I’m on LinkedIn, So Now What? A Guide for the B2B Community

IMAGINE being able to participate in hundreds of conversations per minute about your product, brand, service or business. Unless you’re a robot, that’s simply not possible. But if you’re a LinkedIn Giant, you can at least start scratching the surface of what lies within today’s most powerful professional social network. Literally, there are more than 200 conversations happening each minute on LinkedIn. How many are about topics that matter to you or your business?

In our Digital Marketing survey, we discovered that 51 percent of businesses are not on LinkedIn. We wanted to dig deeper so we interviewed a handful of B2B professionals. Many still weren’t using LinkedIn effectively simply because they didn’t know where to start.

Here’s some of the issues we heard: •IhaveaLinkedInprofilesetup, but I don’t know where to go from there. • How do I use it? • Does LinkedIn matter if my customers aren’t using it? • It’s too time consuming. How much time do I really need to spend on it? • How can I use it for more than just a resume or recruiting channel?

The answer and solution lies in this eBook. In the next 14 pages, wewillprepareyoutomaximizeyourpersonalLinkedInprofileandpresence. But let’s be clear: this eBook is about you and building your ownpresenceonLinkedIn,notyourbusiness’profileoryourcompanypage. In fact, we typically advise our clients to focus on their personal page and the pages of their key employees, rather than on company pages (initially). The reason is that people like to connect with people, more so than companies or brands.

Are you ready to take a Giant leap forward on LinkedIn? Read on.

I’m on LinkedIn, So Now What? A Guide for the B2B Community

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Table of contents

Why should LinkedIn matter to you? 3

The different ways to use LinkedIn 4,5

The basics of how to use LinkedIn 6-8

How much time to spend on LinkedIn 9

How to increase your followers 10

The importance of your LinkedIn 11 personal brand

Reasons to upgrade your account 12

Integration with other social media 13

The future for LinkedIn 14

Time to readAbout 20 minutes

Level of experienceSuitable for tiny Giants, just looking to start maximizing theirLinkedInprofile.

Learning outcomeBy the end of this eBook, you will: •Learnthebasicsofbuildingastandoutprofile • Understand why LinkedIn is a powerful tool to build connections • Be equipped with easy-to-follow instructions to startmaximizingyourprofilewithviews and followers • Have knowledge about taking LinkedIn to the next level with an account upgrade and social integration

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Why should LinkedIn matter to you?

Are you trying to build your connections so that you can generate salestoyourbusiness?Doyouwanttobeseenasaninfluenceramong your peers and industry? Do you want to communicate with your customers in the exact place where they are doing business?

Yes, yes and yes. Welcome to LinkedIn - the world’s professional networking site.

LinkedIn today is a lead generation network, particularly for B2Borganizations.Itisoftenthefirstplaceyourcustomersandprospects are coming to connect, engage in groups, and even scope out you or your sales team. The reason lies in LinkedIn’s evolution: B2B and B2C businesses and brands have caught on to the power ofthissocialnetwork,andLinkedInisfeedingthefirebymakingit easier with tools like advertising, published content, sponsored posts and social selling. So even if you think your customers aren’t using LinkedIn, there is likely a potential customer out there to befound,ormaybeaconnectionofacustomerthatwillfindyouthrough a second or third degree connection.

Remember: LinkedIn is about shaking hands online. It’s like a modern day tradeshow or professional association, without borders.

Here’s a few insights directly from LinkedIn to show why LinkedIn matters to business professionals:

• 300 million registered users globally• More than 3 million companies have LinkedIn Company Pages• More than 2.1 million LinkedIn Groups• 200+ conversations per minute

50% 91%

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of Fortune 100 companies are using LinkedIn’s Marketing Solutions

of B2B content marketers prefer to use and engage on LinkedIn

The different ways to use LinkedIn

Recruiting

• Provide information about your company to educate and attract talent

• Post job openings

• Research potential candidates

• Join recruitment groups

Prospecting

• Get introduced to potential business partners or new leads through other connections

• Read about prospect companies to understand their needs before connecting

• Introduce yourself through InMail

• Search for prospects using highly targeted criteria

Promoting

• Run pay-per-click ad campaigns using sponsored posts, text ads or video ads (through company page only)

• Share company news, press releases, events or offers

Educating

• Post content on your profile page to help prospects learn more about your product, service or brand

• Publish content to LinkedIn Pulse

• Share relevant updates about professional news, business insights and industry information

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EDUCATE YOUR AUDIENCE AND MAKE CONNECTIONS BY

PUBLISHING TO LINKEDIN PULSE -

A NEWS FEED OF CONTENT SHARED BY LINKEDIN

USERS, COMPANIES AND INFLUENCERS.

