Raise Your Visibility Online

Rebecca Oggenfuss teaches entrepreneurs, small business owners, and public figures how to build, manage, and protect their brands. This week on the podcast, we discuss how important it is to look after your brand, how to behave on social media during normal times, as well as during our current crisis. Rebecca invested in a LinkedIn Profile Writing service with me back in October/November and now uses LinkedIn to connect with her audience and clients. You can find more about Rebecca and her book - The Personal Brand Project, over at brand intentions.com.   https://www.louisebrogan.com

www.louisebrogan.com

Do you have a LinkedIn profile that is looking a bit sad? When was the last time you posted an update on LinkedIn? Have you EVER posted an update? Don't worry - if you can't answer the above with a positive response, you are not alone. I run a lot of in-person training events in N.Ireland which gives me great opportunities to talk to people about why they aren't using LinkedIn, or why they haven't really got into LinkedIn yet. And there's lots of different reasons why which I cover in this episode.   If you need help and support with getting started, I offer one to one strategy sessions to help you with understanding how you can use LInkedIn to grow your business. Get in touch and we have a strategy session together. We'll look at what your business is, who your clients are, who's your target market, what could you be sharing on LinkedIn, that will bring those people to you to connect with you to want to work with you. And I'd be delighted to help you with that. https://www.louisebrogan.com

Do you sell online courses? Perhaps you’re running a challenge or offering a free PDF or a webinar to encourage people to sign up for your membership?  Are you interested in finding out how you can replace your existing funnels with ‘conversational selling’ and increase your digital sales? This week on the podcast, I interview Mike Kelly, CTO and Co-Founder of MemberVault, an easy-to-use resource hub that allows you to showcase your free offers and paid products in one place. Whether you offer digital products, courses, memberships, or one-to-one services, MemberVault helps you share your content and keep your followers engaged using gamification.  In this episode, Mike gives us an insight into how the platform works, but also shares the story of how and why he and his wife Erin came up with the idea for this product. Using MemberVault allows you to qualify warm and hot leads within the platform and reach out to them individually, so you can go from ‘funnelling’ (a very seller-centric approach) to ‘serving’ (a more user-centric approach). If you sell digital products in your business (free or paid-for), and you want to find out about a different and more engaging way of selling, you won’t want to miss this episode!  You will learn… Why having all your digital products in one place allows you to replace your existing sales funnels and increase your conversion rates.  Why you should qualify your warm and hot leads and reach out to them individually (Mike calls this ‘conversational selling’).  Why you should always listen to your users and create products or services that alleviates a pain point they are experiencing, rather than something that you (the business owner) want to build and sell.   About Mike If you’d like to connect with Mike, you can find him on LinkedIn.  Try MemberVault for free And if you would like to try MemberVault, you can use my affiliate link here. You can create a free account, join the helpful MemberVault Facebook group that Mike and Erin’s team run, and try out all the features before you buy.  Do you want to learn more about using LinkedIn for business?  If you want my help to leverage LinkedIn to raise your profile, get your message out there, and create a solid strategy on how to use LinkedIn for your business in 2020 and beyond, check out my Work with Me page.   I offer 3 types of services:  A LinkedIn profile review with a video walkthrough of your profile and a 2-page action plan for you to implement. A LinkedIn profile review + consultation, including a 45-minute strategy session for using LinkedIn. And a series of 4x 1-hour LinkedIn strategy sessions followed by a tailored action plan. If you have any questions, send me a message on LinkedIn or email me at louise@socialbeeni.com.  Would you like FREE tips on how to grow your LinkedIn network? If you’d like more tips on growing your LinkedIn network without being salesy and spammy, you can download my FREE guide here or head over to my website to pick up my FREE LinkedIn profile tips.   More about me If you enjoy the show, I’d be very grateful if you could share it with at least another person and leave me a review on iTunes. And if you haven’t subscribed yet, why not? If you have any questions on this episode or on LinkedIn or would like to offer any feedback, I’d love for you to reach out. You can find me on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook or Twitter.   

Traci Baxley joins me for an on-air coaching call on how to 'jump back in' to LinkedIn following a change of direction with her business.  Traci is a Life Coach for Moms,  supporting women who are chasing the elusive “balance” instead of choosing harmony and grace to guide their lives. Traci helps moms move from fear-based parenting to intentional parenting with radical love using her parenting philosophy, Social Justice Parenting. Traci specializes in supporting moms of transracial families. She offers cultural coaching and consulting for transracial families (white parents with black/biracial children) and adoption agencies working with transracial families.  I met Traci in the US in November when she was a keynote speaker at a conference we were both speaking at and I love her approach to parenting as well as business.  In this on-air coaching call we work through how LinkedIn can be a resource for Traci, and how she can change and adapt her profile to fit her true passion in business.   Find out more about Traci here Website: https://tracibaxley.com/   LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracibaxley/   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/socialjusticeparenting/   Email address: Traci@tracibaxley.com   https://www.louisebrogan.com

