Earlier this 2017, LinkedIn launched its new redesigned platform with a goal to offer experience that is faster, intuitive, and creates more value to the users. Even though the new LinkedIn design rai...
Workaround: When you click on “Work” icon on the navigation bar you can also visit your groups, and other LinkedIn products/services.
2. 200-Character Summary Preview
As you can see, your LinkedIn profile does not display your full summary as before. Now, there’s a roughly 200-character preview of the description with an option to “See more” and read the rest.
How to increase brand awareness using LinkedIn:
Think of the preview as your secondary headline or value pitch.
What could you say to prompt a click from visitors right away?
Workaround: Make the first 200 characters of your summary compelling enough to engage your audience. Include a call-to-action. Ex. “If you’re looking to achieve work-life balance and run your business using virtual executive assistants, click “See more” to learn how I can help you!”
3. Articles and Activity
LinkedIn reconstructed the Post section to also include your activity. Check it out:
Status updates can let your network know everything about you from your expertise and knowledge, to your interests and how involved you are within your industry. We personally like this update because we can easily access our activity and see what updates were already posted and stood out for our followers.
Workaround: It’s totally fine if you are not the writer type who posts articles here and there. Outsource virtual assistants to help you out with content marketing. With this new design, you’ll want to build up your brand with the value you want to share with your network.
4. New Search Function
Unfortunately, the Advance search that we all love no longer appears on the top of our page.
But the new Search feature still allows you to find people and filter the results by Connections, Keywords, Location, Industry, etc.
Workaround: You might be asking yourself now how to get customers on LinkedIn. The trick is, find prospects by using keywords of your choice. Example: We searched for common first name “Adam” with “real estate” in his title.
5. Save Profile to PDF is back!
Go to your profile and click the three-dot (…) icon and then Save to PDF:
You can also visit another connection’s LinkedIn profile and choose to Save it to PDF or Share the profile, Remove the Connection, etc. See example:
Before, we can tag individual connections so that we can sort our customer/client database on LinkedIn and contact particular people on a regular basis.
Now, you can no longer tag your connections but you can still see the existing connection categories in your archive of data. You will need to have your own Customer Relationship Management (CRM) System in order to manage your relationships with people.
Workaround: Consider having your own CRM for managing your contacts, especially if they are important customers or clients that need regular messaging.
7. Organized Skills Section
Instead of that old list that holds your top 10 skills, the new layout limits you to three top skills only, along with the number of connections that endorsed you with these skills:
Workaround: You’re still able to list 50 total skills in this section but showcase the three that summarizes your major areas of expertise, rather than three specific skills.
8. Exporting your LinkedIn Connections
You can no longer export your LinkedIn connections by going to ‘My Network,’ ‘Connections,’ clicking on the cog icon and choosing ‘Export LinkedIn Connections.’ This time, you have to Request an Archive of your Data. Check it out:
9. Checking Your Number of Connections and Followers
Finding your connections is now easier with the new design. Click on My Network to see exactly how many connections you have on the top left hand side of your screen.
Click on See all and you will be able to sort them by First Name, Last Name or Recently Added.
Knowing these big and significant changes can surely make an impact on the way you handle your LinkedIn strategy. Here’s an example of a LinkedIn Marketing Plan that can help boost personal brand and generate more prospects for your business.
If you have questions or need help in implementing these LinkedIn steps, call us at 1-866-596-9041 for a free phone consultation.
LinkedIn networking is all about referrals and attracting highly qualified leads. Active prospecting is what happens when people start to engage with you and open up conversations and opportunities. T...
If you meet people at an event, feel free to send a request and tell them how you met them. You could also ask for an introduction via a mutual connection or introduce yourself in a common group.
2. Joining MLM and Networking Groups
The more active you are in LinkedIn groups, the more contact requests you will generally receive. Focus on your daily strategy using LinkedIn for lead generation:
First, figure out who your target audience is.
Second, find LinkedIn groups with members with that interest.
Next, before joining a group, check the “activity meter” of the group to make sure you are only joining active groups.
Don’t just stick to Home Business and Network Marketing groups.
Expand your search to those who are not involved in Network Marketing that may show interest.
3. Developing Yourself as a “Go-to” Resource
Be someone who people will look for to find good information. This will give your profile more views and open up conversations.
Everyday, go to your home page and post a status update.
Then, share it to your groups, own group, and company page.
Participate in groups and ask/answer questions from other members.
Share others’ status updates and blog posts.
Post useful tips in groups.
Make some connections and check what’s happening with people in your group. In particular, a LinkedIn lead generation service can search your target prospects send out connection requests and messages to them.
Step 1:
Step 2:
4. Use Your Unique Selling Proposition to Attract People
Your Unique Selling Proposition (USP) is what sets you apart from your competitors in the market. Pack up your page with concrete information about you, as this will help people searching for home biz opportunities find you easily.
How to use LinkedIn for B2C marketing:
You should have a clear identity that will resonate with your target audience.
Use advanced search to find people by geographical area, industry, profession, company, keywords, etc.
Factors to consider:
Do you know who your target audience is?
Are they male or female?
What age bracket are they in?
Where do they live?
What are their common challenges?
What to look for:
Connections in common
Associations/offline groups
Something to contact them about (article, looking for an opportunity, looking for referrals)
6. YOU are the Brand
When implementing B2C lead generation strategies, start with connecting. Of course, you should be excited about the products or services you will be offering, but timing is everything. Your initial action with a new connection shouldn’t be a sales pitch. Focus first on connecting on a human level.
You can start building your online reputation by hiring virtual assistant. Assign your VA to connect to people within your niche. You can also have them post status updates and share articles to groups to widen your reach.
7. LinkedIn as a Keep-in-touch Tool
Engage with your connections on a regular basis. Comment on something you know they value or share a resource. Ask them what’s going on in their world.
Now you know some tricks on how to generate leads in sales and capitalize on the power of LinkedIn for B2C. Network marketing on LinkedIn requires the “YOU” view—that’s where LinkedIn gives you a professional networking and lead generation advantage.
Making use of the professional audience on LinkedIn is not just for business owners or C-level executives anymore. A lot of real estate agents and realtors are taking advantage of it and are seeing re...