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Maybe you’ve just signed up for your LinkedIn account, or perhaps you’ve had it going for a while, but don’t know where to start. Here’s 3 steps to set you on the right track:

Step 1:MaximizeyourpersonalprofileBeforefocusingonyourbusinessprofile,get to work on your personal profile. It you are C-levelexecutive,director,businessdevelopmentorsaleslead,thisisanessentialfirststep. Here are some tips to get started:

• Make sure you have a professional headshot and a background image.• Create a strong headline that tells people what you do, rather than just give your title.• Customize your URL (in the ‘EditProfile’ settings) to something that is easy to share, i.e. www.linkedin.com/in/ahardyalexander• Use the Summary section as an opportunity to tell a story about your career and what you’ve accomplished. • Tell your connections how you can help them. What can they expect from you and what value can you bring?•Optimizeyourprofilebyworkinginsearchablekeywordsthatlinkbacktoyourbusinessand expertise.

The basics of how touse LinkedIn

Strong Headline

Tell Your Story

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Step 2: Share updates and contentShow people that you have unique insights to offer by sharing content that is relevant to your target audience.• Share industry articles on your Home page with a brief description of why you liked the articleandwhyyouraudiencemayfindituseful.• Post your company’s blogs or other content on your Home page with a brief description.• Publish your blog posts to LinkedIn Pulse.•Attachyourcompany’sbestvisualcontenttotheSummarysectionofyourprofilesoconnections will see it front and center.

here’s an example of how impactful it looks to share professional or

company content on your linkedin

profile

publish your content on

linkedin pulse

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Step 3: Join groups and start sharingWith more than 2 million groups to choose from, I’d be surprised if there wasn’tonethatisagoodfitforalmostanybusinessorprofession.LinkedInallows you to join up to 50 groups, but for maximum success, focus on 20-30.

StartbysearchingforGroupsusingkeywordsthatwillfitwithyourbusiness,i.e.geography,industry,prospects.Evaluatethegroupforfitbefore joining. Many groups aren’t well monitored and they simply may not have the collaboration that will lead to success.

Then start sharing, but be careful not to be too promotional. Instead, you want to ask questions and provide answers, contributing to ongoing discussions whenever it makes sense.

Get involved in conversations,

but don’t overtly sell

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ASK YOURSELF THIS: where have you dedicated more of your time making connections - Facebook or LinkedIn? If you answered Facebook, you’re not alone. But let’s talk about why you need to change that.

According to our research, 58% of businesses believe digital marking help them drive business leads.Yet, more businesses choose Facebook as their social channel of choice, rather than LinkedIn.

It’s time to change your focus. Last year it was reported that LinkedIn replaced Facebook as the top social media platform among “Inc. 500″ listed companies.

Just as we highlighted earlier, LinkedIn is about recruiting, prospecting, promoting and educating. No other social network is capable of doing all of that quite like LinkedIn -- it means business!

Like with any other social network, you will reap what you sow with LinkedIn. Consider this workflow for the initials stages of building your LinkedIn presence:

√Investtimebuildingyourprofile √ Addcontenttoyourprofile √ Move on to group engagement √ Commit to sharing, commenting or liking on 2-3 posts per day √ Start publishing a post or two per month on Pulse

Youmightfindthat3-5hoursaweekisenoughoverthelongerterm,but this highly depends on your role. If you are in sales or business development, you will likely be spending 1-2 hours per day on LinkedIn.

48%60%

How much time to spend on LinkedIn

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VS

If you’ve already built an excellent profile and started to engage in groups, you’re on the right path to building followers. But don’t stop there. Here’s some more tips to increase followers and connections:

• Share your LinkedIn status updates on other social media channels. This is especially easy with Twitter using the Public+Twitter function.

• Use @mentions in your updates. This will ensure that the @user/company will getalertedofthemention,andtheirnamewillalsolinktotheirprofile/pagein the status update itself. • Endorse or recommend others so that your name, title and pictures shows up in theirprofile.Thisisagreatwaytobuildsecondandthirdtierconnections.

• Remember what we said earlier about using LinkedIn to educate? The more updates and content you share, like or comment on, the more likely that you’ll get followers. • Publish an article or blog to LinkedIn Pulse and share on all social networks. •Putsearchablekeywordsorphrasesinyourheadlineandprofile.Thiswillhelp peopletofindyoubetterwhentheyaresearchingforaconnectiononyourfield of expertise. • Scan your connections and ask them to introduce you to their connections that mayfitwithyourbusiness. • Include your LinkedIn page’s URL in your email signature. • Include a social button for your LinkedIn page on your website.