Last week, while working with a client on their Linkedin strategy, we had a chat about whether or not LinkedIn Premium was worth investing in..  I currently DO have LinkedIn Premium and have had it for about six months.  I am not sure if I want to keep it o – but I do find it useful to see who has been looking at my profile.   So lets dive into the detail How much does it cost? LinkedIn Premium is offered in four tiers, ranging from $29.99 to $59.99 per month for job seekers, $79.99 per month for sales professionals, and $119.95 per month for recruiters. Annual billing offers slight discounts. Can you get a free trial? Yes – they offer a free trial for 30 days quite regularly. If you click on the option for Premium on your account, you usually get offered a free trial. InMail You can get a block of free InMail emails  with LinkedIn Premium. InMail is the LinkedIn messaging App. What do you use it for? You are able to send messages to people who are NOT in your network. Reasons to do this? Well personally I tend to connect with people and then start messaging. But I can see if you worked in sales for example, you might want to reach out to anyone without already being connected.   Profile Views You can see who has viewed your profile, and then reach out to connect with them.  If your current network is looking at your profile, maybe send them a private message and restart your conversation.  Insights into your Views You get good insights into who is viewing your profile.   LinkedIn will mark other members as Interesting Views – this could be because you follow the company they work for, they are seen as a senior leader in yours or another industry,  There are also insights when multiple people from one company are looking at your profile.  For example, having worked with InterTradeIreland this week, I am notified that 5 people from ITI have looked at my profile.   Then you can see if a lot of people with the same job title have looked at your profile – mine says that 54 people with the job title Business Owner, have been looking at my profile.  These stats are based on the last 90 days.  Company Page Insights You have access to Insights into a company page, where the company has more than 30 employees with complete member profiles. If a company has more than 30 people with complete LinkedIn profiles, you can get a lot of insight into that company on their Company Page You can see a breakdown of employee distribution and headcount. For example, I can learn that 18% of Apple employees are classified under Engineer and only 3% under Marketing.  Which makes sense!  You can also see other classifications such as HR, admin, project management, sales, business development.  New hires – you can have a look at the most recent hires within the company – this would be great for reaching out to connect with someone and give you a conversation starter.  Notable company alumni - who worked at this company and where are they now? Job Openings – which department is hiring? You can choose to opt out of this information being shared about your own profile on your company page, Go to your own profile, click on the drop down menu under Me. Go to Privacy Settings and click on the toggle where it says Representing Your Organisation and set it to whatever option you prefer. LinkedIn Gold Badge When you have a premium account, you get a little gold LinkedIn square beside your name.   This may seem a little trivial – but for people using the platform regularly, it shows you as someone who is keen to leverage LinkedIn for their own personal brand.    Access to on-demand learning videos. LinkedIn Learning gives you access to literally hundreds of video training modules – from Business Skills, to public speaking, from Java coding to Graphic Design. To conclude: Do I recommend you invest in LinkedIn premium? I would ask you the following first – Have you optimised your LinkedIn profile? Are you making connections with personalised messages? Are you posting status updates? Are you commenting on your connection’s posts? Do you have a strategy for using LinkedIn? If you need help with ANY of the above, then get in touch.   If you have all this down pat, then why not get your free 30-day trial of LinkedIn premium and see for yourself!  I’d’ love to hear how you find it.    https://www.louisebrogan.com

How do you use LinkedIn for business? Did you know you can have a personal profile and then create a company page even if you are the sole member of your business? Find out why I suggest you have both! IF you would like help creating either your personal profile, or a company page, please reach out for a chat.   Contact me on louise@socialbeeni.com. Subscribe to the podcast for more tips, techniques and strategy to help you win business on LinkedIn. www.loiusebrogan.com

