LinkedIn for CPAs, Level 2 - · PDF file• LinkedIn user since 2005; trainer and coach in...

LinkedIn for CPAs, Level 2:Leveraging LinkedIn

for Better Business Development

Phil Nugent

NCG Strategic Marketing

Who am I?

Phil Nugent, J.D., M.B.A.

• Founded NCG Strategic Marketing in 2009At NCG, we help small accounting firms and law firms prioritize and execute their online marketing needs, including strategy, websites, blogging, SEO (Search Engine Optimization), email marketing, Twitter & LinkedIn.

• Former Dir. of Global Marketing, Prologis (Fortune 500 commercial real estate)

• 1990s: Founder, co-founder & early employee of tech & marketing startups

• M.B.A., University of Colorado at Boulder, J.D., College of William & Mary, B.A., University of Virginia

• LinkedIn user since 2005; trainer and coach in using LinkedIn since 2007

Teeing things up

• 77 slides in 85 minutes: We have a lot to cover today

• There’s method to the madness: Follow up today’s webinar with a commitment to putting its recommendations into practice• Part 1 consists of today’s (and last month’s) webinars: An overview of

both high-level strategy and in-the-trenches tactics

• Part 2 is post-webinar: Go through the slides carefully on your own and follow the step-by-step guidelines provided

• Part 3 is my special offer for a personal LinkedIn audit, detailed edits, and two strategy sessions: Information provided at the webinar’s end

• Don’t hesitate to contact me with any questions:• phil@ncgmarketing.com

• 303-641-7001

Our agenda today

1. You must remember this

2. Skills, endorsements & recommendations

3. Getting social

4. Content marketing & thought leadership

5. Sharing updates & publishing posts

6. “Advanced” Advanced Search

7. Groups

8. Company pages

9. LinkedIn ProFinder

10. Going mobile

11. What’s next

Polling Question #1

• Did you previously attend any of my LinkedIn webinars?

1. You must remember this

Level 1 Rewind: Setting the foundation

1. LinkedIn IS business

2. Why CPAs need to embrace LinkedIn

3. How to integrate LI into your business development

4. Why a complete & compelling LI profile matters

5. How to make your LI profile complete & compelling

6. Why the number of your connections matters

7. How to expand your LI network to help your biz dev

8. How to handle invites from those you don’t know

9. Adjusting your account & security settings

10. Using Advanced Search for business development

Level 1 Rewind: Grading your homework

1. Tweaking your account and privacy settings

2. Getting your profile to 100% completeness (LinkedIn’s 7 essentials)

3. Going the extra mile with your profile (my 8 recommendations)

4. Making your profile compelling (not just the facts, ma’am!)

5. Being proactive (Inviting former coworkers, current colleagues, and new contacts to join your network)

6. Starting business development campaigns using Advanced Search (seeking out your ideal clients or referral partners)

Polling Question #2

• How large is your company/employer?

2. Skills, Endorsements & Recommendations

Skills, Endorsements & Recommendations

Skills & Endorsements: The Big Picture

• LinkedIn will suggest to your connections that they endorse you for particular skills• Are these the appropriate skills for you? Not necessarily.

• It’s up to you to monitor your LinkedIn page and get rid of any skills and endorsements that are not appropriate

• To make things easier for you, be proactive in listing the skills that are appropriate

Skills & Endorsements: The Logistics

Skills & Endorsements: The Setup

Recommendations

• Good to have!• Less important now than before Endorsements appeared

• BUT: They add third-party validation, and can also provide great insights into what it’s like to work with someone

• Double vision: 1) Visible just below the position that they refer to, and 2) All grouped together at the bottom of your profile

Recommendations (page 2)

• You always have the opportunity to reject a recommendation for any reason before it’s posted• Does it misstate the facts about your services?

• Does it make any improper claims or guarantees?

• Is it badly written or have any typos?

• You can always ask for a (partial) rewrite

• Final (counterintuitive) thought on recommendations: Are they becoming more important again?• LinkedIn ProFinder puts a premium on recommendations

• More later on this

3. Getting social

LinkedIn gets social

• Remember high school? LinkedIn wants to sit at the “cool table” with Facebook. This is both good & bad.

• The Good: Status Updates provide a great opportunity for you to get in front of your connections• Did you read a great article you’d like to share with your connections?

