average household income is $109,000 – highest social
media site.

3. Business Goals
● Driving more traffic to your website
● Getting media attention
● Promoting your events
● Interacting with professionals from around the globe
● Obtaining advice from top consultants on urgent business
issues

4. Agenda
● Your Power Profile
● Endorsements vs Recommendations
● Optimizing Your Profile For Search
● Company Pages
● Using Advanced Search for Prospecting
● Leveraging Introductions
● Groups
● LinkedIn Advertising

6. Your Power Profile
● 100% Complete
● All Star profile bring benefits – you show up in more
searches for your expertise
○ Current position with description
○ Industry and postal code
○ At least 2 past positions
○ Education
○ At least 5 skills
○ A profile summary and photo
○ At least 50 connections

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8. Profile is mini website
● Multidimensional marketing tool for yourself and your
company
● Make sure everything on your profile is client-focused and
benefits-oriented
● Text should be scannable, easily digestible bites of
information

10. Profile
● Professional headshot
● Great Professional Headline
○ Benefit statement approach
■ Top Graphic Designer Makes All Your Promotional Materials Pull
Customers in Like a Magnet
■ Helping Small Businesses and the Tri-State Area Leverage Social
Media to Grow Their Business
○ Concise, compelling and Value-Driven

11. Contact Info Section

12. Summary
● One of the most important parts of your profile
● You have 2000 characters to use them all!
● Outline format easiest to scan
○ Who you are
○ Whom you help
○ How you can help
○ How to get in touch with you

13. Addition sections that make your profile
shine!

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16. Recommendations
● Quick way for people to get a sense of your strengths as a
professional and for you to help out your connections in a
few simple steps.
● Click on “Asked to be Recommended” on any position on
your profile and select which connection can speak to your
work at that position.
● They’ll submit a brief recommendation for your approval.
● You can control which recommendations to display by
clicking “Manage”
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19. Experience
● Add at least 3 recent positions.
● Provide details on your responsibilities. This dramatically
helps improve search results.
● Hover over this section to see edit pencils.
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22. Endorsements
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26. Optimizing Your Profile to Be Found in
Searches
● What do you want to be known for? What’s your specialty?
What sets you apart?
● Determine which phrases you want to be found for and
integrate them into the key aspects of your profile
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27. Four Required Places for Your Keywords
● Headline – one of the key areas LinkedIn considers when
ranking you in search results
● Current Work Experience – This is the 2nd
place LinkedIn looks,
make sure keywords are in the job title.
○ CEO is less helpful, consider changing to what you do rather than
your title
● Past Work Experience – LinkedIn will rank you higher for
keywords in your past job titles
● Summary – include keywords in your value driven, benefits
oriented summary. You have 2000 characters – use them!

28. Advanced Optimization Strategies
● Having more recommendations and connections
● Having a paid account

29. Other Optimizing Opportunities
● Recommendations – provide bullets containing your keywords
for people who agree to recommend you
● Website section - use keywords
● Public Profile website address – Add keywords to the end of your
hyperlink address
● Groups – join groups with your keywords in the title, you can
join up to 50 groups
● Skills – add your keywords in the Skills & Expertise section
● Interests – Very few people use this strategy; you can also add
names of experts you are interested in; you might be displayed in
the results for searches on their names.

31. Where NOT to Optimize
● Your Name Field – it’s against LinkedIn’s T&Cs

32. Company Pages
● Promote your company or the company you work for and
provide an entertaining, multimedia display of information
● Use the company page as of the most powerful prospecting
and information tools you will ever use to seek new
business, find new opportunities, stay up to speed on your
industry
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33. Company Page
● Specialties, website, industry, type, headquarters, company
size
● Logo and cover image

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37. Company Status Updates
● Company updates allow Company Page administrators to
directly engage with viewers and followers of their Company
Page.
● Admins can post and share items like company news,
promotions, relevant industry articles, SlideShare
presentations, and videos.
● LinkedIn members can see your company updates on your
company's Home tab. Followers of your Company Page will
also get the updates on their homepage.
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38. Showcase Pages
● Showcase Pages are extensions of your company page,
designed for spotlighting a brand, business unit, or initiative.
Create a page for aspects of your business with their own
messages and audience segments to share with.
1. Identify business areas that need a Showcase Page.
2. Click the "Edit" menu on your Company Page. Select "Create
a Showcase Page.”
3. Now you’re ready to start sharing your content.