As one of the biggest decisions people make in their lives, buying a house will involve a great deal of trust confidence between two parties.
As a real estate agent, you want to reassure them you know what your talking about and have the experience to handle this important deal of their lives. Potential buyers will likely look you up online.
Mark Hawkins of Residential Leasing Group Inc says prospects use social media to research his company, as they do for potential tenants. In this step, your goal is to become one of the best realtor LinkedIn profiles out there.
Your profile page must have all the details of your experience and your specialties to help establish trust with a homebuyer and strengthen the relationship.
Bonus Tip:Make sure your profile data is100% Complete. Fill out all of the sections and reorder them from the most important information. The more you provide, the easier it will be to find you via LinkedIn search.
2. Powerful and Attractive Profile
First, pay attention to the most popular keywords related to real estate. For example, the fact that “real estate” is the most searched for is a hint that it needs to be somewhere in your headline.
Sure, you may do “home sales” but generally if you are a “realtor” or “real estate agent”, it’s best to put those terms first. Optimize your profile well and make it useful to a viewer so you could appear in more searches and get more visits to your website.
Bonus Tip:To help you in getting real estate leads, treat your LinkedIn profile URL as an online business card. So, if you are a realtor, broker, or agent, customize it to align with your business.
One reason why real estate agents use LinkedIn is to let people know right off the bat that they are legit and accredited.
Here’s how to make your company page stand out among other competitors:
Add in every detail about your business
Outline your experience in real estate
Website URL
Links to other social accounts
Areas you specialize in (like selling certain types of homes or working within a criteria)
Realtor certifications
Once you are done with the critical company info, create a professional-looking banner image for your Company Page header. If you don’t have or don’t know how to create one, you can select from virtual assistant services to develop one for you.
Regardless of how you get it, the important thing is it is high quality and showcases your business accolades. Here’s an example from Realty ONE Group:
Anything that makes your business look like the cream of the crop
An award or recognition in your marketplace or brokerage firm
Informative visual content that you can add in your LinkedIn page:
Site/home photos
Video documentary/recording
Illustrations
Infographics
Slideshare presentations
Bonus Tip:Build your image showing that you are a tuned-in, experienced, hard-working real estate professional.
4. Create a Separate Showcase Page
You can create one or more Showcase Pages for posting real estate listings on LinkedIn; or to promote your offers, blog posts, referral programs, and other business information you want your audience to know.
Bonus Tip:The Company Page serves as your other real estate website while the Showcase Page is to your dedicated landing page, like your personal blog or “about me” page.
Here’s an example of one of Google’s Showcase Pages, Think with Google, which includes numerous posts linking back to its website:
Image source: Think with Google LinkedIn showcase page
5. Find and Connect with Real Estate Leads
How to get real estate leads on LinkedIn:
Start by connecting with your old contacts, network of realtors and brokers, alumni, clients, organization members and friends.
Once connected, you can then connect with their connections and so on.
Use the search feature to find people that will fit your criteria.
Agent at Re/Max, Phil Lepage, says he found new clients and reconnected with colleagues using LinkedIn.
“These Individuals have been a great source of referrals as well as becoming my own clients when the time came for their real estate needs,” he said.
Bonus tip:Add connections from your existing email contact list or by importing a .csv file. Once you’ve imported these contacts, you can start connecting with them!
If you have multiple contact lists, a real estate virtual assistant can upload them all in your LinkedIn database and connect with them afterwards.
If you have multiple contact lists, a real estate virtual assistant can upload them all in your LinkedIn database and connect with them afterwards.
6. Stay Top of Mind by Posting Updates
Publish a significant amount of interesting content. Realtors are on LinkedIn often to get valuable information and see the latest market trends.
Picture LinkedIn as some kind of a black tie social media gathering—it’s more on the formal side—as most of your connections are from business relationships. So make your postings appeal to their professional interests.
What To Post/Share on LinkedIn
Housing market trends and updates
Financial or investment news and tips
Construction projects in the community
Local employment opportunities
Helpful information on the neighborhood
Marketing ideas in the real estate industry
Update to celebrating a finished project (if you are working with one) or closing a deal
Post a variety of content:
links to blogs
curated pieces
video/podcast interviews
opinion pieces
related articles
Once you get this posting routine going, publish each piece on your Company Page. People love great content and it’s an effective way to keep you top of mind with them.
Bonus Tip:Post frequently (3-4 per week) so you get more chances of profile views as well. View the status updates of other real estate members, liking and commenting the ones you find interesting.
7. Join or Create LinkedIn Real Estate Groups
Reach local community members and promote your business by joining real estate oriented groups. LinkedIn Groups is one of the best sources for social selling.
Be part of those that are full of potential customers rather than competitors. Once you become a member of these LinkedIn communities, check out the members to see if they fit the criteria you typically look for in clients.
Most of the time their profiles will give you insights into their personal lives, including if they’re in the market for a new home or ready to sell. Speak directly with these leads, answer their questions, and demonstrate your real estate expertise.
Attracting Leads through Asking and Answering Questions
Ask questions – You never know when you might need a person’s help with a deal, or vice-versa.
Express your personal and company brand – It is important to answer a question from your own perspective.
Be helpful – Provide sincere and valuable information.
Bonus Tip:Give a unique voice on things that can help people remember you, making you a resource person for future questions they may have.
8. Private Messaging and Email Campaigns
Always send a personalized message when you find people of interest. The key to earning their trust is being genuine and honest. You can say something like…
You are always looking to connect with locals
You are intrigued about their own business or background
You have known or have heard of them from a conference or event
Ask who their ideal referrals are and you would be happy to send them their way
Ask them to keep you in mind if they or people they know need your help
Bonus Tip:LinkedIn is a relationship platform so take at least three interactions before asking for something, like a referral. It shows a lack of a relationship and research when you make offers to people who clearly don’t need them.
9. Ask for Appropriate Recommendations
LinkedIn offers a built-in referral machine with its Recommendations feature.
Make sure to be specific about what you want to be included in your recommendations section.
It helps if you provide an outline or Q&A so that it would be easier for the author. This also increases your chances of receiving more recommendations.