You can do this now.

• You can also like, comment on, and share other posts. (Kind of like that other social media platform you may have heard about…)

• The more you engage with others on LinkedIn, the more connections of yours will be notified about your published posts

• The Bad: LinkedIn is becoming a little more like Facebook• Yes, it is. But the social aspects are still (mostly) focused on business,

and not on kids, kittens, or optical illusions

LinkedIn Updates (or the lack thereof)

Keep in Touch With Your Connections

My Network Connections

My Network Connections (keep scrolling down)

4. Content Marketing

What is Content Marketing?

• LinkedIn has embraced Content Marketing. So should you.

• What Content Marketing is NOT:• It’s not “traditional” marketing

• It’s not telling people how great you are

• Instead of constant self-promotion, you’re providing information that they’ll find interesting, useful, and maybe even entertaining

• CM is how professionals need to market in our new landscape

• Content Marketing is how you can become a thought leader• You’re seen as more than just a practitioner, but as a leader and a giver

• You’re on top of trends in your industry, and you put clients first

Content Marketing: Not your father’s marketing

• It’s not outbound marketing (AKA “interruption marketing”), such as advertising, promotional messaging, direct mail, phone solicitations, etc.)

• CM is inbound marketing (AKA “permission marketing”) (sharing relevant blog posts & articles, images, infographics, videos and other content that inform and/or entertain)

• In other words, CM is not push marketing, it’s pull marketing

• You’re not just pushing promotional stuff at them, you’re pulling them (attracting them) to visit your site, read your blog & contact you…because you’re offering value

So, why is Content Marketing really necessary?

1. Traditional marketing doesn’t work anymore• It’s a DVR world: Everyone is oversaturated with marketing

messages and just skips or ignores them

2. Your competition continues to increase• Today: Slowing (or nonexistent) growth, downward pressure on fees

• Tomorrow: Increasing industry consolidation, improving tech solutions, evolving financial metrics for newer companies…

3. The power in the client relationship has shifted to the client• The old days of blindly relying on friends or the YP are long gone

• With the web, it takes 10 minutes to compare 10 accounting firms in a 10-mile radius

Polling Question #3

• Why are we talking about Content Marketing right now and not LinkedIn?

5. BYOP: Be Your Own Publisher

Content Marketing Central: LI’s home page

Share an update

Publish a post: Thought leadership on LinkedIn

• If you’re not already blogging, this could be a good reason to start- One of the toughest things about blogging is finding an audience

- You have a built-in audience on LinkedIn – not just your network, but the entire LinkedIn universe (if your article/post is shared)

- Huge amount of potential traffic can make it much easier for your blog posts to get the attention they deserve

- More than 130,000 published posts weekly

• Note that a little HTML knowledge, along with an eye for a good image and formatting – and good writing – is critical to producing a post that is visually appealing so it initially attracts interest, and so it holds the reader’s interest

Publish a post: What you need & steps to follow

• What do you need to publish a good article?

- Some HTML knowledge (very little will do)

- A compelling image: attract interest to your post

- Smart formatting: make it look professional

- Good writing: hold the reader’s interest

• Best practices for that article you’ve written (example):

- Day 1: Post it on your website’s blog

- Day 2: Post a few sentences & a link on LinkedIn’s updates

- Day 3: Post it as a long-form article on LI Publisher

- Day 4: Post it to relevant groups that you’re a member of

Publish a post: Bringing a blank canvas to life

Interests Pulse: Where to find the gurus (& you!)

Find an interesting post that your clients would appreciate? Like it, comment on it, and/or repost it. Also, see what topics are trending.

6. “Advanced” Advanced Search: Boolean tactics

• Remember Boolean?

• Method of searching using specific operators (modifiers) so you

can drill down and find exactly what you’re looking for, without

also having to dig through what you’re not interested in

• Building Boolean search strings in four fields in LI:

• Keywords, Title, Name, Company

• Five modifiers: Quotes, Parenthesis, AND, OR, NOT

• Quotes

• Enclose the exact phrase you’re looking for

• “Boston College”

• “Boston College” (without picking up Boston University,

Amherst College, etc., unless profile also has Boston College)

Advanced Search: Boolean tips & tricks

• Parenthesis

• To combine terms and modifiers: CPA AND (lawyer OR engineer)

• CPA and lawyer, CPA and engineer

• AND

• accounting AND marketing

• Only those profiles with both words or phrases

• OR

• Deloitte OR PwC

• Either Deloitte or PwC

• NOT

• CPA NOT Candidate NOT Student

• Got rid of current students, etc. (and a few others, as well)

7. LinkedIn Groups

LinkedIn Groups: The basics

• Great opportunity to network with people with whom you share professional interests• Discuss relevant issues. (Don’t spam; always look to add value.)

