LinkedIn Tip #47 - Are Your Blogs Tooooo Long?

Are you wondering why your blogs are not being read more regularly?

You have great content; you put many hours into researching your subject. You read and re-read, and write and re-write. Finally you are ready to publish your literary accomplishment!

Then just before you click the button to finally publish your blog on Linkedin Pulse, you do one final pass, reading through your blog making sure all your "t's" are crossed and the  "i's" are dotted. You create and add that perfect picture.

Click! Away it goes into...cyberspace!

Now you wait and see who will read your stuff.

But who WILL read your stuff? -Or do you know who that is?

Are you watching your analytics? Can you tell how many people have actually read your material? Can you see if they just clicked on it and did not stay, or can you tell anything else about the people looking at your post? Oh! And the biggie; Are they sharing your material?

Your numbers are important! Did you know?

If you see that people are only looking at your posts, it means one of two things.

1. Your blog is too long and people just don't have time to read it.

2. You are targeting the wrong people.

Have you seen a great headline on a blog post and decided to read on? You click on "read more..." What happened? Did you find a proverbial "book"? Did you take one look and decide, "I don't have time for this!"?

We can get our point across with far less words than we think. (250-400 words)

LinkedIn has a great way to target your readership and gather analytics for your published blog posts. Check out "Who's Viewed Your Posts" under the "Profile" tab.

Struggling with your blogging? Wanna fix it?

Ask us how.

www.2csuccess.com

https://ca.linkedin.com/in/marketingmentress

Christine Till

The Marketing Mentress

LinkedIn Tip #46 - What appears is not Always true.

What impression are you leaving with your potential clients and followers?

You have heard me mention before about the three second rule of LinkedIn. (You have three seconds to make a great first impression on LinkedIn.)

One of the things I look for when people invite me to connect with them is their headshot. No headshot...no acceptance.

However, there is another rule that tickles my subconscious mind on many an occasion. That is the fact that I am looking at a "fake" profile.

Oh yes! There are fake profiles on LinkedIn.

Because of the "LinkedIn Rules of Engagement" listed in LinkedIn's Terms of Use, sometimes companies set up fake profiles, so that when these profiles get sent to LinkedIn jail, it does not matter. They will just set up a bunch more fake profiles. Companies like these are purposefully breaking the "LinkedIn Rules of Engagement." This is a large part of the reason that LinkedIn changed the algorithms last fall.

Here are the signs to look for:

1. The headshot does not match what is in the profile. For example the headshot is a Catholic Nun, but the name on the profile is not one that a nun would use, and the fact that the person works for a high powered government agency in Africa also does not match.

2. There is a lovely headshot on the profile, usually an attractive young woman, but there is almost nothing written in the profile itself.

3. There is a picture other than a headshot on the profile, along with very little information listed therein.

I learned this little trick from my friend, Sid Clark, on LinkedIn today!.

You can right click on the profile head shot and a drop-down menu appears. Then click on "Open in new window". You can see if it matches the profile on LinkedIn.

You can also search other people on LinkedIn with the same name and do the same with their headshots. Then you see how authentic the headshot is.

If you see more than one person using the same headshot and different names, you have a fake profile.

Thanks, Sid!

Fake profiles will not harm anyone, they are merely being used to mine LinkedIn for business. This is illegal, and if you know of any profiles like this, block and report them immediately.

Ask us how.

www.2csuccess.com

https://ca.linkedin.com/in/marketingmentress

Christine Till

The Marketing Mentress

LinkedIn Tip #45 - Four More Work-A-Rounds on LinkedIn.

There are unlimited resources available to us with LinkedIn, helping us to connect.

I spoke with a gentleman just this week who is on LinkedIn, and he confessed that he had been inviting tons of people to connect with him from the "People You May Know" list. He is lucky that he has not had 5 people I.D.K (I Don't Know) him. If that happened, he would have his profile sent to "LinkedIn Jail"! (Account frozen temporarily.)

That said, many of the people in the "People You May Know" list are L.I.O.N.s.(LinkedIn Open Networker) That means that they will not I.D.K. you.

Lucky him!

Here are some more tips and tricks for you to use:

1. View their Profile back and Follow them.

When someone views your profile, View them back. Then if they are someone you would like to get connected to eventually, "follow" them. They will receive a message in their regular mail letting them know that you followed them. Then when they, in turn, ask you to connect with them, you are "away to the races".

2. Post in other groups.

When you publish your blog on LinkedIn, there will be many people who will miss it, so you send posts to a few different groups every week. You will soon see the ones that give you the best response to your posts. Continue to post to the responsive groups. You only post once or twice a week in the groups, so you do not become a pain.

3. Study their profile and who has endorsed them.

Once you see who has endorsed someone, you can then see if you are directly connected to them. Reach out to them and find out why they endorsed that person, and ask for an introduction.

4. Like and share their blogs on LinkedIn.

When you study someone's profile, check out their posts and then like and share them. Write a great comment about the blogs. Do this continually for a few days, and the person will soon try to get in touch with you.

Ask us how.

www.2csuccess.com

https://ca.linkedin.com/in/marketingmentress

Christine Till

The Marketing Mentress

LinkedIn Tip #44 - Three Keys to Working-A-Round NO InMails.

What can we do with LinkedIn if we do not have InMails available?

Even being on a paid platform, I run out of InMails very quickly each month. So I have to find ways to reach out to the people I want to build relationships with, for business.

Remember these are real people on LinkedIn and we need to treat them the same way we would treat them if we met them in a fact-to-face networking meeting.

It takes time and skill to build trust with everyone.

Here are three keys that I use every day:

1. Check the profile of each person you want to get connected to and search their company pages.

When you visit company pages, you will find all their employees who are on LinkedIn listed there. You can then search for any that you might be connected to, or someone you know who is connected to them. Then request an introduction.