10. Be an Authority on Real Estate
As discussed in #3, LinkedIn provides rich media options and the Pulse platform for you to share content and become a punlished authority on real estate in your network.
Increase your exposure to new and existing audience by posting images of exciting projects, PDF or Slideshare reports and whitepapers, link to downloadable files and other resources, as well as popular articles that could reach thousands of people.
11. Maintain a Professional Image
Many real estate agents and realtors use social media sites like Facebook and Pinterest to market their businesses and engage with customers.
There should be a strict line between professional and personal when it comes to controlling your brand reputation.
Personal issues and discussions should remain in social and casual sites like Facebook.
LinkedIn is a professional network, not a chat room for your friends.
One real estate agent reported he had little success with Facebook advertising as most people on there are not ready to buy a house. LinkedIn users on the other hand have an average household income of around $100,000, making it a more lucrative network for such purchases.
Limit Your Time on LinkedIn
Don’t spend all of your hours doing these strategies on your LinkedIn account and other social networks. The ultimate goal is to be getting leads, appointments, and getting face-to-face interaction with your prospects.
A virtual assistant (VA) can do all of the 11 LinkedIn tricks mentioned and all you need to do is spend a few minutes everyday to communicate and interact, then get out. It’s that simple.
Remember, social networks are used to open doors but your focus should be talking to leads and closing deals!
Amplify your LinkedIn marketing strategy and join our upcoming FREE Webinar Training!
For Business Owners: Marketing on Linkedin.com for Business Owners (including Real Estate Agents/Investors, Entrepreneurs, & any small business owners) Wednesday, March 15 at 8AM-9AM PST (11AM-12PM EST) https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/8103839782577416449
LinkedIn is a proven gold mine of limitless opportunities to grow your network, cater to B2B audience, and overall create a lasting impact on your brand and online reputation. LinkedIn is a great plat...
Update LinkedIn profile without notifying contacts. LinkedIn offers a way to turn off the automatic alerts of every little change you make. When updating your page, it can annoy your connections if they receive email notifications. So, when you’re in edit mode, turn off activity broadcasts by following instructions below:
Go to your Settings and Privacy:
Under Privacy tab, set “Sharing profile edits” option to “No”.
Don’t forget to change it back to “Yes” when you are done editing.
2. Growth Opportunity
Be opportunistic! You don’t have to upgrade to Premium to connect with people in your target audience. All you have to do is join relevant groups that will connect you with them. Being part of a group gives you permission to reach out to 2nd and 3rd level connections and invite them to join your network.
In the Search bar, enter the group keyword/s that you want to be part of – for example: “business owner”.
Under the Groups tab, look for active groups that have lots of members and join them.
3. Repeat Oneself
Identify your top five skills and strengths for which you want to be recognized, and use them in your profile repeatedly. For example, two of John’s skills are “Human Resources” and “Outsourcing”:
Use these keywords to describe your proficiency in the summary section. Do the same in other areas like the Experience and Accomplishments. This will help to have your LinkedIn viewed profile multiple times.
4. Reuse and Recycle
Repurpose the existing content that you have or have published. This will help widen the scope of your message and brand consistency. Embed whitepapers and articles in your profile as well as images and videos.
Look for a LinkedIn marketing program that can help you convert your blog posts into infographics, images, or simple activity updates. Communicating other forms of the same content in various ways boosts your brand within your community.
5. Be Close-fisted
Only give recommendations and endorsements to those whom you truly admire. Show what you value the most by helping other people build their online reputation.
6. Learn to Reject
Always say “No” when necessary. Delete or reject the endorsements that are not integral to how you want to be known. Request your connections to endorse you for your top skills only.
This LinkedIn marketing tutorial will discuss Endorsements and key strategies to communicate with your connections. Having the most number of endorsements for your major strengths will actuate those who are looking at your profile.
7. Let It All Out
One of the LinkedIn profile tips and tricks is breaking down your Experience into small chunks. Take the space you need to showcase your work experience by creating multiple entries for every role you have performed for each job title you have held.
See how one of our clients, J. Scott Bailey, did it:
8. Accept Someone as Something
Don’t follow LinkedIn’s “Only accept connection requests from people you know.” LinkedIn’s search algorithm favors those who are in your network. So, when people are looking for what you can offer, the results of their searches are shown with 1st level connections first, then 2nd level connections and so on.
9. Got an Alias?
People might not know how to spell your name especially if they just heard it from someone or from a certain gathering. Include all known misspellings, aliases, previous names, nicknames in your summary. For example: If your name is Kenneth Varga, you may want to add “Ken Varga” in your profile.
10. Be Verbose
Maximize the use of character limit for each section of your LinkedIn profile. This gives you the opportunity to repeat keywords that are crucial to being found. See LinkedIn character limits here.
11. Air Your Opinion
A better way to stand out from your competitors is to broadcast your expertise by sharing articles with the groups you are part of. Fuse your point of view (POV) into your profile summary and experience where appropriate.
A virtual assistant (VA) can be your asset in achieving this. One of the virtual assistant services offered is managing your LinkedIn account and posting status updates to help establish your thought leadership.
12. Be Anonymous
Want to check your employees or fish other talent? You can choose to be invisible when viewing other profiles. To fly under the radar, change your viewing setting:
Go to your Settings and Privacy and choose “Anonymous LinkedIn Member.”
13. Wise Up!
Use the Premium feature to your advantage. If you are on Basic account and want to do extra outreach to super-exclusive contacts, sign up for Premium by the month. Do what you need to do within the month and cancel your Premium subscription to avoid recurring charges.
14. Spread Out
As discussed in No. 4, turn your content into eye-catching visual layout such as infographics, videos, and slideshares. This time, share your great data to other social media channels. Check out Vizify.com, ResumUp.com, and impress.ly services.
Make sure your headshot is a high quality image with ample lighting and crisp focus. Your profile picture must be facing forward or turned toward your left shoulder, in the direction of your content. You got to show your game face on, confident with your own page.
16. Connect with Customers
Add a LinkedIn “Follow” button to your website. Satisfied customers and clients are great brand supporters as well. Use this tool to enable them to endorse you for skills and share your posts to their connections.