39. Introductions for Prospecting
● Like Google, enter a keyword in the search box
● Search your own connections and groups.
● Find and reconnect with people, or look for new connections
by company, expertise, or education.
● Filter search results by powerful facets like location,
industry, language, and more.

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45. Groups for Prospecting
● Check second and third-degree connections
● Click on profile and look for groups you share
● Enter the group, find them in the group
● Send message, introduce yourself, explain you share a
group, ask for information – fact finding
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46. Company Pages to Create Opportunities
● Find and get to know target company employees
● Follow companies you want to sell to
● Follow companies you may be thinking of acquiring, merging
with or partnering with
● Research your competitors in your industry
● Stay current in your field by following the leading companies
in your industry
● Look for updates you can use as talking points and
relationship builders when reaching out to connections at
companies

47. Successful Selling on LinkedIn
● Create value first, then sell
● Put yourself in your prospects’ shoes – is there something
they need to achieve, some goal they need to accomplish?
What is that? Focus first on helping them achieve it.
● How? Focus on what information you have assembled –
e-books, videos, articles, blogs, interviews, white papers,
webinars, etc. Make sure they are valuable, that they speak
to your prospects’ needs.
● Give them away without expectation of a purchase.
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48. Successful Selling on LinkedIn
● Identify prospects and then give them something of value.
● Example:
○ Hi, Dr. Smith, I read your profile here on LinkedIn, and I see you
have a family dental practice in White Plains, NY. I have helped
hundreds of dentists just like you triple their client base in a very
short time by leveraging social media. I’d like to send you my free
report “The Top 10 Social Media Strategies for Building Your
Dental Practice.” There’s nothing to buy and no strings attached.
Please let me know if I can send it to you. Thanks for your time.

49. Successful Selling on LinkedIn
● As a next step, could offer 20 minute free consultation.
● This strategy is dependent upon having valuable content.
● If you don’t have, that’s the place to start

50. Growing Your Network Strategically
● Add current and past clients, reach out to current and past
colleagues, former classmates, other you meet in the
community at networking events.
● The larger your network the greater your influence

51. Post LinkedIn Updates Regularly
● One way in which a large network benefits you is if you are
posting LinkedIn status updates on a regular basis.
● Everyone you are connected to can see them on their home
page.
● Demonstrate that you’re a valued resource and someone
worth getting to know.
● Limited your updates to a couple a day
● Restrict updates to business topics – everything you do and
say on LinkedIn is branding you.

52. Guidelines for LinkedIn Updates
● Share helpful information – Links to articles, case studies on
your website, upcoming event that will help people in your
network.
● Stir people’s curiosity – provide something that makes
people want to learn more “Read this case study to see how
one company increased client loyalty by 20 percent.” with a
link.
● Announce business events – use updates to alert others
about large sales your company just made or upcoming
events where you will have a booth.

54. Search for your best prospects
● Identify the position/title of your best prospects
● Run an advanced people search to generate a list
● Save the search and have LinkedIn send you the report
monthly or weekly

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57. Search for your best prospects
● Run a People Search in any of the groups you have joined
● Benefit is that you are starting from a targeted list,
narrowed either by geography or a common interest or job
title
● Search and find the list, connect with those who it makes
sense
● Save the search
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60. Search for your best prospects
● Run a company search
● Select companies from the center drop-down menu and
then click on the blue magnifying glass
● There are filters on the left side – company size, location,
industry
● Run the search, select a company page to visit and you will
“see how you are connected”

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64. Research your prospects
● Once you have the potential client lists, you should go through
their profiles one by one and research the valuable information
they have shared about themselves.
● This is a gold mine of information to absorb before you contact
them
● You can learn:
○ What they are measured on – investigate their current job, what
are they responsible for and how are they measured
○ Where they worked before – look through their prior work history –
is there a personal connection?
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65. Research your prospects
● You can learn:
○ What you have in common – check out their organizations,
charities, community involvement, and groups. Find
something you can use to develop rapport.
○ What’s on their mind – look at their status updates and find
topics you can talk to them about or learn what they are
working on right now.
● All this information allows you to decide if they are a good
prospect and the best way to approach them.

