Matt Scherer and Elizabeth Quintanilla presented “LinkedIn 201: Quick Tips To Generate Leads!” on April 29th, 2020 through Zoom. Matt Scherer is CEO of Scherer Communications which focuses on helping people update their LinkedIn profiles. Elizabeth Quintanilla is a marketing professional at Marketing Gunslingers and a valued mentor at IncubatorCTX.
Rapid digital advancements have changed the landscape for most businesses, especially when it comes to the traditional marketing funnel… When it comes to driving business growth – online or offline – relationships matter.
Tip 1: Covid-19 is not a reason to connect.
- Don’t use trends as an excuse to connect.
Tip 2: All things begin with authentic purposeful networking.
- Include the person’s first name of the person you are reaching out to, and don’t make it generic to where it’s obvious it was sent to other people. Include a story of how you met. Connect with people you can either see yourself reaching out to in the future or recommend.
Tip 3: Always use a connection note when connecting.
- Have a personable note connected with your invitation. If you have a system where you take someone’s business card and use it to connect with them, Elizabeth recommends writing a brief summary of what you talked about so when you reach out it is memorable.
Tip 4: LinkedIn is not a FAX machine.
- Don’t send unsolicited messages about things people didn’t ask for.
- You will find that you get more replies when you keep your engagements succinct and on point, Matt says.
Tip 6: If this describes your profile photo, it’s time to get an update.
- Matt calls this the “grey balloon”. It is unprofessional to not have a picture of yourself on your profile. Elizabeth recommends that graduates use a photo of themselves in their cap and gown!
Tip 7: Limit yourself to one person in the profile photo.
- It can be confusing to figure out who is adding you when there are two people in a profile picture. Limit yourself to only yourself, and make it a professionally done photo.
Tip 8: If LinkedIn offers you an option or a skip, always choose the second one.
-
LinkedIn is sending an email to everybody in your email group saying you have joined LinkedIn and would like to connect with them. If you want to avoid this, skip the option to connect your contacts.
Tip 9: Personalize Invitations to Connect.
- Personalize your introduction message. Look for the three ellipsis dots when sending an invitation to send a note.
Tip 10: Tiebacks in a connection note always work.
- It’s very important to tie it back to something you saw or read or heard about on someone’s page. People write about what they care about. Read the last 5-10 articles that they wrote and pull out points that you got out of these articles and say why it’s relevant in your connection note.
Tip 11: Use Recommendations as an attribution tool.
-
It’s important to have recommendations. Ask for them from people you’ve done work for or with because it adds to the body of your LinkedIn profile.
-
It’s easy to scrape profiles, however, you don’t want to make it seem like a bot is reaching out to a prospective connection. Elizabeth gives an example: A lot of people read the Harvard Business Review, but just because someone else also reads Harvard Business Review does not mean that they want to connect with you. When you are scraping profiles, make sure that it makes sense.
Tip 13: Be a Groupie … aka join relevant LinkedIn Groups!
- Joining relevant groups that include your already-active friends can be beneficial because you can ask for a word-of-mouth promotion of a relevant webinar or event coming up that will be educational for everyone.
Tip 14: You can message a prospect without connecting first.
-
Find out if you have a mutual connection in a group that you’re already participating in, and get an introduction to this person through your friend.
Tip 15: Publish Amazing Posts!
- Canva is a great way to create interesting, personalized posts. Post more than just a few lines of words, make collages and graphics!
Tip 16: Share other people’s posts especially those that can refer you to other opportunities.
- Sharing other people’s posts helps show you care and can help strengthen connections. Share things that are meaningful to you.
Tip 17: Take the time to reply to posts … even if it’s later.
- Commenting on your connection’s posts is the easiest way to connect with people who are not 1st-degree connections.
Tip 18: Keep in touch with your network.
- Take a few minutes to congratulate your friends on their milestones and promotions. You never know when a small gesture can turn into something more.
Tip 19: Get Introductions from your connections!
- Reaching out to people without a conviction or purpose can be hard if you don’t have a mutual connection. Have one of your mutual connections vouch for you!
Tip 20: If you have a budget, advertise.
- You can buy mail credits with your advertising budget to reach more connections and customers.
Watch the questions asked here:
Developing LinkedIn While in School
- The first question from our LinkedIn 201 Webinar touches on what you can be doing while in school to start developing your LinkedIn profile!
- The second question from our LinkedIn 201 Webinar describes how you can protect your work at home and LinkedIn profile from hackers!
- The last question from our LinkedIn 201 Webinar goes over how to effectively tell your story on LinkedIn! Learn some key tips to improve your profile today!
You can buy Matt Scherer’s new book: LinkedIn for Military: Your Interactive Transition Networking Guide.
Matt Scherer: [email protected]
Elizabeth Quintanilla: [email protected]
Written by Hannah Watson
About IncubatorCTX
IncubatorCTX helps startups and early-stage companies grown and succeed. Our goal is to promote innovation and impact in Northwest Austin along the HWY 620 corridor. We are located on the campus of Concordia University amidst 400 acres of Hill country preserve.
IncubatorCTX members have 24/7 access to vibrant co-working space alongside other entrepreneurs. IncubatorCTX is much more than a co-working space; our members also benefit from a network of mentors, entrepreneurial programming, classes, events, and access to faculty and student workers.
For more information or to become a member, please go to www.incubatorctx.com or to learn more about Concordia University Texas go to www.concordia.edu
