Comments are public on LinkedIn. As you increase your engagement with target prospects, more people naturally stumble upon you. In turn, you will see your LinkedIn profile views increase exponentially.
While it is a largely positive impact, you will want seize these increased profile visits and convert them into real opportunities that increase your revenue stream.
After seeing your comments, there are a few different types of people who visit your profile:
Targeted prospect
Potential prospects
Non-targeted people
Anyone else
Because many of them will visit your profile, it's impossible to reach out to them individually. We're talking about hundreds of them a week or a month. So, you will need an Inbound Strategy that can capture all the people above and create opportunities for you.
More importantly, think of the inbound strategy as your LinkedIn profile's secret sauce. It's all about enticing prospects to come to you rather than you chasing after them.
Now, the question is:
What will keep them scrolling, engaged, and ultimately, visiting your website? Above all, how can you guide them toward discovering more about the products and services you provide?
After working with thousands of business owners and setting them up for success, we have come to a conclusion on optimizing the LinkedIn profile page with the following key factors:
A unique headline and profile banner
Your experience and expertise
A no-brainer powerful lead magnet
Content
Social proof
Let's go through each section, and we will show you how to optimize it.
Why do you need a unique headline and profile banner?
Have you ever met someone and after talking for 30 minutes, you still have no idea exactly what they do for a living?
Your LinkedIn profile can have the same problems when you don't optimize it correctly.
You only have 8 seconds to
capture their attention,
tell them exactly what you do,
why you could be helpful to them, and
why they should believe you.
Thanks to social media and the internet, our attention spans are shorter than ever before. You're also competing for their attention with many other channels that are more interesting and fun.
In reality, you're not competing with your competitors for a prospect's attention. You're, in fact, competing with
Mark Zuckerberg, who can keep them scrolling in his social media kingdoms
Jeff Bezos, who can get them to buy a pen and deliver it directly to them
Tim Cook, who can keep them glued to their smartphones
Reed Hastings, who can keep them binge-watching videos for hours
Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who can give them all the answers they are looking for
A unique headline and profile banner is about stealing 3 seconds from these people above so you can capture the attention of your prospects and tell them exactly what you do before you lose them.
Do you have a short, eye-catching, and easily digestible headline and banner?
Your headline and banner are the first thing your prospects see and it should speak directly to your prospects' needs and interest
It must make them want to learn more about you and scroll down
Craft your headline to be uniquely interesting and captivating while conveying your unique selling point (USP). If you need help, use ChatGPT to make some recommendations and test each of them for a period of time. See our sample headline below:
I'm an AI and at your service on LinkedIn. Use me to get the attention of your prospects. p/s: Don't report me to LinkedIn
It tells you straight away that it's not a real person but an AI. It's meant to provoke and challenge your usual understanding of any LinkedIn profile. It then tells you what he can do. It finishes the sentence by provoking profile visitors again by using humor.
At the same time, it also uses a visual image to tell visitors exactly how he delivers the service and achieves results. So, get a graphic designer to create a banner that shows what you do and provide.
This AI profile now has over 2,000 followers and delivers Engage AI all-of-kind opportunities, including press coverage and mentions in short videos.
💡Discover more on how to create an amazing LinkedIn profile here
How do your experience and expertise matter?
When you're in the sea of sameness, like Jason Tan, the Founder of Engage AI, who previously provided data analytics and AI consulting services, how do you quickly convey you have the expertise and experience to deliver the same services that many other companies also provide?
You must bear in mind that, at this stage, your potential clients still do not know whether you can indeed deliver and do a good job. In reality, they will never know until they use your service for a period of time.
That's why they often rely on recommendations or go back to big companies like Accenture. Your prospects pay Accenture a premium, not because of the quality guarantee by Accenture, but because they want to feel safe and protect their position within the organization.
Also, unlike Startups, professional service providers in the B2B industry often need to accumulate years of experience to develop unique industry insights and expertise. Hence, you want to use your past experience as an added advantage as you prepare and develop to be an industry expert with special know-how in solving your clients' problems.
Moreover, you also want to separate yourself from the crowd with unique experiences and roles that further strengthen your credibility. In the example below, Jason strengthens his credibility in the field of advanced analytics by showing he is:
a public speaker, and he speaks with many experts
a publishing author with a reputable publishing company
a board member at a global think-tank
All these roles in the experience section are designed to develop and strengthen credibility so you can develop your industry authority.
Why and how do you create a lead magnet?
When hundreds of people visit your profile, you won't have the capacity to reach out to each individually. However, you must not give up and waste any of these opportunities. Instead, you want to create a lead magnet to capture their email addresses so you can use an email campaign to nurture them toward conversion automatically.
And the key to an effective lead magnet?
It lies in offering an irresistible offer with a compelling hook.
When people can't resist your offer and are eager to discover your secret sauce, what's the best way to keep them engaged?
Ask for their email address. It allows you to include them in your email marketing campaign, ensuring continued interaction and potential conversions.
