If LinkedIn isn’t a big part of your 2019 Sales and Marketing Strategy then you’re likely to be leaving a considerable amount of business and opportunity on the table.

LinkedIn made a significant number of updates and changes to the platform and the number of active users keeps on rising which means you’ve never had a better time to get in front of your ideal clients without having to pay for advertising or email lists from external sources.

Businesses and decision makers are increasingly more self-directed: 60% prefer not to interact with a sales rep as the primary source of information; 68% prefer to research on their own, online; and 62% say they can now develop selection criteria or finalise a supplier list – based solely on digital content. (According to a report by Forrester)

The internet is a very noisy place today and it’s become increasingly difficult to stand out and become noticed.

How can LinkedIn help you gain more exposure and generate leads and sales?

Have you ever been to a networking meeting and had the opportunity to communicate with a room full of your target customers?

Now imagine the room is your LinkedIn Network and you can choose exactly who is in that room from a database of over 570 million people from around the world. Instead of only being able to communicate to one person at a time you can constantly keep in touch with everyone in the room over time to become better known, liked and trusted for what you specialise in.

You can still communicate one to one with the people in your LinkedIn Network through LinkedIn messenger and identify key people that are ready to engage with you in a more serious conversation about business there and then.

In-person networking either at networking events, trade shows, conferences or meet-ups is still an incredible effective way to generate new business however it can be quite time consuming and it’s not always easy to find the right networking group for you or identify the right people to speak to. If you’re involved in national and international sales then in person networking can be tricky and expensive due to the distance and time difference. None of these challenges are challenges on LinkedIn so you can use your time much more effectively and be more selective about who you meet on a one-to-one basis. After all time is money!

The key to success with in person networking is also in the follow-up which you can also use LinkedIn for as it’s another way you can keep in touch with the people you meet and remain visible and front-of-mind. You do this through posting regular content to your newsfeed (on your personal profile) and actively engaging with those in your network through commenting.

3 things you can do on LinkedIn to generate new business

1. Start CONVERSATIONS – either through commenting on other people’s posts or starting a new conversation through LinkedIn messenger. Commenting is a great way to become more visible, known and trusted because other people will see your comment and can also join the conversation however for more personal and one-to-one conversations, messenger is the better approach. Don’t lead the converesation with a sales pitch though as no one likes that and you won’t build trust or rapport that way. Identify a need or opportunity before talking about sales.

2. Get to know the PEOPLE in your network – your connections are people so treat them like that. Don’t just blindly connect with new people and ignore them – get to know them instead. I’ve trained and spoken to many people that are sitting on a network full of their ideal clients yet have never actively engaged or spoken to any of them. It’s much easier to engage and get a response from one of your existing connections than someone new to you so take advantage of the network you’ve already built.

3. Be VISIBLE by posting regular content yourself – LinkedIn is a place that a lot of buyers do their research and they will commonly check out your LinkedIn Profile and Content before engaging with you on the phone or making the decision to buy from you. A lot of other buyers will follow your activity before the time is right to purchase so posting regular content is a great way to stay front of mind and remind your target market why you are the person to speak to. Don’t make your content promotional as this puts people off – instead make it conversational, interesting, relevant, valuable and even educational. Comments and Likes on your content will help you get in front of a wider audience and you’re not going to get this by posting me, me me posts or promotional heavy content!

LinkedIn released a heck of a lot of new features in 2018 that you can take advantage of too!

Here are a few of my personal favourites:

1. Native Video – Upload your own videos directly to the newsfeed to gain more exposure than linking to YouTube or Vimeo.
2. Voice Messaging – Using the LinkedIn mobile app you can now send voice messages to your connections as well as text! It’s a really handy tool whilst on the go.
3. New Groups – LinkedIn Groups have had a facelift and are much more user friendly making it easier to engage and add value to specific groups of people. You can also post directly to groups from your LinkedIn dashboard and access your groups from your home page too!
4. Documents – You can now upload a PDF document to your posts! This is a brand new feature and documents appear to be gaining priority over other types of posts right now. Use this to provide more value visually – this is perfect for sharing info graphics, blueprints, white papers, visual presentations and more.
5. Find Nearby Function – This is one of my favourite features to show people at networking events and trade shows and makes connecting with people nearby really easy and exciting.

If you’d like to learn more about how to better leverage LinkedIn to help you grow your business then you can either download my free blueprint by clicking the button below or you join one of my upcoming free webinars by clicking here. I’ll show you the exact same strategies I used as the Global Head of Sales and Marketing selling high ticket products and services and in setting up and growing my own business since 2017.