My 30 Day Blogging Challenge continues and we’re talking about a platform that is definitely a business platform! Again; the link is here for the Challenge – wouldn’t want you to miss out!
The tag [TIME SAVED] shows you where a Virtual Assistant (such as Virtual Hand) can save you time by doing these elements. This allows you to do what you love in your business as well as what you are good at.
I’ve discovered LinkedIn, to get it working for me, rather late – in my opinion – since I started my business. But then I’ve also listened to quite a number of people, read loads of articles and tweaked my profile to optimise the best I can. I’m quite proud of it actually – it was used once as a good example of a profile by a local LinkedIn trainer. (My one claim to fame where LI is concerned – oh I have two, recently something happened so I’ll tell you about that later!) Have you explored how to make LinkedIn work for you?
Help
Like most things these days there are people out there helping you with free advice to get your profile right, act the right way, talk the right way and interact/engage appropriately for LinkedIn as well as courses available and support to use it to grow your business and get new clients.
Profile
The first step is to get the profile right [TIME SAVED] – using keywords and being able to attract your Ideal Client to optimise any work you may undertake to gain new clients and use the platform. The various sections are there to showcase you and your business – if used correctly with the best material it can only enhance your opportunities to getting found and creating a business stream.
Connecting
Creating your very own database by connecting with people [TIME SAVED] is one way of using the connections. There are many opportunities to connect with people on the platform and some will say there is the right way and a wrong way to do that. Never use the standard message, never send a connection request from anywhere but their profile page, never spam people and never send one saying ‘I see you have viewed my profile’. DO make requests personal, DO send it via their profile page, DO use introductions from a third party, DO use the search facility to find people/businesses who you’d like to work with.
The beauty of LinkedIn is that it now allows you to track interactions, tag with relevant information, message groups (by tags) and even create your own ready-made Hot List to target regularly to build relationships and network effectively.
Publishing
Status Updates are there for all your connections to receive in their feed – unlike Facebook numerous status updates are frowned upon so once a day is sufficient.
There is now an area for Publishing Posts [TIME SAVED] – this has exploded since its very recent creation and it is another place where you can publish your blogs (with maybe with slight amendments so not duplicating and making people think they are going mad reading the same thing twice!) and the option to like and comment too as well as share on other platforms.
Interactions
The facilities to like, comment and share on other Status’s is there to show your support and ‘connect’ again and again.
These are your starting points – there are so many other things you can do in order to use the platform to grow your business and gain more clients. Getting LinkedIn to work for you. Just a few minutes a day will see an impact – and that reminds me : my second claim to fame on LinkedIn. I did spend some time starting a discussion and interacting with my target market and responding to comments therein. I then received a request to connect and for a conversation. After the conversation I prepared a proposal for work! No result as yet but for me that is a big result from a small amount of time. Now to wash, rinse and repeat!
Again, I’ve identified where a VA could help you, using [TIME SAVED], so you don’t have to feel so overwhelmed and so alone trying to navigate all the different platforms and what can be done to market your business.
Here cometh the end of Number 6 – LinkedIn.
Here’s a link to the Start in case you missed it.
Have you invested time in LinkedIn and what have been your wins?
One of the hardest parts of working for yourself is building up a strong presence and keeping your business profile in the hearts and minds of your audience. Why not download your FREE GUIDE on how to raise your profile as a freelancer here.
Connect with Michelle on other platforms too: Learn how you can work with Virtual Hand; how your business can grow and how you can communicate better with your audience.