Get some LinkedIn help by assigning a VA to send out automatic LinkedIn invitations to every customer that engages with your product or service. Adding the LinkedIn Follow button can help you cast a wider net and expand your network.
17. Make an Instant Impression
In addition to No. 16, get at least 500 LinkedIn connections. This magic number (500+) in your profile has a psychological impact on those who view your page.
18. Build Opt-in List
Exporting LinkedIn Connections is a wonderful way to gather information about your connections and build your email opt-in list.
Then, key in the security verification asked by LinkedIn. There are many fields that could be included in this output but you may want to stick with first and last names, email address, company and title.
19. Hide your Connections
The default setting is that your 1st level connections can see your list of connections.
If you wish to keep your connection list to yourself, here’s how to change your current settings:
Go to your Settings and Privacy >> Under Privacy tab, go to “Who can see your connections” and set it to “Only you”.
Write in first-person perspective as if you are having a conversation with someone. Let people know your values and passions. Show a little bit of your personal activities by discussing what you do outside of work. You want people to want to know you more.
21. Be Picky
Don’t feel obliged to include the jobs you had early in your career if they don’t contribute in your personal branding. Be selective with those roles that offer insights or group those older listings under one heading, such as “Apprenticeships” or “Trainings.”
22. Reorganize Your Profile
Reorder the content in your profile to demonstrate what’s important and focus on top strengths that will have impact to your audience. To do this, simply go to edit mode and use the drag-and-drop function.
23. Quick Access
Info can be just a scan away! Direct people to your LinkedIn profile with a QR code on your business card, book, or any other marketing materials. This is effective when you are at a networking function and people can scan your QR code and instantly read your profile and connect with you.
Finally, nourish your profile by delay. Don’t reach out to contacts until you are satisfied with your own page. Remember that when you invite someone to connect, they will likely view your profile before deciding if they want to connect with you.
Maximize your LinkedIn marketing strategy and join our upcoming FREE Webinar Training!
“In order to inspire people, that’s going to have to come from somewhere deep inside of you.” ~Jeff Weiner, CEO, LinkedIn LinkedIn is an extremely useful tool not just for networking, but also f...
Getting ideas from those ‘been there, done that’ people is a great place to start when it comes to Digital Marketing. This year you want to increase brand awareness, improve lead generation, and e...
For best results on LinkedIn, feature distinctive, signature elements that match the aspiration and professional context of the platform.
2. Embrace an audience-first perspective with customer experience maps
To understand what content will engage your audience on LinkedIn, you should have a big-picture view of the buyer journey. When you understand buyer concerns throughout the funnel, you can create relevant messaging for your Company Page, Showcase Pages, Sponsored Updates, and other forms of social media strategy that are personalized for the specific audience you are looking to engage.
Imagine your buyer at each stage of the customer journey: What are they thinking and feeling? Taking this customer-centric approach can help mold strategic branded content you can use throughout the buying cycle on LinkedIn.
3. Implement a balanced social sharing plan to promote your content
Creating blog posts, whitepapers, and other content requires significant resources, and it’s important to get a return on your investment. Generally, you’re not going to achieve maximum reach or visibility with a single mention on LinkedIn. On the other hand, promoting the same content too often can annoy rather than engage.
LinkedIn marketing is a continuous process that involves creating an action plan and schedule. Look for Virtual Assistant Solutions to help you when carrying out your overall marketing strategy.
With a balanced plan to distribute content on LinkedIn, you might use Company Page updates, Sponsored Updates, Sponsored InMails, and leverage your employee profiles to ensure your strategic content finds the right people.
4. Inject storytelling into your content marketing
B2B marketers understand that engaging audiences isn’t about broadcasting product specs or features. Instead, it’s important to convey a compelling brand narrative that highlights the value your brand provides to the marketplace.
Hiring experienced virtual assistants can be one of your assets in promoting your brand online and engaging with your customers or clients. Jeff Bullas provides examples of how GE is serving as a model for making a “boring” business interesting.
As a marketer, you understand how important credibility is to your brand. Establishing yourself as a thought leader can inspire confidence in your company and the solutions you offer. It also helps when you connect to several Linkedin influencers as they can be a mother lode of potential business partners, clients or customers.
LinkedIn consistently ranks as the most-trusted social media platform for B2B professionals researching products and services, making it an ideal venue to establish your industry influence.
So what is really a thought leader? “It is simply about becoming an authority on relevant topics by delivering the answers to the biggest questions on the minds of your target audience.”
To read the more detailed list, please visit this site.
There is absolutely no doubt that LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network. From Fortune 500 companies and small businesses, down to 467 million professionals and entrepreneurs – you w...
Decide on a two-word key phrase that describes you and your business i.e. virtual assistant. There are a lot of LinkedIn areas that have impact on search such as the following so make sure you put your key phrases and keywords in the titles and descriptions.
Experience
Job description
Publications
Skills and Endorsements
Honors and Awards
Recommendations
2. EMPHASIZE YOUR EXPERIENCE SECTION
Another thing you can do for optimization is break down your resume in small chunks (several positions) and as many titles as possible. Say, CEO specializing in Hiring and Recruitment of Virtual Assistants and CEO specializing in Real Estate Virtual Assistant Services. It has the same position but different functions. (keywords: hiring, recruitment, real estate).
Tip: To know how well your ranking for particular keyword is, run that search in a LinkedIn account that is not connected to anybody. The goal is to be found on the first 10 pages.
After you’ve done some tweaks in your LinkedIn profile, you can then…
3. ADD MORE CONNECTIONS
Before you do this, you want to be able to SEARCH and FILTER the prospects that you want to connect to. Refer to ‘Advanced Search’ in LinkedIn Help Center to see the list of Boolean search types to refine results. i.e use of “”, OR, NOT, AND.
Remember, not all LinkedIn marketing strategies offered will teach you to do this in a way that you get to filter the search results down to the core. Read on to find out the next steps.
If you found a prospect, open the search result in a new tab and save it as a contact or tag it so you can easily locate it in the future. Use the Save Search link next to the gear icon to save your search method and receive notice about brand new prospects.
