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How to craft the perfect LinkedIn profile for social selling

articulatemarketing.com

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  1. Why do it at all? “It can provide social proof, particularly around content marketing.” These graphs are over 12 months' traffic from social media and contacts into a CRM from social media:

    In LinkedIn profile social proof

  2. Why do it at all? “When people share your material out to their network, they're effectively endorsing what you have to say.” These graphs are over 12 months' traffic from social media and contacts into a CRM from social media:

    In LinkedIn profile social proof

  3. Examples of social selling include: “sharing relevant content” interacting directly with potential buyers and customers

    In LinkedIn profile social proof

  4. sharing relevant content “interacting directly with potential buyers and customers” Sell as you would be sold to

    In LinkedIn profile social proof

  5. This means: contribute something, introduce people, answer questions, share great insights, like other people's insights, comment on things, be involved - give a little to get a little. It's karmic selling. Try and bring a little bit of cheek, charm, wit and personality to it. If you can find some way of being engaging - sometimes that might be stirring up controversy, sometimes that might be just a cheeky turn of phrase - then do so. Don't be bland because there's a lot of noise out there. “Keep an ear open for questions other people are asking and for what other people are saying on social media, particularly on LinkedIn.” Above all, you're on social media, so you are supposed to bring some aspect of yourself to that conversation. It doesn't have to be all about products and sales, it can also be: 'This is me, I have this role in the company and I'm having this kind of conversation with you, here's what I do with my life, my interests, my hobbies, the things that I'm following and engaging in.'

    In LinkedIn profile social proof

  6. Keep an ear open for questions other people are asking and for what other people are saying on social media, particularly on LinkedIn. So it's not only: 'Blah blah, me too, me too, me too'; it's also: 'Ah, that's actually interesting information.' “Above all, you're on social media, so you are supposed to bring some aspect of yourself to that conversation.” Why do it at all?

    In LinkedIn profile social proof

  7. Sell as you would be sold to “The danger people have is that they think social selling is going to be a magic bullet that will solve all their sales needs and bring hundreds of customers in through the door.” In fact, social selling is about trying to build trusted relationships in the context of a sales process. So if you're using social selling to try and close deals or to move straight to the bottom of the funnel, you're making a mistake. The golden rule is 'sell as you would be sold to.'

    In LinkedIn profile social proof

  8. The danger people have is that they think social selling is going to be a magic bullet that will solve all their sales needs and bring hundreds of customers in through the door. They don't think they're going to have to put any work into it; they don't think about the context of other outreach activities, or, importantly, they think that social selling means foot-in-the-door hard selling. “So if you're using social selling to try and close deals or to move straight to the bottom of the funnel, you're making a mistake.” Social media allows you to express a little bit of your personality, bring some value to the conversation, build trust, build relationships. You've probably had emails that read like this: 'Hey, let's have a 10 minute meeting. Can I have 10 minutes of your time? Can I interest you in this product?' That's not a great way to start a relationship.

    In LinkedIn profile social proof

  9. In fact, social selling is about trying to build trusted relationships in the context of a sales process. So if you're using social selling to try and close deals or to move straight to the bottom of the funnel, you're making a mistake. The golden rule is 'sell as you would be sold to.' “That's not a great way to start a relationship.” The rule of thumb: 'Always be helping'

    In LinkedIn profile social proof

  10. The rule of thumb: 'Always be helping' “Don't be bland because there's a lot of noise out there.” Keep an ear open for questions other people are asking and for what other people are saying on social media, particularly on LinkedIn. So it's not only: 'Blah blah, me too, me too, me too'; it's also: 'Ah, that's actually interesting information.'

    In LinkedIn profile social proof

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