66. Join Groups to Sell More
● People self-select and organize themselves into
special-interest groups that you can join.
● There’s a group for every industry, and you have the
opportunity to learn from and engage with your best
clients, demonstrate what a valuable resource you are by
posting interesting information and send a message to
anyone in the group, even if you’re not first-level
connections.
● Gives you an opportunity to listen and discover the
problems you can solve.

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72. Groups
● Some groups feature a jobs tab where you can review jobs posted by other
group members, or post a job of your own to increase distribution for the
opening.
● Click on the search tab when looking for a specific topic across all discussions.
● Add your voice without expecting an immediate return – think engagement,
not sales
● Check out profiles – when you see people in a particular group you want to
meet, click on their profile and review their info
● Go where your prospects are – you can join 50 groups – make them count. If
the group does not work, change groups.
● Share interesting resources (white paper, e-book), ask questions.
● If you have a partner, join different groups to increase presence.

73. Look for trigger events
● New management or a change in ownership – new
managers typically bring in new vendors
● Company name change or new positioning – company could
need marketing or PR help
● New clients acquired – company may need to beef up
customers support services
● Expansion into new market segments- company might need
your expertise
● Lots of new job openings – could indicate expansion and
growth, meaning need for logs of new services

74. Look for trigger events
● Make up a list of trigger events, think about your recent
client acquisitions
● Think about how your products or services can help the
individuals involved achieve their business objectives.
● Finding trigger events will shorten your sales cycle and you’ll
get a jump on the competition

75. LinkedIn Advertising
● Sponsored Updates - Boost your company's content across
all devices
● Attract new followers to your Company or Showcase Page
● Reach just the right audience with comprehensive targeting
options – Job title, function, seniority, industry, etc.
● Get your message out on every device: desktop, tablet, and
mobile

77. Sponsored Updates Best Practices
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78. LinkedIn Advertising
● Text Ads - Start generating leads in minutes
● Add a compelling headline, description and even a 50x50
image
● Choose your target audience with precision B2B filters
● Set your own budget and measure performance in Campaign
Manager

80. Long-Form Published Posts
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81. Long-Form Published Posts
● LinkedIn members can publish long-form posts about their
expertise and interests. Publishing allows you to further
establish your professional identity by expressing your
opinions and sharing your experiences.
● When you publish a long-form post on LinkedIn:
● Your original content becomes part of your professional
profile. It is displayed on the Posts section of your LinkedIn
profile.
● It's shared with your connections and followers.
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82. Long-Form Published Posts
● When you publish a long-form post on LinkedIn:
○ Members not in your network can now follow you from your
long-form post to receive updates when you publish next.
○ Your long-form post is searchable both on and off of LinkedIn.
● Long-form posts should share your professional expertise.
Write about challenges you've faced, opportunities you've
seized, or important trends in your industry.
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83. Account Settings
● From this page, you can:
○ Change your primary email and password.
○ Compare account types and see how many InMails and
introductions you have left.
○ Manage any jobs or LinkedIn Ads you've purchased.
● View and manage settings for your:
○ Profile
○ Email Preferences
○ Group, Companies and Applications
○ Account
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86. Account Settings
● From this page, you can:
○ Change your primary email and password.
○ Compare account types and see how many InMails and
introductions you have left.
○ Manage any jobs or LinkedIn Ads you've purchased.
● View and manage settings for your:
○ Profile
○ Email Preferences
○ Group, Companies and Applications
○ Account
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87. LinkedIn Lookup
● Lookup, a free app released by
LinkedIn, helps you find your coworkers
and learn more about their background
much more efficiently.
● A post on the company's blog states that
you can search for someone based on
their name, title, experience, education,
and skills.
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88. Sorting and Filtering Contacts
● Here is a link from LinkedIn regarding sorting and filtering
your contacts.
● https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/2/sorting-
and-filtering-your-contacts?lang=en
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Thank you!
BGibbons@InspiriaMedia.com