Note: When thinking about the prospects, the money level is your 2nd Degree connections. This is the “Referral” level in your network. Also, don’t forget to connect to those who searched you. Go to Who’s Viewed My Profile to see the stats.
4. INTERACT WITH YOUR AUDIENCE
At this point, you want to keep your profile alive and engaging. To do this, spend at least 5 minutes a day to…
Like and comment your connections’ status updates as well. Everyone in their network will get email notification, thus, driving more traffic to your LinkedIn profile and increasing your credibility.
5. MONITOR PROFILE ANALYTICS
Finally, don’t ignore your Visibility stats such as “Where your viewers came from” and “Search keywords that led to you”.
Create a spreadsheet to track the status updates to see what catches and what doesn’t. In the next few weeks you will be able to determine what works best for your LinkedIn marketing strategy.
We have a Free Webinar on this topic.
Learn How to Use Linkedin to Generate 10-25 New Prospects per Month.
Are you an entrepreneur, professional, or a company building your professional reputation online? In this difficult time where economy is at its toughest, one can’t afford to tarnish the reputation ...
Who is not into Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Google+ and all other social media sites? Most of us want to show off what we have, rant our hearts out, post pictures in any sort and just about anything that is happening in our lives that most of the time we don’t know the consequence of our actions. Your posts may ruin your image or put you in a good position. In short, be careful of what you post on your social media accounts.
#2. LinkedIn
Since LinkedIn got its way to the Internet as a professional network, professionals create their curriculum vitae online and are visible to job recruiters locally or around the globe.
Not only that, entrepreneurs are also using LinkedIn to reach out to their target markets to widen their reach and be known in their fields and beyond. Be careful when you update your profile and your career history.
These social media platforms can help you build an impeccable online reputation when utilized properly. Below are some tips you can use.
Optimize your LinkedIn profile. Make an effort to appear in the first page of LinkedIn search results.
Be responsive with a sense of urgency. Your prospects need clear answers and they may need it right away. See to it that you respond quickly and clearly.
Say what you mean and mean what you say. No matter how short, your social media status should reflect your actions as well.
Share a recommendation. Your readers will appreciate it if you could share helpful sources and tips on your social media channels.
#3. Build a professional looking website
If you are just starting your business, create a simple one if you are on the budget or have a web developer design the website for you.
The most important things that your website should have are – updated products and services, upcoming events, links to your blog and all of your social media accounts.
Companies and business owners build professional looking and highly searchable websites that reflects their products, service and brand. Simple as it may sound but it plays an impact to your business and reputation.
#4. Build your blog
When you have finally determined your niche, write about a topic and link this to your website if you have and to your social media accounts. Ask people to follow and share your post to their social media accounts, too.
If you don’t have time to do this, look for help online. A blogger virtual assistant can write articles that showcase your expertise and targeting a specific audience. Who knows, your future employer or client might read one of those posts.
There are instances that even if you have deleted a certain blog, you never know who copied and shared your post to another site or blog sites. This will give you more exposure as it takes time before it will finally leave the Internet.
Yes, you love to join and post on forums and the social media in general. Be mindful of what you post because the internet never forgets what you have shared online specially the ones that is bashing someone, negative comments, filthy words and one that will eventually damage your online reputation.
Even how angry you are, keep in mind, everything shared online can be read by people from around the globe, regardless if they know you or not.
If you want to have your own forum that will host a series of opinion from your audience, you can have a web developer virtual assistant design the website for you. Forums are one of the oldest and biggest high-traffic platforms used by businesses and enthusiasts online.
You are the mirror of who you are and it’s only you who design, create and build your own reflection. Be the most of who you are and build your professional online reputation the positive way. Take note that on the Internet – no stone is left unturned.
Holidays are coming and as you look back you may be wondering how will you make this very last month of the year more profitable for your business. One thing’s for sure. A lot of entrepreneurs are s...
Don’t feel bad. Every business has slow periods. So if your business gets slow, work on these 45 things. You may have done some of these and some are new so go see what you can come up with!
Marketing During the Holiday Season
1. Buy your clients or customers a special but inexpensive gift
Show your appreciation by giving something back to your loyal customers or clients. A useful business gift is great for encouragement and inspiration.
Good items include travel mugs, notebooks, or business card holders. For long-term clients you can give epic gifts like leather briefcases or a portable Bluetooth speaker. The list goes on and you can think of creative ways to market these items as well by putting your logo or contact info.
2. Promote a giveaway for your business
Offer something for free like a one-hour consultation, an email-delivered gift card to Amazon, or a small product or service.
At Virtual Assistant Talent (VAT) we always offer free phone consultation for people who would just like to know anything about working with virtual assistants. Or, occasionally we offer a monetary discount or promotion when they start a subscription.
3. Send out handwritten note cards
The holiday season is all about giving, and giving thanks. So take time to thank your clients and give them some free business ideas or tips. Be amazing! They will remember how much they like you and may hire you for future projects.
4. Identify 3 areas of life/business where you can start saving money
Saving money is just as important as generating income. More savings means more money to allocate for important business needs. Start simple by giving up Starbucks for a month and make coffee at home. Or, think about finding less expensive phone plan or car insurance.
If you have a local secretary why not think of outsourcing those admin tasks to remote virtual assistants who are a lot cheaper? Look for reliable virtual outsourcing companies who can provide you quality Virtual Assistants (VAs).
5. Send a Holiday-themed newsletter or press release
Another way to send your season greetings is through newsletters. Include an interesting topic and feature someone or something in your business.
6. Create limited-time special discounts and free shipping
People tend to buy items out of urgency. Take advantage of holiday shopping by offering discounts and free shipping.
7. Clean up your email inbox
Clear up email clutter and unsubscribe from blogs you haven’t read in a year.
8. Build up your email list
Create a signup form and give away your free downloads as bait. Then, send out a nice email campaign by using free mailing programs like Mailchimp.
9. Record and post a free video tutorial
Make a short video that will add value to your customers. An example would be how to use your products, or how to do something useful related to your business.
10. Do some pro-bono work
Donate some of your money or volunteer your services to a charity, business, or random organization. You will be doing good for others as well as your portfolio.
