The metrics consultants should actually focus on to get leads on LinkedIn

You’re putting in the effort to grow your LinkedIn presence. You've likely done some of these activities:

• Tweaked your profile

• Posted interesting content

• Engaged with others

• Grown your network

• Sent direct messages

  
  

To track whether these efforts are working, you're observing your numbers: likes, comments, impressions, connections, and followers. You feel great when your posts get a lot of engagement, and discouraged when they don't. Nonetheless, it's hard to spot patterns, and extremely time-consuming to comb through the numbers and separate the factors to come up with reliable conclusions.

You wonder why others in your industry have more followers and engagement than you. And despite all your effort, your inbox isn’t filled with potential clients (yet!), and that's your actual goal.

In this post, I'll dive into why tracking these traditional LinkedIn metrics at a granular level is a critical mistake. I'll explain why it prevents you from getting the results you want on LinkedIn, and what to do instead.

Your LinkedIn marketing should serve your goals as a consultant, rather than feeding the algorithm.

Tracking LinkedIn metrics may feel productive, and many LinkedIn gurus recommend doing so to understand how your account is performing over time, so it's easy to fall into this trap.

However, you’re on LinkedIn because you want clients. You are not on LinkedIn because you want to get famous or go viral. 

As a consultant, you are not looking for big-time sponsorship deals, low-ticket course sales, or significant book deals. If you were, then you likely wouldn't be reading this post, and my advice to you would be different!

You don't need a lot of impressions to achieve your goals. Instead, you need to get in front of the right people, and to convert those people into clients. That's what's going to help you make the impact and income you want as a consultant.

Tracking followers and impressions causes three specific problems. Here's what they are, and what to do instead.

Problem 1) You're not writing your content for your ideal clients, so no one is taking the next step to work with you.

When you pursue traditional LinkedIn metrics, you write posts for the masses, not for your ideal client. When your posts don't resonate with your ideal clients, they won’t take the next step to book a call. That's why you don't yet get leads.

Solution: Instead of writing for the masses, write for your ideal client. Pretend you're writing to one specific prospect (picture them as you write!), and share a recent insight or address a common question that you know would benefit them.

Problem 2) Focusing on the wrong metrics has you frozen and inconsistent with your posts.

When you’re constantly worried about how well a post will perform, you might not post at all, or you'll feel stressed every time you post. And in the process, you'll miss out on the consistency that builds trust with your audience.

Solution: Instead of hyper-fixating on the engagement numbers that LinkedIn shows you, focus on writing high-quality posts that you're proud of. Then, create a consistent posting schedule (e.g. twice a week), and stick to it. When you do that, you'll naturally attract interest in your work, build trust, and stay top of mind for your potential consulting clients.

Problem 3) You're missing out on having conversations with potential clients.

When you focus too much on the metrics LinkedIn shows you about your posts, you often neglect direct outreach. Direct outreach allows you to take lead generation into your own hands, as you pick who you message.

Solution: Instead of directing so much energy toward your posting metrics, focus on a different metric: number of leads! You can track this by creating a lead list and noting how many conversations you started in one week (I give this lead list template to all my clients... more on that below).

(Sending direct messages can feel intimidating to many business owners. That's why I wrote this short blog to dive into why you dread sending direct messages on LinkedIn and what to do about it.)

In my coaching program Leads on LinkedIn, my clients fill out a weekly progress report to share how they're doing for the week. They don't share metrics such as likes, impressions, and follows, because that's not what gets them closer to their goals.

Instead, they share how many posts they published, how many messages they sent, and the number of leads in their lead list. These are the numbers that help them get consulting clients on the platform.

Below, you'll see a snapshot of what my clients fill out each week in my program:

You may be wondering, “But if my posts get more reach, won't that result in more clients?"

You're not the only one that has believed that volume is what you need to get clients. However, the answer is, not necessarily!

If you’re attracting people who aren’t your ideal clients, your visibility won't translate into more business. So instead of trying to reach the masses, focus on delivering value to your niche audience (solution 1), write consistent, high-quality posts (solution 2), and track the direct outreach you do (solution 3).

You don't have to figure out LinkedIn on your own

I want you to get leads on LinkedIn without spending inordinate amounts of time on the platform or focusing on metrics that don't move the needle.

While I've given you an overview of which LinkedIn metrics you should care about (and which ones to avoid), tracking the wrong metrics isn't the only pitfall you can fall into while marketing your business on LinkedIn.

Here's how I can help you avoid these pitfalls and take the shortcut to finding leads on LinkedIn:

Step 1: When I start working with a small business owner, we always start with a Profile Optimization so that you clearly explain your credibility, who you serve, how you serve them, and what action the profile viewer should take.

This process takes about three weeks from start to finish, and provides you a profile that captures the attention of your ideal clients and gets them to take action.

Step 2: Once your profile is optimized, we then create your LinkedIn strategy so you can get visible to the right audience and attract more interest in your offerings through my coaching program Leads on LinkedIn.

This program takes two months. We focus on two main skills - LinkedIn posting and direct messaging. These skills bring the right clients into your orbit so you can consistently grow your business without relying on time-consuming strategies like video and expensive strategies like ads. 

Within just a month, you'll have identified and contacted 30 prospects for your business. You'll have the skills and systems to do it again whenever you want an influx of leads. And, this rinse-and-repeat process gets more effective every time you do it!

Step 3: After that, we create a habit of LinkedIn marketing through my coaching program so that you can count on ongoing leads for your business. We integrate LinkedIn with your other marketing strategies (e.g. email and in-person networking) to prevent duplicate work and create a marketing ecosystem that gets you leads and clients.

Learn more about my services and get started working with me here