When it comes to successfully leveraging LinkedIn, there’s a lot to familiarize yourself with. From optimizing your profile to uploading native videos and finding targeted groups, it can sometimes feel less like professional networking and more like learning a foreign language. Successfully navigating LinkedIn takes more than just technical know-how: There’s also a certain finesse to understanding the unspoken social rules that can make or break your marketing endeavors.
“In fact, you might even be accidentally breaking some of those LinkedIn rules right now,” said Neil Patel in a Forbes article. “There are certain practices of LinkedIn etiquette that are never spoken but only picked up on.”
However, when it comes to connecting with your ideal C-suite prospects and clients, there’s no better avenue than through LinkedIn’s ubiquitous platform. So, if you aren’t incredibly familiar with LinkedIn, chances are you can gain plenty of knowledge and realize revenue. The key is to educate yourself on the network subtleties and leverage your profile to your brand’s advantage. Here are three valuable LinkedIn secrets to employ:
- Optimize your profile.
It’s the first thing your prospects and clients see, so it’s worth putting a little thought into what initial impression you want — and don’t want — to give. Yes, you should use a professional photo and include up-to-date information on your current place of work, position, and what you bring to the table. But also use relevant keywords in your headline and weave these into your job description to enhance search engine optimization (SEO), which better enables others to find you. Consider personalizing your URL, again, to make you more searchable. The more clear and descriptive your value proposition, the more likely it is relevant, interested prospects will find you. 
Take advantage of all available features.
You want to use every avenue available to connect with potential leads, which is why LinkedIn’s wide array of built-in features is so valuable. You need to be able to find and join the right targeted groups and communicate effectively and appropriately with members. And if you’re not tapping into the potential of Endorsements, Save Search, SEO, LinkedIn Groups messages, Showcase Pages, and Connections, you could be missing out on additional valuable interactions!- Stay active.
Knowing how to create an eye-catching profile and use LinkedIn’s multitude of features is only half the battle. The real challenge is knowing how and how often to talk to prospects on this network. Not only should you be posting high-quality content updates but you should also make sure you’re looking at connections and following up with prospects who have viewed your profile or interacted with you recently. But don’t overdo it: Experts recommend you limit your status updates to one quality post a day.
Of course, learning and implementing these secrets takes time. Those who dedicate the necessary time to enhancing their LinkedIn profiles on a regular basis are likely to see the best results. By making a commitment to use LinkedIn as a valuable lead-gen tool, you can boost your overall potential for revenue growth.
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