Getting Ready for the New Year
11. Do write an actual online marketing plan
Even if you don’t have a definite well thought-out business plan, just start on making a simple outline—even if it’s only a few pages. To get started, here’s a free resource you can download: Business Plan Workbook
12. Create a marketing planner
Make a planner that breaks down your key tasks into daily, weekly and monthly.
13. Give your website a “face-lift”
Consider revamping your web design a bit. Maybe it’s time to update the navigation buttons and colors? Do you need to add more valuable links to direct your visitors to more helpful content and other sources around the web?
14. Build up your LinkedIn profile and connections
Take time to optimize your LinkedIn profile by adding more skills, summary, posts, etc. Build connections and relationship with the people in your niche.
Current Events/Hot Topics – including news related to your industry or controversial topics
If just don’t have time to blog or don’t have anything in mind to write, here’s what a blogger/content writing VA can do to help promote your business.
16. Be more lovable! Create a free resource for your visitors to download
Free resources page can not only help but delight your clients as well. Here is an example of a blog resources page.
17. Offer a freebie as a resource when people land on your website
Give something in exchange when your website visitors sign up for your email list. It can be an eBook, a PDF, recording, etc.
18. Follow up former prospects via email
Check in on past clients who expressed interest in your business. Send some emails and ask them how the (insert product name/service) you provided for them last year is doing. Do they have further questions? Suggestions?
They might be ready to hire you for their project or purchase from you, and they’ll be thankful that you refreshed them.
19. Ask testimonials from your clients/customers
At VAT, we send out a short email asking for reviews from our clients. Stack these all in your website and you have some irrefutable praises for your business. Take a look at this testimonial page.
Also, you can embed any tweet testimonial in your website by using Twitter Search
Search your business name and Twitter handle to see what people have been saying about you.
Click “More” on the Tweet you want to embed
Select “Embed Tweet”
Then copy the code that pops up and
Place it on your website’s Testimonial page
20. Draft your business/project workflow
Write out what should happen from the moment a client contacts you to the moment you deliver your goods or services. How will you manage the project on your end? How long should each step take, and so on. If you are working with a VA, write out the whole process to ensure you follow the same steps each time. This will help ensure a smooth transaction with all the clients.
21. Conduct a website blog post audit
Check if:
All links are still working
You’ve linked to other content on your site whenever applicable from within each post
All your images are displaying correctly
All the information you share is still up to date
Add new information when necessary, and continually make your blog content attractive.
22. Check Google Analytics
Are there any pages with an extremely high exit rate/bounce rate? Find out why and identify which posts and pages are most popular.
23. Don’t forget SEO
Make sure all your blog posts and pages are optimized for search engines. If you use WordPress, check out the search engine optimization (SEO) plugin.
24. Take new and vibrant photos
Get new photos of you, your products, your team at work, your office, or your customers enjoying your products. New pictures always entice readers, regular and new visitors, social media followers, etc.
You can do so by hiring professional photographers or doing a few photo tricks with your iPhone or Android device.
25. Find yourself a peer group
Same with reading, you can acquire new information by talking business ideas with other people. Look out for peers who live the small business lifestyle as well like your colleagues, friends, and online communities. Talk with them once a month or whenever possible to keep you on your “A game.”
26. Learn to use a social media platform expertly
If you think you find a social media channel that might be valuable to your business, take the time to really learn it. For example, Pinterest is really good for showcasing products online so play around it for a few days.
Note the ‘pins’ that draw your attention and see why they are most effective. Then, find some top pinners in your industry and see what they’re doing right.
27. Time for a new, appealing banner
Design a new Facebook or Twitter cover photo for your business. Use a free drag-and-drop tool such as Canva, Pixlr.com, or PicMonkey.com to make your graphics.
28. Ask yourself, how will I make my business succeed in the coming year?
Write out a detailed goal list on how you are going to spend the 240 mornings available to you each year to make your business grow.
Things You Can Do On the Side When You’re Laid-back
The following are activities you can do while sitting around this year with “nothing to do”.
29. Organize the files on your computer AND your desktop screen
Yes, you should do it whether you like it or not. It will help you focus better and avoid distractions. Put one folder for all your “Desktop” items, and then separate one for any documents or projects that require immediate attention.
Add another folder or notepad that will hold all your to-do items. Everything else should be stored away in the most logical folder for it.
30. Get new business cards
If you’ve updated any information on your business card such as website url or logo, it’s time to order new cards. You can go to popular business card printers like MoxyOx, MOO, and GotPrint.
31. Buy a good book on business or online marketing
When you buy a book in Amazon, it is recommended that you read its full description and reviews. Reading is a great way to increase your knowledge—it’s like compound interest as Warren Buffet puts it.
32. Keep your creative juices flowing
Do something creative even if it’s not directly related to your business. Write a short story, paint, blog about something you love, cook a delicious meal you’ve never tried cooking before, etc.
33. Make a financial plan to save up for something you need for business
Get that next item you can use for business such as a camera, laptop, or software. Think about cutting on expenses when it comes to dining out, entertainment, and other vanities.
34. Read a free eBook
Same as #15, continue learning by taking advantage of free resources. You may want to take a look at this: The Ultimate Facebook Marketing Blueprint for Business – Learn top techniques to generate leads/customers for your business using Facebook.
35. Create email templates
Simplify your work by creating standard reply emails that you can quickly edit whenever a potential client emails you.
36. Take an online course
Look for online classes or local small business class from lynda.com or Skillshare.
37. Repurpose all of your marketing materials
Review all the articles, images, and videos your company has that can use a change. Design it yourself or hire a designer VA.
38. Create some useful content you can sell
Pull out all the useful information and how-to resources that you have, lay them out chapter by chapter, and create a passive income stream! Share your helpful knowledge through selling an online course, eBook, printed book, etc.
39. Start a new project, or collaboration with other business
Most entrepreneurs and business owners are good at more than one thing. So if you think you can do other stuff other than running your business, start it!
40. Running out of tweets?
Upload your Buffer queue or Hootsuite account with a tweet each month for every blog post or free info on your website. It’s so much easier than looking for something you wrote months ago.
