Since you’re not approaching LinkedIn with a sales pitch mindset, you need to make every aspect of this platform work to your advantage in order to both attract prospective clients and then convince them that you are the expert they’ve been searching for.
One way to achieve this is by showcasing your expertise in a natural, informative way which leads to increasing your credibility as an expert.
How to Attract New Clients on LinkedIn
1. Create your personal LinkedIn URL
Don’t settle for a generic profile number that’s impossible to remember; leave those for less savvy people who aren’t as detail-oriented. Create your personalized URL that represents your brand and is easy to remember. Use this to link to your LinkedIn profile.
How to Claim Your Custom URL on LinkedIn
2. Splurge on a professional photo shoot
Make your profile page work for you. At a minimum, get a professional headshot taken, preferably in a few different styles or poses so you can use them on multiple platforms. If you can afford to do a full-on photo shoot, choose the best shots and make good use of them in all your branded graphics, including your social media profile images and headers.
Only less experienced and unprofessional types will use a blurry selfie for their LinkedIn profile pic.
3. Brand your profile with a custom banner image
It’s the little details that count when it comes to optimizing your LinkedIn profile. As the saying goes, “A picture is worth a thousand words,” so hire a graphic designer to design your branded LinkedIn banner to clearly relay your message. Or try out a Canva template to create your own stellar-looking header.
4. Publish content regularly
You need to be active on LinkedIn for people to recognize you, and you need to publish valuable content for people to remember you. It doesn’t need to be a 1,000-word manifesto; social media users have extremely short attention spans even on LinkedIn. Simply publish a simple Top 10 list or put up some helpful daily tips.
You could even record a short 2-minute video series with these tips, and you’ll get noticed even faster, simply because few people use video on LinkedIn. Forget about the funny cat pictures or funny memes; this is a professional platform, so save those posts for less formal Facebook.
So be sure to post daily and to be informative with your content.
5. Be active in groups.
Joining groups has a double benefit: you will meet prospects and learn about their needs, and your prospects will see that you’re an active participant in your industry when they see your group listings on your profile. Being active doesn’t mean blasting your sales pitch on a daily basis; no doubt, that will get you kicked out and banned from most groups.
Instead, show a real interest in the other group members, answer questions, take a poll to learn about their needs, or simply post the information they need. Let the conversations flow naturally in your groups instead of focusing on sales or getting this person into your sales funnel.
The more active you are, the more people will recognize your name.
Paying attention to small details on your profile can help build your credibility, as will participating in groups and publishing content on a regular basis. When people recognize your name as a regular, they will check out your profile and a possible business relationship can grow from there.
Want to get SMART with your LinkedIn marketing? Take the Smart Marketing Quiz and find out.
