There are several levels of the LinkedIn user. Some have somewhat filled out their profile and expect people to find them. Others have a killer profile, but it just sits there. And then there are those that log in on a regular basis and post things for their network, and even aggressively grow their network. None of these users will get the results that are possible on LinkedIn.
Here are some things you can do to boost your activity on LinkedIn.
1. Join 50 Groups. Yes, you are allowed to join up to 50 groups. Find groups in your industry that have like minded people, or those of your business’s customer persona.
Did you know that you can send a personal email to people in groups you belong to? For free? Don’t forget to personalize it with a “Dear name”. Unfortunately you can only do this one at a time, but you can reach about 50 people in an hour in specific regions and industries.
You can also use the advanced search option on the left side of the Members section to narrow your search. For example, maybe you only want to reach people who live in Salt Lake City that belong to a particular group.
Send emails to members of groups.
2. Now the fun begins. You can create up to 10 of your own groups. Each of those can have up to 20 sub groups under them. You can learn more on LinkedIn page about groups. http://help.linkedin.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/190
Why have groups? For many reasons. But in the world of marketing, you want them because as the owner/manager you can email each of your own groups weekly. One email goes to everyone in that group.
So here is a scenario.
You join 25 great groups around the topic of marketing because you have a new software program that will help marketers. You then create a new group of your own around the topic of marketing, and create sub groups for each region you want to attract (by state or region).
You invite everyone in your network in your target regions to join your new group.
Invite people in your network to join your new group.
Then you go into each of the groups you belong to, identify people in the regions you are trying to attract, and you send each one an invitation to join your new subgroup for that region.
The return rate is about 30%.
The fun does not stop there! When someone joins, you can have an auto response email go to them. In that email, why not have a link to a free download of related information? Or to an upcoming webinar? Now you have their contact information and you list begins to build.
But remember, I said you can email your groups each week. What kind of campaign can you create to move them on down your sales funnel?
3. Build up your network with people in the regions you are interested in. I ran a little experiment on this today. I started going through my groups and looking for people in Montana to let them know about an offering coming up next month. After a few emails, I wondered if it would not be easier if they were in my network already, because I could then just send one email.
I looked in my network and I only had two from Montana at that moment. Not enough! So I went into one of my groups, and then selected the Advance search in the left side navigation, selected the location I was targeting, and the group I was targeting.
Select who you want to connect with from your current groups.
After two hours, I now have 39 in my network from a specific city in Montana from a specific group. After this settles I expect to have about 50. The initial number of people I asked to connect to was 300. Not bad percentages! And faster!
It took me about 15 minutes to hit the connect button on 300 names. There are many more to choose from. In a few days I will create a nice email to send to that group.
Added bonus: 70 people have viewed my profile in the past two hours!
What creative ways have you used LinkedIn to grow your business?