41. Go into research mode
Search several interesting and highly trafficked blogs in your industry that you can learn from. Or, find great information about a certain topic and save it as a resource for a new blog post on your site.
42. Create a style guide for your blog
Follow your new style guide. It will help you achieve conformity, consistency, and visual appeal. See instructions here.
43. Use Gravatar next to your comments
Make sure your picture shows up next to all your blog comments.
44. Call sales leads and set appointments
If you are just sitting around why not call some of your prospects to do some sales talk. Better yet, hire a virtual personal assistant to set appointments so you can talk to them further.
45. Post ads in Craigslist and other business directories
Similarly, in your down time, you can do some Craigslist posting to get your business out there. A VA can assist you if you don’t know the ins and outs of ad posting.
Hopefully, these items will get you going this holiday season and will give you a head start for 2017. So go on, start on a few things right now and don’t forget to share it with your fellow small business owners! And remember, you don’t have to do all of it yourself – consider outsourcing certain tasks to a VA to save you time and get that better work-life balance in the New Year!
Now that you have build a large, solid, and targeted network in LinkedIn, the big question is, “What’s Next?” This has been one of the popular questions we’re getting at Virtual Assistant Tale...
Send your new connection a thank you for connecting message and add a personal touch. Start by briefly introducing what you do best, your services and how you can help them. Then proceed with how your business model is different from the rest and how your connections can reach you easily.
This works best if you had a positive interaction with them already, either in status like/comment, LinkedIn group, meet-up, or if you’ve already connected with them via email or phone.
Example message: “Hi Ken, thanks for connecting with me. Just wanted to say thank you for your input on the thread the other day on entrepreneurship, your response caught a lot of attention. See you around LinkedIn!”
2. Send a Follow-up “Free Resource” Message
The other tactic that could give you good results with is the casual “Here’s a free resource that could help you” message. We usually link people to “The Ultimate Facebook Marketing Blueprint” e-book.
Know your connections who are part of your target audience and give them something valuable and interesting for free as a resource such as an e-book, free report, PDF, podcast link, etc. It’s a win-win for both of you since you give them helpful information and in return they get to visit your website or landing page.
Remember, this can also build your mailing list since you get to capture their name and email in exchange for the free resource.
3. The Ultra Simple Question Message
Another message that receives a high response rate is the ultra simple question. An example would be, “Do you do both residential and commercial cleaning?” Once the person responds saying they do one or both, you can engage them further about how they can manage their tasks, calendars, employees, etc. by utilizing your services.
From there you can interact with your connections via this message sales process and it’s just a matter of time for them to click through your profile and then to your website.
4. Replying to and Tagging New Connections
LinkedIn Tagging makes it easier for people to group their new connections accordingly. To tag and reply to those people who have sent you a connection request, follow these simple steps.
Go to Pending Invitations under “Grow My Network” tab (person icon with the + sign in the right corner of the top grey bar)
Do NOT click Accept yet.
Click the reply arrow on the top right corner of the box, for the person you wish to accept. Once you have replied to them, you can accept their request.
Finally, go to their profile page where you will see the Relationship tab. Tag the person as appropriate and add any relevant notes and reminders.
Marketing Outside Your LinkedIn Network
5. Export 1st Level LinkedIn Connections
Want to transfer your LinkedIn connections to another emailing program or contact management system? Export your list via Connections >> Advanced Settings. You’ll have the option of either exporting them as a .CSV or .VCF file.
Use an emailing program like MailChimp or Constant Contact to import your database. You can then market to your connections if you have:
An upcoming event that you want your LinkedIn connections to know about
A promo, sale, or discount on your products or services
Or, you want to wish your LinkedIn connections a happy holiday and stay top of mind
6. Send Weekly/Monthly Newsletter
One of our favorite strategies is sending out newsletter to our LinkedIn connections. After you have exported the list, start by planning out what to include in the newsletter–articles, infographics, featured team member, company event, and more.
Review what certain topics in your industry that your connections find interesting. Craft an article or two about these matters to encourage them to read your newsletter, respond to it or forward it to their friends or family.
7. Meeting New Connections In-person
Don’t be shy to ask to meet your new connections. Earlier we mentioned about sending follow-up messages. Well, a thank you message gives you a great opportunity to ask them to meet with you.
Meeting LinkedIn connections in-person is a great way for you to get to know them better and vice versa. You will have a chance to be a mentor or a friend that could possibly lead you to even more referrals in the future. Knowing them more on a personal level can be very beneficial. A growing social network called Meetup is also a great platform to meet new people and share insights.
If they are not in your area, you can still arrange to meet them by using an application like Skype or GoToMeeting. This will make your conversation more personal than just a regular phone call.
Used intelligently, these strategic ways can be very useful in using LinkedIn to manage and develop your sales pipeline.
Most businesses recognize the power of LinkedIn for sales prospecting, marketing, and networking. But not everyone knows exactly that there are several Linkedin features that once discovered, can be v...
Stay ahead of the game by using LinkedIn’s Trending Content tool. This feature, launched in March 2014, can give you insights of which types of content are most popular in your industry.
The interactive tool highlights the most popular content being shared on LinkedIn for different audiences and topic segments. Monitor this to tailor your content with maximum relevance. See what your company should be creating and sharing on LinkedIn to create the most engagement.
2. Post Company Status Updates
After discovering what topics interest most of your followers, start publishing company status updates for all of them to see. This will encourage other LinkedIn users to follow your company page, growing your network.
Different topics to discuss:
Trends
Industry news
Fun Facts
Business updates
Different formats:
Video
Slideshare
Image
PDF
LinkedIn’s targeting options will also allow you to target your status updates by criteria like company size, job function, industry, seniority, geography, or by including/excluding company employees.
The goal is to make yourself someone that your network can count on for the top trends and issues. Eventually your viral reach will continue to grow as readers like, comment, and share your posts.
3. How to Bypass LinkedIn Group Messaging Limit
Did you know you that can send messages to your 2nd level connections without using InMails? That’s right. You can send up to 15 free messages per month to your fellow LinkedIn Group Members. No need to use the expensive InMails. Follow these instructions:
Choose a group you’re a member of.
Click the number of members under the group name
Using this method, you will have to scroll down manually to find members to message.
