7 Deadly LinkedIn Sins to Avoid At All Costs
I see people committing these “7 Deadly Sins” on LinkedIn all the time.
Committing these sins is a huge part of what’s keep you from getting the results you desire from this super powerful platform.
When you learn how to avoid these mistakes and use LinkedIn in an all-new way, you’ll start seeing a steady stream of highly qualified prospects coming to you. The kind of prospects that turn into customers and team members.
And you’ll be able to turn LinkedIn into a Profit Generating Machine.
Read on and watch the video here.
Let’s dig in to the…
7 Worst Mistakes You Can Make on LinkedIn
Sin #1 – Targeted LinkedIn Connections
LinkedIn connections are great.
But so many people commit the sin of thinking it’s all about the number of connections you have.
NOT!
You want only highly targeted connections. It’s so easy to target your ideal prospect on LinkedIn and invite only them to connect with you.
I only invite and accept invitations from network marketers and affiliate marketers. They are my target audience.
Even then, it’s not a race to get the most connections.
Connections don’t give you much. You can message your connections one-on-one but that’s not an effective way to get your message out to potentially thousands of people at one time.
What you really want is to build your email list from your connections. That will enable you to communicate with your connections one-to many any time you want.
Sin #2 – Your LinkedIn Banner
- A pretty banner with a beautiful image
- no banner
- a banner with just a picture of you and your name
- a banner with an inspirational quote
All of these are totally missing the mark.
Don’t commit this sin!
Your banner is the single most important piece of real estate on LinkedIn. Use it wisely!!!
Your banner should tell your prospects exactly why they want to connect with you. It should tell them what’s in it for them.
What’s the benefit to your prospect of connecting with you? Your banner should answer this question.
Does it?
Sin #3 – The About Section of Your LinkedIn Profile
Just because it’s called the “About” section doesn’t mean it should be about you.
The huge sin I see so many people making is that they talk about themselves and give their life story. Sorry to tell you this, but your prospect doesn’t care!
We’re not using LinkedIn to apply for a job. We’re trying to build your business, so you don’t ever need a job again!
Tell a story in your about section that’s really all about your prospect’s pains and dreams.
Start by asking an enrolling question or two. You want to ask a question that you know your ideal prospect is going to answer “YES” to.
For example:
- Are you struggling in your Network Marketing or Home-based business?
- Are you tired of all the no-shows and rejection?
- Would you love to be able to quit your job and experience true freedom?
- Would you love to be able to get out from under a mountain of debt and create real financial freedom?
Only after you’ve got your prospect’s attention and buy-in can you tell a story that’s really all about them.
You tell the story with the powerful feel-felt-found formula.
I know how you feel. I felt the same way. And then I found….
Sin #4 – The LinkedIn Experience Section
Despite what you may think, and what you may have been taught, you don’t want to use LinkedIn as a resume.
Creating a history of all the positions you’ve held is a deadly sin.
We’re doing something radical and different!
We’re turning LinkedIn into a Sales, Marketing & Recruiting Machine.
Start by getting rid of everything that has anything to do with your work experience.
Use each experience section to provide valuable information to your prospect.
Use the experience sections to grow your email list by giving information and tips with a link to a landing page for your prospect to enter their name and email address to get the full free guide.
Or use one of your experience sections to promote a webinar or opportunity call. Ideally you want to send your prospect to a registration page where they need to enter their name & email address.
Sin #5 – The Effectiveness of Endorsing
So many people commit the sin of missing the power of endorsing.
You want to endorse every one of your connections, and even endorse them multiple times.
Is endorsing a bit of a nuisance and a bit time consuming? YES!
Is it still worth doing? ABSOLUTELY!
But only if you follow-up your endorsement with a message.
I love using surveys and quizzes after I endorse someone.
I strongly recommend that you create a simple survey in something like www.survey.com
After you endorse a connection send them a message letting them know you just endorsed them because you know that LinkedIn serves their profile and their posts to more people the more endorsements they have. Then ask them if they would do you a huge favor and complete your survey.
Take this opportunity to build your email list. Before they can get to the survey or quiz, they need to enter the name and email address.
Sin #6 – Engagement
People make the huge mistake of paying attention to the number of likes and comments on their posts. These are vanity metrics, and they are not the “real” metrics LinkedIn is interested in. And they shouldn’t be what you’re interested in.
Engagement starts when you are successful at stopping the scroll.
Your goal is to create content with a headline and image or video that grabs your target audience’s attention and gets them to stop the scroll and click on “Read More”.
Then you want to get your ideal prospect to take action and click on a link to go to your website or landing page.
What’s more important, that someone give you a like, or that they opt into a free guide, register for a webinar, buy something from you or join you?
Sin #7 - The Power of LinkedIn Groups
If you’re not a member of LinkedIn Groups and using them you’re committing a sin that’s killing your business.
It’s super easy to join highly targeted groups on LinkedIn that are full of your ideal prospects.
Join these groups. Post in these groups. And most importantly engage with the members of these groups via one-on-one messaging.
To learn all my tips and tricks for using LinkedIn to build your business, check out my 60 Minute Power Recruiting for LinkedIn program here.
Celebrating Your Success!
Gloria
