Welcome to Episode 392 of Hit the Mic with The Stacey Harris.
Welcome to another episode. This week, we’re going to talk about LinkedIn. I want to talk about LinkedIn because, and we’ve talked about it this in the past, it gets a bad rep for being boring, or ineffective, and it is in fact neither of those things.
It’s not all Buzzfeed quizzes and cat videos, but maybe that’s a good thing. Today, we’re going to break down the three things I really love about LinkedIn, and the three ways that I see an incredible value in this space and why I want you to pay better attention to it.
The cool part is, if you listen to this episode and you’re like, “Alright, Stacey, I’m in. You talked me into it. What’s next?”, you can head right over to Hit the Mic Backstage because this month we just released a LinkedIn focused training, basically your best practices for 2018. We’re going to go through setting up your Profile, but we’re more importantly going to go through setting up your Profile from the perspective of your ideal LinkedIn connection, because that may be different than your ideal customer. We’ll talk about that a little bit on today’s show, but I really want to make sure that you go check that out.
The coolest part is, right now you can go check out hitthemicbackstage.com and get your access to the seven-day trial. You can get access to absolutely everything, including this training, for just a dollar, today. So, head over to hitthemicbackstage.com, join us for just a dollar, get started, and start taking LinkedIn seriously, because there is an incredible value proposition, here, that maybe, just maybe, you’re missing out on.
The first thing I love about LinkedIn is that when people are on LinkedIn, they’re thinking about business.
I don’t have to try and distract from whatever entertainment consumption intention they had when they arrived on the network like I might have to do with Instagram or Facebook, and I’m definitely doing with YouTube. I’m competing for their attention amongst other businesses, but that’s easier to win than a cat video or pictures of new baby or buzz feed quizzes or the 947 useless Facebook Groups they’re in. I’m making some pretty big blanket judgment statements here, but I want you to think about this. Even if I’m exaggerating this by 10-fold, the idea that you can be sharing content in a place where people are there and consciously thinking and are in the mindset of the kind of content you’re sharing.
We think about, in the B-to-B space, getting on LinkedIn and talking to people, about their strategies, about their leadership perspective, about their business plans, about their career hopes, about all of these things. That’s what they’re there for. That’s what they’re looking at when they’re there. So, it’s time to get really serious about the investment we make in that space. Yes, I do mean investment. There can be a financial investment from our LinkedIn ads, but realistically I want you to start seriously considering your time investment. Are you making one? If you’re not, you’re missing out on a major opportunity to build relationships. We’re building relationships with people who are again in the room thinking about this.
Let’s compare what we’re looking at on Instagram and trying to get in front of people versus trying to get in front of people on LinkedIn. When I’m on Instagram, think about it as the real life equivalent of I’m at a party, just a random barbecue with some friends, and somebody walks up and tries to sell me something, regarding my business specifically, versus when I’m at a networking event, which is more of what we’re thinking about with LinkedIn. It’s not impossible that I’ll be onboard at the barbecue, but I’m much more likely to be open to the conversation at the networking event. Be cognizant of that and think about that shift in their readiness to hear from you.
Number Two, I love the way you can create content on LinkedIn.
LinkedIn has done a lot over the last couple of years to speak to the different ways we consume content. We’ve had the ability to publish long-form blog posts for a while. I’m still a big fan of that. I still think that’s a really great way to re-purpose your content.
This is something that we’re looking at doing in the last 3/4 of this year, really testing in Q2, creating customized content for my audience that’s there. We talked about this a little bit when we were talking about Backstage, and we talk about it a lot in the Backstage training, but we’re creating content or we’re connecting with, our ideal LinkedIn connection, which is not necessarily our ideal client. For some of you, it may be. If you are a career coach and you’re helping people get jobs, then your ideal client is straight up there.
Maybe you’re a wellness coach and your ideal LinkedIn connection is an HR Department for a corporation so you can come in and speak to their people. Your ideal client is probably their employee, so your ideal LinkedIn connections a little bit of a disconnect.
For me, my ideal LinkedIn connection is similar to my ideal client, really is my ideal client, but that ideal client is different than that ideal client I target with this podcast and with my Facebook content or my Instagram content. They tend to be different kinds of jobs. With this podcast, we talk a lot about Backstage, we talk a lot about coaching opportunities, virtual programs, things like that. My ideal LinkedIn client and connection is generally leading to my [Dunfriese 00:06:42] strategy services. Again, it’s a slightly different connection. That ideal client’s a little different. I might create content specifically for them, or customize content I’ve created elsewhere for that audience. We can do that really simply when we start talking about LinkedIn Publisher.
The same is true of our status updates. We can post videos. We can post links. Yes, we can post native video now. We can post and upload video right to LinkedIn and it’s playable. That’s amazing. We can take some of our video content and really position it in front of that audience that we have on LinkedIn. That’s a powerful way to connect, especially when we’re considering that we’re already getting over the hurdle of trying to distract them. We’re just straight up jumping right into value because we can, because they’re in the mind space of being open to a business-focused conversation. That’s powerful.
Going back to our wellness coaches who may be speaking to HR Departments and want to get in front of those audience, it’s a great look at what it’s like to hear you speak, what’s it like for you to present information in that kind of format. One of the powerful ways to get speaking gigs, no matter where you are, no matter what kind of industry you’re in, is to showcase the way you teach, showcase the way you speak, showcase that personality and that stage presence that they’re going to get. Give them a little preview before they hire you. That’s how you’re going to get hired more.
The third thing I want to talk about is the ROI.
For me, LinkedIn has the highest ROI on my time investment. Also, I find that I spend a little more with LinkedIn ads but again the ROI is higher, too. I’m closing bigger deals. I don’t need to get as many sales to get the same, if not a massive larger, ROI than I do on a Facebook ad. Part of that is because the audience is a little different. It tends to be a higher number sale, a higher revenue point sale. Also, again, I’m getting past that, “I’ve got to distract them from everything else that’s happening. When they’re here, they’re already in the mindset.” So, for me, the third thing I love about LinkedIn is absolutely there’s a slightly higher ROI. There’s also a slightly lower time investment that is required than building relationships on, say, a Facebook Group or a Facebook Page because I’m not having to push through as much noise to get in front of them.
All right? That’s the three reasons I love LinkedIn. Again, to wrap it up, Number One, focus on business, the fact that they’re in that mindset already. Number Two, the native content that’s built in, the long-form publisher stuff, the native video stuff. Then, third, the higher ROI. It’s absolutely worthwhile if you’re going to get the bang for your buck. That’s what we got to consider. All right? All right.
Next step is to join us at Hit the Mic Backstage. Take advantage of that one dollar opportunity to join us and grab that LinkedIn training. It’s going to be a game changer for the folks that take action. All right?
I’ll see you Backstage. Of course, if you have any questions, be sure to head over to the VIP Lounge inside of Backstage, and ask them anytime. I’m there every day. All right? I’ll talk to you very soon. Have a great rest of your day. Bye.
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