Saturday, 1 October 2016

LinkedIn Tip #70 - Are You Being Nibbled to Death by a Duck?

Feeling like you are overwhelmed with all the "little" things in your business?

When you started your business, you set up all the free platforms for your online marketing, and then what? Did you suddenly get business? Did customers come flocking by asking for information on your widget for this and what's-it for that?

I'll bet they didn't.

I'll bet that you got everything all set up and then felt stuck because you had no idea what you were doing or how to use any of the platforms. Am I right, or Am I right.

LinkedIn is where it's at in the book of The Marketing Mentress.

For years I used the free platform because I could direct message people to build the relationships I needed and wanted for business. However, now we can only send 15 free InMails a month, and those can only be used through the group messaging system. If you are using LinkedIn for business, 15 InMails will only last you a few days each month. You can purchase InMails at $10/InMail if you wish, but it is far less costly to just purchase a paid platform.

On the free platform, if you want to make lots of sales through LinkedIn, you need to use many round-a-bout systems to build those relationships. It takes a LOT of time.

How much time do you have for your LinkedIn marketing?

If you are like most business owners, you are feeling like you are "being nibbled to death by a duck". You have a myriad of urgent things pulling at you every day, all screaming for attention. Right!

Here is what I have discovered is needed to make your LinkedIn marketing run on all cylinders.

1.    You need to use Sales Navigator, or at least the Business platform. (I went into this in one of my previous blogs. "Why you need to be on a paid platform.")

2.    You need to have a profile for business on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Instagram, Pinterest...depending on the type of business you have. Retail businesses gain traction with Yelp as well.

3.    You need to use a paid auto-posting platform to pre-schedule your posts. I have tried free platforms, and they are so cumbersome that they did not save me much time. Personally, I recommend Sprout Social. (You get 30 days free trial.) On these platforms, you can connect all your social media platforms, including LinkedIn. Then you can schedule posts to automatically post on different days and at different times of day.

4.    You need to use either a cloud platform to store your documents, or continue to purchase external hard drives, but my concern with external hard drives is where do you store these in case of fire, so then you need to purchase a fireproof cabinet to store them in...more costs. DropBox is free. Personally, I prefer this, because I can access my documents from anywhere around the world, and do not need to carry extra hard drives with me when I travel.

5.    You need access to pictures for all your blogs. If you have an iPhone or the like, you can take great pictures, but do you have time to go take, edit and save pictures? I have a solution.

6.    You need to decide where and how often you want to place ads on LinkedIn or other platforms. More nibbling.

7.    You need a website that is search engine optimized. If you have a website and it does not have SEO, then your site will be placed way down on page 150! 

"Nibble, Nibble, Nibble mouse! Who is nibbling on my house!"

Hence being "nibbled to death by a duck"!

If you are finding yourself in a position where you are wondering what you need to do next with your LinkedIn marketing, contact me. I can help you make money unleashing the true power of LinkedIn.

Discover how to put it all together. - with less $ than if you paid for advertising.

Christine Till
The Marketing Mentress


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