• Answer questions (without giving specific accounting advice, of course)

• Consider asking questions of the group

• There are more than 2.2 million LinkedIn Groups • 8,000 new groups created weekly(!)

• No more sub-groups

• But now you can join 100 groups, not just 50

LinkedIn Groups: Big changes rolled out recently

• The goal: To make groups more useful and less spammy in order to create more engagement.

• Is it working? The jury is still out.• Some positives and some negatives

• Many groups do not have much activity – and even less engagement

• Many opportunities to make great connections – but often, activity is met with silence

• You say: That doesn’t sound overly promising…• You get out of Groups what you put into Groups

• More changes are coming. Guaranteed. And some of them will be good.

• Here’s the #1 most significant change:

• There are no more “open” groups. All groups are “members-only” and all conversations are private.

• There are two types of groups:

• Standard groups (used to be open) are now members-only - You can submit a request to join the group

- Or, a member or the group admin may invite you

- These groups can be found in Search

• Unlisted groups are like stealth bombers (under the radar)- These groups cannot be found in Search

- You can be invited to join only by the group admin

• The #2 most significant change:

• There’s much less spam and promotional posts

• There may be more of a sense of community

• Members may be more inclined to engage

• All that is good, right?• Of course, but..

• Anyone in a standard group can report you to the moderator for spam

- And you might say, “But my article isn’t spam! It’s an instructive post about how to select a solutions provider in their field”

- However, in someone’s mind, your article might be spam

- Takeaway: Be careful out there!

• The #3 most significant change:

• It’s harder to send messages directly to other members

• Before, you could send unlimited messages to other group member (of course, this led to lots of spamming)

- Now, you can send a total of 15 per month. (15. Across all groups.)

- Might there be a better balance between unlimited and 15?

• Lack of spam is good, but where’s LI going with this?- Well, you can buy LinkedIn InMails for $10 each…or upgrade…

• Top takeaway: Groups are improved for better engagement• You should engage with quality

• But watch anything that could be seen as promotional

LinkedIn Groups: Interests Groups

LinkedIn Groups: Getting started

LinkedIn Groups: My Groups

LinkedIn Groups for You: Use Advanced Search

LinkedIn Groups for You: Advanced Search Tips

LI Groups for Accountants: A small sampling…

LinkedIn Groups: Creating a group

• When you’re ready: Start your own group• Establish your expertise, show leadership in your field

• What’s your niche? With over 2 million groups, you’ll need one

• Most difficult thing about managing a group is energizing the group’s members• It’s kind of like hosting a party: Invite twice as many as you’re hoping

to accept and keep the energy flowing

• Just as simply joining a group doesn’t do much for you on its own, starting your own group is just the beginning…• The group needs to be active

• You need to be an active member & moderator

• Larger groups will give you more visibility, but only if they’re active

Polling Question #4

• What’s the main takeaway for LinkedIn Groups?

8. Company Pages

Company Pages (Interests Companies)

Company Pages on LinkedIn: Pros & Cons

• Pros: Why should your company have a LinkedIn page?• Growing Expectations: People will search for your firm on LI, and they

will expect to find it there, just like when they search the web

• SEO: It’s an additional presence for your firm on the web (and one that may be more highly ranked on Google than your own website)

• Communications: You can send updates (messages, articles, etc.) to your firm’s LinkedIn followers through the company page

Company Pages on LinkedIn: Pros & Cons

• Cons: Why shouldn’t you bother (at least not now)?• How large (or small) is your company?

• For most companies, focus first on your personal pages

- Build out your connections

- Be social

- Produce relevant & compelling content

• The 80/20 rule of LinkedIn (or is it the 90/10 rule?)

- Personal pages get the vast majority of attention on LI

• Do you have a continual stream of content to post?

- If yes Yes, yes, yes to a Company page

- If no Sure, why not?

