This post includes perhaps the most important piece of web marketing advice you’ll hear anytime soon.
But first an embarrassing story about me…
Back in early August, I got an email from a writer for Mishpacha Magazine looking to interview me for an article about using LinkedIn to boost your career. I wasn’t able to give a real interview at the time since I was in Australia visiting my family, but I told her she could quote an old blog post of mine about writing a great headline for your LinkedIn profile. That was a classic post that helped a lot of people – so why not spread the word further?
Editorial schedules being what they are, the article came out only a few weeks ago and when I read it at my neighbor’s I was positively embarrassed by my quote, and thankful it was only one!
You see, in between August 2017 and November 2017, a massive change has taken place in the world of web marketing, which made my quote somewhat outdated. And this change is called the New LinkedIn.
What is the New LinkedIn?
For years LinkedIn presence has been essential for anyone with a business to boost, a cause to promote or a career to build. Yet it remained the least “social” of all the major social networks. Who hung out and schmoozed on LinkedIn? You went there, updated your profile, checked out other people’s profiles, got the info you needed, and then you fled from all the spam and self-promotion clogging the groups.
But sometime in the past half year, this has finally begun to change. And it has changed dramatically.
LinkedIn has finally prioritized the newsfeed format over all its other features. That means that when you post anything, it will be seen by an increasing number of your connections who are spending an increasing amount of time looking at their feeds on LinkedIn. It’s kind of like Facebook, but with a broader reach among professionals who are currently beyond your circle of “friends” (and also with people thinking two or three times before posting something that might not impress others).
After observing this change, I tested the New LinkedIn by writing more status updates and saw that I was getting a nice amount of views and engagement on my posts.
Now here’s the thing about that particular post: it is an informative-while-mildly-self-promotional rant about website development – since building websites is my primary business. This is not the kind of post I can publish on this blog (maybe once in a while – but most of my readership are not excited by a regular diet of geeky rants). It’s the kind of nitty-gritty content that can only fly in a B2B forum like LinkedIn.
There is no other marketing channel which will put my unadulterated opinions about what makes a good website in front of 1,681 interested professionals. The post itself only took me 15 minutes to write. Moreover, most of the people who viewed it aren’t in my network.
What does this mean for me (and you)?
That LinkedIn is the gushing Texas oil well of lead generation right now.
You bet that I got a very high quality lead as a result of that post.
And I am still small fry on the New LinkedIn – many others are doing a better job of leveraging it than me.
Since LinkedIn is so targeted for people who sell services and products to professionals and entrepreneurs, it’s the easiest place in the entire universe to generate high-quality leads right now, if that’s your target marketing.
So you need to ask yourself right now:
What can you do to take advantage of the New LinkedIn?
8 Tips for Success on the New LinkedIn
- Make sure your profile is up-to-date and flattering. Ask some colleagues for feedback and take it seriously.
- Increase your connections. It’s much easier to get and send invites than it used to be. Send invites to twenty 2nd-degree connections today. As long as they don’t look like deranged panda poachers, go ahead and connect. The more connections you have, the more people will see your posts.
- Post regularly. Every day is ideal, but at least 2-3 times a week.
- Post insights, stories and tips related to your field that demonstrate your expertise without getting too technical (e.g. I might explain the importance of a particular features on a website, but not discuss the plugins and code I use to implement it).
- Keep it light and fun and down-to-earth. OMG this is social media. Leave your Winston Churchill-style oratory acrobatics for your Dvar Torah at the Shabbos table.
- LinkedIn videos are incredible to post if you are not the writer/reader type (I am definitely the writer/reader type and have yet to watch a single LI video, but many people love them).
- Occasionally share general life insights and business lessons that are not specifically related to your field. These posts can get a lot of views but are less targeted, and will generate relatively less engagement and leads. In my opinion, some people are over-doing the “Aha moment” posts on the New LinkedIn. I think twice a month is enough for me to hear about all the disastrous mistakes that you transformed into stellar successes. Save it for your memoirs, Sir Winston.
- Read, like and comment on worthy posts by your connections. This is a great way to deepen the relationship and go from being “connections” to actual connections. Besides: it’s the menschlich thing to do.
On that note, here are some examples of colleagues who I think are maximizing the potential of the New LinkedIn:
Michal Eisikowitz – excellent on-topic posts that teach us more about good copywriting while highlighting her expertise
Shimon Weinberg – Israel-based marketer who’s making a splash with LinkedIn videos
Sarah Rivkah Kohn – doing an amazing job of building awareness of her cause through down-to-earth discussion and networking
Estie Rand – quality creative posts with good visuals
These are just four names that came to mind. And when you think about it, isn’t that the goal of all marketing: for your name to come to mind?
Why THIS is the Most Important Marketing Tip of the Year
There is lots of marketing advice out there and some of it is actually correct and useful. But the problem with almost all the tips you’ll read anywhere is that there are already so many people using that tactic, that by the time you get round to trying it, there so much noise, that it’s hard to stand out. (Anyone for a free ebook? Webinar? Oh look, you just got six more Cyber-Monday email promos while you were reading this article.)
But the New LinkedIn is different. It’s just getting off the ground right now. It’s not crowded at all, like most other marketing channels. There is not only room for your unique message there right now, there is even a gaping void waiting for you to fill it.
This is your chance to get in early.
So what are you waiting for?
You’re invited to connect with me on LinkedIn
My Parnasa’s Naomi Elbinger loves to help businesses, organizations and individuals-with-a-mission to achieve their goals online. She builds beautiful websites that work for you through her company Yes Potential and offers web business consulting power sessions. We thank Naomi for allowing us to cross-post this from her original post.