Here are some creative examples to inspire you:
Engage AI: Win 10x Pro Account for 2 years, valued at $720
Canva: Start free with our design software for all your creative needs
Dropbox: Get 2GB cloud storage for free
IT Managed Service Provider: $1 per month for IT Managed Service to manage all your IT hassles
Business Coach: Get a free evaluation of your leadership skills
Digital Marketer: Listen to my podcast interview with Tony Robbins
Lead Generation Company: See how I closed a project deal worth $1 mil for my client
LinkedIn influencer: How I grow from 0 to 50,000 followers on LinkedIn in 12 months
Here are some possible lead magnets you can share with your target audience:
A free webinar where you share insights and strategies
A free-to-play podcast interview with a C-Level from a large corporation
A free diagnosis assessment or consultation with results tailored to the problems of their audiences
A free physical copy of your book
A free eBook or guide
A free trial or discounted first-month subscription
Contest or giveaway
Where do you place your lead magnet?
LinkedIn Featured section
The Featured section on your LinkedIn profile is prime real estate for showcasing your lead magnet.
Call to Action (CTA) below the headline
Don't underestimate the power of a well-placed call to action! Our experience shows that it is one of the most effective placements for profile visitors to click.
Turn on creator mode to add a custom button to your LinkedIn bio
Click View Profile and click the Edit Intro icon
Select the edit custom button in your introduction section
Use this custom button and link to increase visibility for your website, content, upcoming event, and lead magnet
Use free services like Bitly to track and test the effectiveness of your CTA so you find a good CTA.
Why do you need content in your profile?
The customer buying journey in the B2B industry has greatly changed in the last 20 years. In the 1980s, 1990s, and even to the extent of the early 2000s, enterprise buyers rely on sales reps for critical information about product updates in the industry. Enterprise buyers were happy to receive calls, sales visits, and go out for expensive lunches and dinners, as they needed them to receive information.
However, the media landscape serving enterprise customers has changed dramatically, and it has shifted the customer's buying journey. Enterprise customers are bombarded with ever-increasing marketing activities in multiple channels. Most importantly, information is now more accessible than ever before. As a result of this, enterprise buyers now often like to research and read up about the seller and their services, products and reputation.
Product and service costs in the B2B often start from thousands of dollars and can reach millions. It's your job to make enterprise buyers feel confident and safe when transacting with you. You can instill confidence in them by exhibiting your expertise through quality content. Content serves a few important roles:
Make them feel safe by highlighting your expertise,
Make them feel confident by providing them a glimpse of why you're the one to achieve their goals,
Make them remember by keeping yourself on top of their mind.
Just look at the top companies in the world like Apple and Amazon, whose products are entirely ingrained in our lives. Yet, they still spend billions of dollars creating content and advertising to ensure that their content reaches their targeted customers.
But here's the good news:
You, too, can create engaging content and distribute it to your targeted clients. You start by
creating quality post and articles,
contributing to Collaborative articles on LinkedIn.
If you want to go above and beyond, consider
writing and publishing a book,
contributing to a research paper with universities
speaking at conferences
Through these expert content, you can create a strong impression. Your content also helps targeted prospects understand that you're the best fit for solving their problems. The truth is most buyers have unconsciously made up their minds before any meeting takes place. Your content and credibility are to guide them in a direction that favors you.
Use Engage AI to craft you compelling LinkedIn content.
How to auto-draft compelling LinkedIn content
Draft compelling LinkedIn content using Engage AI, including posts, articles and newsletters.
Why do you need social proof and how do you create it?
As highlighted above, enterprise buyers conduct more research on sellers more than before. After all, it's important to vet sellers before buying a service. Thus, building a credible and influential presence on LinkedIn is essential for professional success.
One of the most effective ways to establish social proof is through recommendations. Recommendations offer genuine, third-party validation of your skills, experience, and character. They provide potential employers, clients, and collaborators with assurance that you deliver real value.
These endorsements not only enhance your profile's authenticity but also help you stand out in a competitive marketplace, showcasing the positive impact you've had on others in your professional network.
Collecting testimonials from your clients involves a thoughtful and personalized approach. Here's a step-by-step guide to requesting testimonials:
1. Identify the Right Clients: Choose clients who have had positive experiences with your services and who can provide detailed and specific feedback.
2. Reach Out Personally: Send a personalized message or email to each client, expressing your gratitude for their business and highlighting specific successes or positive outcomes from your work together.
3. Explain the Importance: Briefly explain why their testimonial is valuable to you. Let them know how their feedback can help others understand the benefits of your services and build trust with potential clients.
4. Make It Easy for Them: Provide a few prompts or questions to guide their testimonial. For example, you could ask them to describe their initial challenge, how your services addressed it, and the results they achieved.
5. Offer to Draft a Testimonial: To make it even easier, offer to draft a testimonial based on their feedback and ask them to review and approve it. This can save them time and ensure the testimonial highlights key points.
6. Be Respectful of Their Time: Acknowledge that they are busy and thank them in advance for their effort. Ensure your request is concise and to the point.
7. Follow Up: If you don’t receive a response after a reasonable period, send a polite follow-up message. Sometimes, a gentle reminder can make a big difference.
8. Show Appreciation: Once you receive the testimonial, express your gratitude. A simple thank you note or a small token of appreciation can go a long way in maintaining a positive relationship.
By following these steps, you can effectively gather testimonials that showcase your strengths and help build your professional reputation.
