Many business owners know that their ideal clients are on LinkedIn, so decide to post on LinkedIn numerous times a week to reach them.H ave you been doing that, but your efforts aren't resulting in new clients?
I know that many experts talk about the importance of consistent posting to build trust and authority. They say that LinkedIn marketing takes time. It's a marathon, not a sprint. In general, I agree with them.
However, you want to find more clients now, not just at some point in the distant future. So, what do you do?
You don't need to post every day of the week to find clients.
In fact, you can get clients without ever posting (even though I'm not recommending that to you).
As a small business owner, time is of the essence. When you spend inordinate amounts of time (e.g. more than 30 minutes a day) preparing and scheduling content, you aren't able to focus on other critical aspects of your business like client delivery, sales, and systems. Even though your likes, impressions, and followers may be creeping up, this leaves you feeling frustrated since your client roster still isn't full.
I want you to think of minimizing the time you spend on LinkedIn, and maximizing its impact.
I recommend limiting your time on LInkedIn each day to just 15 or 30 minutes, and taking strategic actions that will help you get clients during that time.
This means ditching the following activities at the door:
Mindless scrolling
Focusing on vanity metrics
Posting just for the sake of posting
Sending impersonalized messages
Adding as many new connections as possible
You can think of your LinkedIn strategy in these three areas:
Positioning (profile)
Content (posting)
Outreach (direct messages)
Not every business owner needs to post frequently. While it's a strategy that many use successfully (including myself!) to generate inbound interest, posting 5x a week is not a prerequisite to finding leads on LinkedIn. In fact, I don't recommend it. Instead, I'd start by posting high-quality content twice a week.
Sending direct messages on LinkedIn, paired with strategic LinkedIn posts, is often the best and fastest path to getting leads. Because when you send strategic messages based on specific triggers, you create conversations with those you want to work with most. You get to pick your clients!
(If you dread sending direct messages, this short blog post is for you!)
Your posts should build, not break, your credibility.
While posting is a powerful tool on LinkedIn that has the potential to build your authority and create trust with potential clients. At the same time, posting can backfire.
Here are a few examples of "bad" posting:
A financial coach posts about how they didn't hit their financial goals for last year.
A book editor posts about their morning routine but does so with a handful of spelling and grammar mistakes.
A marketing expert talks about how they are struggle since they don't have enough clients in their pipeline.
In all of the examples above, the expert's LinkedIn post demonstrates that they are struggling in the domain that others pay them to help them with.
Here are a few more subtle examples:
A web designer sells in every post that goes live.
A business coach shares long podcast episodes and articles they enjoyed without highlighting the key takeaways.
A lawyer shares technical posts that go over the heads of even their most sophisticated clientele.
In these examples, the expert's LinkedIn posts don't add much value to the reader, often causing frustration and even a feeling that they are salesy or disconnected.
Your posts should teach your audience about the problems they have, why they matter, and the beliefs that impact how they go about solving them. Your posts should demonstrate that you're a credible expert with the experience and track record to solve those problems.
Small business owners go wrong when they:
Focus on the quantity of posts over the quality
Overuse call-to-actions and constantly share sales-focused posts
Spend all their time on posts instead of starting conversations in the DMs
This is why having a thoughtful LinkedIn strategy is so important. It keeps you focused on taking strategic actions that generate interest for your services - without wasting your precious time and taking away from other critical actions that keep your business's lights on.
(Discover why investing in LinkedIn ads too early is often a waste of time in this short blog post.)
Does LinkedIn feel overwhelming to you?
You might be asking:
How do I fix my profile?
How frequently should I post?
What does a successful post look like?
How do I engage connections in the DMs?
How do I get someone to accept a connection request?
When we work together, you will have answers to all these questions, and know how to navigate LinkedIn with ease to generate leads.
Here's how my process works: Getting leads on LinkedIn always starts with an optimized LinkedIn profile. In my service LinkedIn Profile Refresh, I review more than 30 sections of your profile to make sure it clearly communicates your expertise, showcases real results you’ve achieved, and guides potential clients toward the next step in working with you.
You'll fill out a questionnaire, which I'll then take to provide word-for-word copy changes. Then, you'll watch my short tutorial videos (1-3 minutes each) and implement the changes to your profile. No more staring at your profile wondering what’s missing—I’ll take care of it so you can start seeing real results from the work you're already putting into posting and messaging LinkedIn. This process takes about 3 weeks from start to finish.
After we optimize your profile, you'll then join my monthly coaching program Leads on LinkedIn. Inside this program, 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 any time you want an influx of leads. And, this rinse and repeat process gets more effective every time you do it!
The program includes the following:
Actionable curriculum: learn step by step how to identify leads, craft effective posts, and manage your direct message conversations
Time-saving templates: instead of staring at a blank screen, start with inspiration for every direct message and post you write.
Direct message feedback: get feedback leads on the messages you are sending on LinkedIn to improve your response rates and book calls
Post critiques: get critiques on the posts you write to ensure your messaging is clear so you build trust with your ideal clients and referral partners .
Ongoing email access: get personalized guidance any time a question arises so you keep making progress.
You’ll learn specific, actionable strategies that streamline your lead generation process, so you can take control of your pipeline without having to post on LinkdIn every day or cold message strangers.
Learn more and get started here.
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