How to increase your followers

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The importance of your LinkedIn personal brand

Just as a hockey player or celebrity has their own personal agent or publicist, you as a business professional have LinkedIn. If you’ve fed therightmessagesandkeywordsintoyourprofileandpresentedyourself professionally, you are already attracting attention. Now start using it as your personal advertising billboard by commenting, liking, sharing, endorsing and recommending. The more places your name appears, the more people who will see it through second and third degree connections.

Otherwaystokeepyourprofile‘on personal brand’: • Connect and comment on topics that are relevant to your skills, experience and business. • Going too off course will confuse people who might want to connect with you. • Find your tone and voice, and stick to it. • Some LinkedIn users can pull off a sense of humour and wit in theirprofile,butforothers,thatjustisn’ttheir‘personalbrand.’ Neither is right or wrong, just pick one and stick to it. • Show that you have a life outside of work. Do you volunteer? Are you passionate about a charity? Make it known.

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Reasons to upgrade your accountYouhavelikelyseenthenotificationsonLinkedIntoupgradeyouraccount,andyoumightthinkthatthefreebieisdoingthejobjustfine.Wellletustellyouthatthegrassis greener on the other side.

LinkedIn really amps up the value with its four offerings of paid membership. These include; Job Seeker, Sales Navigator, Recruiter Lite and Business Plus. Most relevant for this eBook are Sales Navigator and Business Plus.

Let’s break them down individually

Sales Navigator: using LinkedIn as a sales channel LinkedIn is leading the pack in social selling tools and many B2B business are already reaping the rewards of its solutions. According to LinkedIn, social selling leaders are 51% more likely to achieve quota and 80% more productive. If you haven’t already done so, it’s worth the upgrade to your account to experience these lead generation and sales tools:

• Easy to use Lead Builder that allows you set custom criteria and build sales leads lists that you can save privately. •Getleadrecommendationsabouttheinfluencersanddecisionmakersinyour industry. • Use TeamLink to see who within your company is connected to potential prospects, then reach out for warm introductions. •Accesstothefullprofilesof3rddegreeconnections,whichimprovesthechances of uncovering a potentially valuable connection.

Business Plus: taking your professional brand and experience to the next levelBusiness Plus is like the free LinkedIn account on steroids. It you are looking to grow your personal brand and make more informed connections, but don’t have a primary role in sales or business development, than this is for you. It offers:

• More InMail messages per month, which allow you to connect with anyone, even those outside your network. •Seeeveryonewho’sviewedyourprofileinthepast90days,ratherthanjust seeing a few select people as you would get in the freebie version. •Visibilitytopeopleandtheirprofiles,eveniftheyareoutsideofyour connections. •Bettersearchfilterssoyoucantargettherightconnectionsandprospects.

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Integration with other social media

In 2012, LinkedIn purchased content sharing social network, SlideShare. Today, the integration between LinkedIn and SlideShare offers professionals the opportunity to share their educational content from SlideShare on LinkedIn each time a new presentation is uploaded. SlideShare itself has over 60 million unique visitors per month. If you aren’t using it to share presentations, videos and graphics about products, services or brand, now is the time to start.

connect linkedin to

your slideshare account

how a slideshare

presentation will be shown

on your linkedin profile

when someone clicks on it

adjust your settinGs in

slideshare to automatically

sync with linkedin

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The future for LinkedIn

Through acquisition of start-ups, apps and other solutions, the opening up of its publishing features to all users and the increasing ease and ability to advertise, LinkedIn can only go one place -- up! Take a look at their financials, now in the billions, and a strong contender to rival Facebook, albeit for a different type of customer.

The entry into China is also on LinkedIn’s horizon, which includes 140 million professionals and students. LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner states that the company istakingsignificantstepsforwardinChinaandthatit’sstillinaveryearlyphaseof introduction. The expansion into China is part of the organization’s Economic Graph initiative, which aims to have every job available in LinkedIn. If it manages tosuccessfullyentertheChinesemarket,thesocialnetworkcouldsignificantlyincreaseitsuserbaseinthelongterm--anditwouldsucceedinbeingthefirstsocial network to be allowed in China as a whole.

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www.bedigitalgiants.com info@bedigitalgiants.com

Connect with Digital Giants on LinkedIn

Ready to get started?

The result is clear: LinkedIn is where you need to be spending your time if you want to build your personal brand and start generatingqualifiedbusinessleadsandpartnerships.

If you’ve already given LinkedIn your best shot and still aren’t seeing results, reach out to us, and we’ll help you take a Giant leap.

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