Using LinkedIn For Social Selling

Linkedin is a huge social network and it’s different from the others in a way that makes it more about business and less about catching up with our friends daily lives!

So it’s no wonder that Linkedin is the perfect place for social selling.

🤔 Buzz word buster: social selling is when you create value and solve problems on social media so that potential clients see you as an expert making you the go to person for your area of expertise – thus increasing sales! 🤔

Getting started

If you are just getting started on Linkedin it’s a good idea to set up or buff up your profile (if you already have one). It’s self explanatory but do focus mostly on;

* Professional profile photo (nothing says Unprofessional more than a dodgy selfie as your Linkedin pic)
* summary: your summary is one of the first parts of your profile people see. Focus on making sure it paints you in a great light, include your specialisms and ethos here.
* Title: this will pull generically from your latest job title but can be changed you don’t want the first thing people see to say; joanne miller: Owner at joanne miller! Make it sound exciting and remember that this part is searchable on linkedin too!

The rest is easy, just follow the simple instructions.

The strategy

Once your profile had been preened you can start doing the real social media stuff, the stuff that gets you more business!
It begins with your expertise. You will need to start using the publishing platform. It’s like a blog but attached to your linked in profile. Here you are able to create longform and evergreen content.
Buzz word buster – evergreen content could read just as well in 2 years as it does now! So its well worth investing your time in!)

Buzzword buster – long form content – simply put content that goes into detail is usually longer than 800 words and also goes hand in hand with evergreen content!

If you aren’t sure where to start, try to think about the type of questions you get asked most frequently, is there something that you are always answering? This is where you go into detail. Not only is this great for showing your expertise it also acts as copy to send potential clients or customers to when they ask this question! And even better they may google this question and find your post.

There are 2 unwritten rules for posting on Linkedin:
1. Don’t write a short post with a link to your blog! This is utterly pointless.
2. Don’t be salesy or promotional

The key is to add value. To captivate. Those days of dragging every user kicking and screaming on your website are over!Your voice is part of your brand and your brand can be on multiple platforms! You don’t have to make a sale through your website – in fact I know many people who make most of their sales without anyone ever looking at their website! This is something you have to get your head around right now! You must treat each platform you are on as part of your brand. Don’t let the ball drop on any social network and if you cant keep up with them, delete them, a social network that you are not adding value to or networking is of no value to you or your business!

Start posting

To write a longform post on linkedin tap the pencil icon on the right of the status update box. This takes you to the page you need to start writing. And you just write and create a decent cover image on canva.

Ensure you create a captivating and descriptive title for your post! And make sure it reflects well the content inside! This title is the first part people see and it means the difference between a click through or not! mAt the end of youthought-provokingng, valuable, and interesting article put a question to encourage feedback!

Such as: what do you think of the latest legislation or where do you think social media will be in 10 years? Something that starts a discussion! The end of your article should be the start of something! Think of it this way and you’ll crack it every time.

Once published every person in your network will get a notification to say you have published. And hopefully, they will read it. When you have published your masterpiece you MUST share it! Share it to Twitter and facebook and so on (if you have accounts there) You put a lot of work into this article so you want to ensure it gets read A LOT! Some people get heaps of views whilst others get just a handful.

Start scheduling your post out in Edgar or Hootsuite (these are tools to schedule posts on social media)

Schedule for tomorrow and next week and the week after and so on. You can schedule the hell out of it on Twitter but on Linkedin/facebook and so on you should be less liberal! Also, try different titles and even use questions for your posts leading to your content, this so that you peak more interest. And of course be sure to use hashtags on twitter.

Try and create a post as frequently as possible! It is never a waste of time when it is helpful and valuable content. You’ll know if you got it right because you’ll get more engagement and enquiries!

A version of this article appeared in Kent Women in Business Magazine