Company Pages on LinkedIn: How It’s Done

• Definitely do this:• Set up the Company page with your official company name

• Ask all employees on LinkedIn to pull in the company name on their personal profiles from the drop-down list

• This ensures that your company has consistent branding, that everyone calls it “ABC, Inc.” instead of “ABC” or “Alpha Beta Co.”

• Setting up your firm’s Company page• Fairly straightforward & intuitive

• Add logo and images from website for consistent branding

• Just like Facebook, update page on a regular basis

- That can be the tough part

- LinkedIn content typically not the same as Facebook content

• Note: Your company page admin needs a company email address

Company Pages: Showcase Pages

• The Basics• Showcase Pages replaced “Products & Services” pages on Company Pages

- 200 characters limit replaced 2,000 characters limit

- Showcase Pages: All about the updates you post there

• A Company Page can have as many as 10 Showcase Pages

- Each SP is for a business area, specialty, or specific target market

- They’re not for events or short-term or seasonal offers

Company Pages on LinkedIn: Targeted updates

Polling Question #5

• Why should you definitely set up at least a minimal Company Page?

9. LinkedIn ProFinder

LinkedIn ProFinder: Is it for you?

LinkedIn ProFinder: What potential clients see

LinkedIn ProFinder: Increased visibility for you

10. Going mobile on LinkedIn

Going mobile: It’s not just one app, it’s a suite

The mobile app: Helping you be active on LinkedIn

Sending an invite via the mobile app: Customize it!

11. What’s next

Level 1 and Level 2 steps for success

• In order of priority: 1. Commit to leveraging LinkedIn & setting SMART goals for using it

2. Set your account and privacy settings

3. Complete your profile and make it compelling

4. Be proactive: Invite former coworkers, current colleagues, new contacts

5. Integrate LinkedIn into all your business development activities

6. Start biz dev campaigns using Adv Search (seek out your ideal clients)

7. Throw some love to your connections (My Network Connections)

8. Get social: It’s your network (Like, Comment, Share a good article)

9. Try long-post publishing (put your articles on LinkedIn Pulse)

10. Join some relevant Groups & add value to the discussions

11. Put up a Company page, and develop a content strategy for it

12. Use LI’s mobile app for increased activity

LinkedIn for Accountants: Phases 1, 2 and 3

Phase 1: This webinar (just wrapping up)• Was it helpful? Email me and let me know what was the most useful lesson,

tip, etc. Also, feel free to tell me what was the least useful information.

Phase 2: You (downloading and reviewing the slides, and then using them to follow the steps to success): • Get social, use Publisher, join Groups

• Is a Company Page right for you?

• Try the mobile app

Phase 3: You & Me (Personal LinkedIn Audit + 2 Strategy Sessions)• What is the $149 Offer?

The LinkedIn for CPAs June Offer: 2 Hours for $149

Your Personal LinkedIn Audit, Detailed Edits + 2 Strategy Sessions

What does this look like? The usual format resembles “30/60/30”

1. 30-minute Audit: Before our first call, I review your LinkedIn profile, website & any other online platforms, and I identify recommended changes to LI profile and issues to discuss with you

2. 60-minute Strategy Session: Phone call #1: Focused on your business, target market, LinkedIn profile & activity, along with LI critique, edits & strategic recommendations for increased success

3. 30-minute Follow-Up: Phone call #2: I review your changes, provide additional suggestions, and suggest next steps

LinkedIn for Accountants: The $149 Offer

How does 2 hours of professional marketing guidance sound? • The 149 Offer includes:

- A personal audit of your LinkedIn profile (as well as any other social media platforms) and your website

- Two discussions focused on your professional brand, your digital marketing strategy, suggested L.I. edits, changes, strategy & tactics

1. Email me at phil@ncgmarketing.com with “149” in the subject line

2. I’ll send you a link for payment of $149 and another link to online scheduler

3. We’ll get started as soon as you schedule our first call

Signup for the $149 Offer ends this Friday, 6/10/2016

Thank you. Any questions?

Feel free to email or call me.

Connect with me on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Phil Nugent

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/philnugent

Twitter: @MarketingTheCPA and @philnugent

Email: phil@ncgmarketing.com

Phone: 303-641-7001

LinkedIn for CPAs, Level 2 - · PDF file• LinkedIn user since 2005; trainer and coach in...

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