2. You can blog.

Think about all the questions you receive from your customers and where your customers come from. Start blogging to answer some of these questions. Educate and inform your audience to build that know, like and trust.

The key here is to be sure to publish on the LinkedIn Pulse.

3. You can become a L.I.O.N. (LinkedIn Open Networker)

When you are a L.I.O.N., you theoretically will connect with anyone who asks you to connect with them. The key here is to never I.D.K.(say "I Don't Know You") someone you don't know for reaching out to connect with you. You still have the free agency to decide who you want to accept as a connection. Personally, I never connect with someone who does not have a headshot.

Ask us how.

www.2csuccess.com

https://ca.linkedin.com/in/marketingmentress

Christine Till

The Marketing Mentress

LinkedIn Tip # 43 - Three "Work-A-rounds with or without InMails."

How in the world do you message people you find on LinkedIn now?!

Back a few years ago, you could send out up to 300 messages a day to people you were not connected to on LinkedIn.

Last fall LinkedIn changed their algorithms and completely closed down the ability to send InMails when you were on the FREE platform. Then they allowed 15 FREE InMails on the FREE platform. A week ago, they shut the FREE InMails down all together ... again.

Today if you want to send InMails to someone on LinkedIn, you need to be on a paid platform. Personally, I am on the Executive one, because I need more InMails.

Here is what you can do to reach out to people on LinkedIn:

1. Send messages to all the people who stopped by to visit my profile.

You think of your LinkedIn profile like your store. When you have a physical store front and a prospective customer comes through the door, what do you do? -You approach them and thank them for stopping by and ask them "How may I help you?" So that is what I say to all those profile viewers. (You need to be on a paid platform for this.)

"Hi <name>!

Thanks for stopping by my profile!

How may I help you?

Best,

Christine"

2. Invite them to join your group.

Mine is the "MarketingEnthusiasts". Come over and join our discussions about marketing.

Do you own your own group yet? You might want to give it some thought. It is a way to pitch your stuff to your group members once a week. As a group owner/manager, you can send a pitchy message inviting them to come to an event or to your website to take advantage of your special offer, etc.

3. Watch the other profiles people viewed.

When you find one of your connections, who is connected to the person you want to connect with,  ask for an introduction.

Share with your connection why you want to get in touch with the person and ask them to introduce you.

These are a few possibilities you have available to you on LinkedIn whether you have access to InMail or not!

Ask us how.

www.2csuccess.com

https://ca.linkedin.com/in/marketingmentress

Christine Till

The Marketing Mentress

LinkedIn Tip #42 - The keys to being a Financial Planner on LinkedIn.

Financial Planners must be very careful about what they post and share online.

It has been my privilege to work with many different individuals in the financial planning profession. I enjoy helping them because it is a lot more challenging type of business to work with.

Financial Planners need to be careful about what they say, how they say it and where they say it.

Many of the big companies use platforms that have been specifically developed for the financial planning industry, to make it easier for the individuals working in this field.  However, these platforms leave a huge gap when it comes to LinkedIn.

When I am working with any clients in the financial industry, I like to get a copy of that company's "Social Media Best Practices". They all have one someplace. Funny thing is, they are all different.

Usually your basic personal information that comes from your resume is fine to use. Where the challenges come are with the headline and summary. This is where these individuals need to consult closely with their superiors.

The headline needs to speak more about how they can help people, and not list all their credentials.

The summary needs to speak about who they are as a person and what inspired them to become a financial planner. This way they can be a tiny bit transparent with their networks and still remain within the guidelines of their head office.

The big key to building that know, like and trust on LinkedIn and on any social media platform, for that matter, is through blogging. Blogs can tell stories about experiences without names mentioned. These stories help to build that trust needed for people to want to do business with you. Blogs pique curiousity.

Let's face it, this industry is extremely personal, so you must build the relationship online, but real business gets done in a face-to-face meeting offline.

Ask us how.

www.2csuccess.com

https://ca.linkedin.com/in/marketingmentress

Christine Till

The Marketing Mentress

LinkedIn Tip # 41 - Why should we accept connection requests from people we don't know?

"I only want to connect with people I know and in my area."

Sound familiar?

It is not all about the people you know or in your area. It is about who THEY know.

I am a L.I.O.N. (LinkedIn Open Networker) However, there is a caveat to that. I will not connect with people who do not have a headshot on their profile. It makes me feel like they are hiding something from me.

That said, I have connected with people all over the world. I have coached people about LinkedIn in Australia, New Zealand, Cyprus, Monaco, UK, all across the US and Canada.

I understand that not everyone is like me and their target market is probably more close to home. But...

Here is an example of what can happen.

I am connected to a gal in Vancouver, BC area. She is connected to a gal in Calgary, AB. The Vancouver gal is chatting with the Calgarian and discovers that she is looking for help with LinkedIn, so the Vancouverite refers the Calgarian, to me.

Voila! New Client!

That's the beauty of LinkedIn and social media.

Who would have thought that if I connected with someone in Vancouver, that they would refer me to someone in Calgary!

This is only one of many similar scenarios.

With all the great technology we have today, we can connect with people and work with them all over the world. If you offer a service, this is easy-peasy. If you have a product, you can always ship it.

Yes, I realize that there are some products and services you cannot ship or conduct at distance like hair dressing and restaurants, but remember it is not all about your direct connections. It is all about who they are connected to.

The next time you go to discard a connection request, think twice.

To learn more about marketing and branding best practices, check out our website.

www.2csuccess.com

To get help with LinkedIn, check out my profile page.

https://ca.linkedin.com/in/marketingmentress

Christine Till

The Marketing Mentress