Click the envelope icon next to a member’s name and then send the message.
4. Search a Customer/Client’s Connections for Referrals
Visit connection’s profile.
Click the number of connections they have.
Click the magnifying glass.
Search for potential referrals by keywords, job title, or company.
5. Saved Search, Boolean Search, and Exporting Your Connections
Last but not the least, utilize other tricky LinkedIn hacks such as the following:
Saved Searches
Have LinkedIn send you leads automatically. After you key in your customized advanced search criteria that populates target results for your business, save your search using the “Save Search” button.
LinkedIn will then send new leads to your inbox based on preferences you decide and the search criteria you specify.
Use Boolean Search
In the advanced search feature, you can use the following Boolean search:
Search [“term”] to turn up the results that contain the exact phrase
Search [term] AND [term] to show profiles with both phrases
Search [term] OR [term] to show profiles with at least one of the keywords
Search [term] NOT [term] to find profiles that contain the first phrase but not the second
Export Your Connections’ Personal Info (name, email, etc)
Hover over the “My Network” tab and click “Connections.”
Click the gear icon on the top right corner
Under the “Advanced Settings” click “Export LinkedIn Connections“
Choose your file type, and click Export.
Ultimately, these five LinkedIn hacks will help boost your business online with the right guidance. LinkedIn is packed with fantastically useful features to turn these tricks into sales.
Want even more LinkedIn Marketing tips? Join our upcoming LinkedIn Webinar for Business. Featuring Ken Varga, we will show you exactly How to Turn 62% of the People in Your Linkedin Groups into Prospects.
If you have questions, contact us at 866-596-9041 .
Fact: Email is still the most universal, widely used medium where business is conducted online. Top 3 Reasons Why: Email is made for business. People guard their email accounts, so engagement is much ...
Before anything else, one must remember one thing: Your content needs to be amazing. Create remarkable email composition if you want people to stay subscribed and be encouraged to forward your emails to their friends.
1. Identify the Best Locations for Opt-in Forms On Your Website
Include calls-to-action that capture email signups throughout your website.
Key places to consider are:
Feature Box or Pop-up Box
Homepage – typically top of the sidebar
Main page of your blog
Bottom of Article (Below the Footer)
‘About Us’ page
‘Contact Us’ page
Also create ‘Hub’ Pages to address an important topic in your industry. Link to 5-10 pieces of your best content (on a particular subject). This is a win for both of you and the readers since they can zero in on the best content on your site they are interested at. You can then include an opt-in box for continual updates.
Incite Subscriber Hype Using Email
Gain access to fresh networks by encouraging your current email subscribers to share and forward your emails. Social sharing buttons are popular among their friends and colleagues who might sign up for your list.
2. Add an “Email to a Friend” Button in your Emails.
“Subscribe” is a great CTA to add at the bottom of your emails. Just a simple text-based link so that those receiving the forwarded emails can easily opt-in, too.
3. Create Multiple Email Subscriptions Types
Send more targeted content to specific segments of your marketing personas. Recipients are more likely to click through emails that have been targeted at them. Creating multiple, targeted subscription types can increase the chance that visitors will subscribe to one of them.
4. Promote Online Contests
Have people sign up or submit entries using their email address. Contests that offer a free giveaway are a good start. Don’t forget to promote your contest on social.
5. Have a Stale Email List? Do an Opt-in Campaign Reinforcement
Create an exciting opt-in message and send it to your older list. Motivate contacts who wish to re-opt-in and promise to remove all contacts who don’t respond.
Why? Because emailing only engaged contacts could improve your deliverability. This can also increase the chances of your email getting shared with those outside your current database.
6. Add a Link to your Team’s Signatures
Make your employees add a link in their signatures that leads people to a landing page where they can sign up for your mailing list.
Create Extra Lead Generation Offers – With New Content
Downloadable resources can be an exceptional source of new email leads. They also provide useful information that helps prospects get more use out of your product or service.
7. Create Free Downloads
Require visitors to provide their email address in order to download your freebies like an ebook or whitepaper. Other opt-in downloadable can be:
Video series
PDFs
An archive of content
An audio download
A free template
Using Social Media
Social media virtual assistants can setup your social media accounts like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, etc. These are some campaigns a VA can do:
8. Promote Lead-gen Offers on Twitter
Create a Twitter campaign to promote an ebook or a freebie your followers can get in exchange of their email address.
9. Use your Facebook Page to Endorse an Offer
Promote offers on your Timeline that requires an email address submission. Add social sharing buttons to the landing pages and thank-you pages so your leads can also share those offers.
10. Add a CTA button to the top of your Facebook Business Page
Link the call-to-action button to a landing page that needs an email address for access.
11. Publish Articles with Links on your LinkedIn Account
Share posts with targeted URLs in your newsfeed, LinkedIn company page or in appropriate and relevant LinkedIn group discussions.
Face-to-face events like trade shows can generate a pool of new leads you can import into your database. Be sure to send these contacts a welcome email that confirms their opt-in to your mailing list.
13. Host Your Own In-person Events
Create and organize your own Meetup groups, conferences, forums, educational panels, etc., and collect registrations online using email addresses.
Most of these useful hacks are not complicated or difficult to implement. The key is to take charge of your email list-building efforts from as many angles as possible. As you develop your email list with fresh, opt-in contacts, you’ll be able to cultivate them with middle-of-the-funnel offers that allow you to convert leads into actual sales.
Email marketing provides the most direct line of communication for turning leads into sales, which is why the savviest entrepreneurs have no intention of giving it up any time soon.
Register for our Upcoming FREE Webinar on How to Use LinkedIn to market your business and generate new prospects each month!
We will cover proven techniques on how to leverage your LinkedIn.com account to generate new prospects and build your email marketing lists.
This webinar will feature Ken Varga, who has built 35 successful, profitable businesses in his career of 38 years. One of Ken’s off-line businesses had over 460,000 ongoing customers. He has also developed and sold multiple businesses for over 9 figures.
Sign up for one of our upcoming webinars that is most applicable to your business:
For Business Owners: Wednesday, November 09, 2016 from 8:00am-9:00am PST / 11:00am-12:00pm EST