If you are using social media to promote your business, you might get frustrated from time to time.  You think of something wonderful to post online and write it out carefully, checking your spelling and grammar.  Choose a nice photo to go with it and post it.  Away it goes, into the ether.  And you wait to see if anyone will click like.  Or comment.  Or even better, send you a message via messenger or email.  But all you get is crickets. And in the meantime, you see other people posting stuff that regularly seems to get huge engagement. But they are saying the same thing as you!  Aren’t they? The focus of today’s podcast is to discuss all the weird and wonderful hacks that people use,  with the belief that it will boost their engagement on LinkedIn. Before we dive in though,  I want to let you know the real way to get engagement on LinkedIn.    Identify who you are talking to Share something that starts a conversation or helps them in some way Always have a call to action – ask a question or spur some sort of action after they read your post Engage with other people’s posts   I have been working with an amazing client recently on a series of linkedin strategy sessions.  At the end of each hour, we discuss ‘homework’.   This varies for each individual client (as does the training – it depends on what you need help or strategy on!).  My client’s homework was to write an article for LinkedIn that spoke directly to her ideal client.   Within 2 hours of posting this article, she has already received three comments.  Which is fantastic for a LinkedIn article in 2020.  I expect many more people will leave their thoughts in response to this piece during the next few weeks.   Find out how to work with me one to one here I don’t believe in hacking the system.  You can use any or all of the following tricks that people suggest but if you share genuine content that your audience is interested in, you will win business on LinkedIn.   Being aware of what works for you is not a hack – I think learning how a social media platform works, what works ON it, and measuring your results is a far better use of your time.    Some suggest using hashtags that are not relevant to your post e.g. hashtag#innovation Innovation has 38 million followers.  However – my work is NOT about innovation. And interestingly, I did attract the attention of some linkedin users to comment on my post, who are not in my network and after they posted, I was pretty sure I won’t be adding them any time soon!  I recommend you choose hashtags that relate to what you are saying – then someone who follows that hashtag is much more likely to be interested in, and engage with, your content.   Where do you place your links.    This is a highly debated topic amongst LinkedIn users.  Some will publish their post and go back to edit it, and add in the link.   Others will put links in the comments.   Why does it matter? The theory is that the algorithm doesn’t like you sharing content that takes the reader off LinkedIn. I actually wonder does the reader decide he/she doesn’t want to go off linkedin!  IF you consider the high volume of people accessing social media through mobile apps n (57% of linkedin users),  they are scrolling through the posts on that platform and it would take a high interest story to take them to another site.   Gary Gleeson made the following point - . I have tried putting the link in the comments and the reach does increase, but I still prefer to post using schedulers as I am always busy working then.  Timing of your posts Hubspot research a few years ago suggested  the best days to post content on LinkedIn are between Tuesday and Thursday, either early in the morning, lunchtime or early evening.  Having read some of the comments on my own original post, I think a lot of my network read Hubspot because they mentioned the 10am slot on a Tuesday morning.  Of course, what if you work internationally?  Then all bets are off!  I would suggest this applies to professionals – if your target audience is a small business owner this may differ.  There is some suggestion that the senior C-suite execs are more likely to engage after 8pm at night!  Having a quick review of my last four weeks, my most popular day is Thursday … hmmmmm So test this out for yourself!  Recommending people you have never met Some people will recommend you for work even though they have never even had a conversation with you.  This is interesting.  Why would you recommend someone whom you have never worked with?  Back in the day this was very common practice on LinkedIn.   LinkedIn used to ask you to endorse up to eight of your contacts regularly.  And I believe it became a little irrelevant.  This option has now gone.  An improvement!  Maybe it depends on your line of business. But for me, followers for the sake of followers makes no sense. Am I missing something? I’m looking to LinkedIn as a place to curate a specific tribe of people for reciprocal support, resources, and those most likely to do business with me. So my tactics here are very strategic. Is that wrong? hashtag#LinkedInInfluencer 😉 Casey Gromer, CMO for Entrepreneurs     The people recommending me for skills they couldn’t possibility know I have is utterly baffling to me. What’s behind this? Is it the modern day form of you scratch my back I scratch yours? So that I’ll owe you something in the future?  Aine Morgan - working with mums who work in the Big 4 Accountancy firms   Using Engagement Pods What is an engagement pod? A group of people who collaborate together and post/comment on each other’s content I have talked about this on the podcast before and I did use this method about a year ago – but for many reasons, I stopped.  You find the same people commenting on each others posts every day. It is time consuming.  You have to comment on something you may not actually find relevant. This could be a good opportunity for a time management exercise. If you are in an engagement pod, how much time does it take you each day? Would your time be better spent connecting with your own potential clients?      Scheduling Tools Not using a scheduling tool, because it effects your reach.   Many of my connections on LinkedIn have said using a scheduling tool can have a negative impact, the general consensus seems to be for native posting.  However, if your time is limited, choose where to spend it. And if scheduling your posts in advance, or hiring a virtual assistant to schedule them for you works for you, then carry on. Liking your own posts or tagging yourself at the end of a post In the last few days I've seen: - Liking your own posts - Tagging yourself at the end of your own post - "I'll connect with everyone who comments below"   These are all 'tricks' currently in favour in early 2020. The best advice I can give you is to create interesting content that your audience want to engage with, and not to get weighed down with trying to beat the algorithm on any social media platform. The first hour after hitting publish There is "the golden hour" - posts which get a lot of engagement in the first hour after publishing always go on to do well. How do you know when this is? Watch your own posting schedule and see what time of the week works for your own audience. If you have time, respond to comments on your post in that first hour and measure how effective this strategy is. Would you rather focus on winning business? Then be strategic - what works for your audience? What do they want to know about? Build a genuine network around your profile on LinkedIn, and engage with them. Consider how much time you are spending trying to get more clicks or likes - and decide if your time would be better spent on InMail or better still, picking up the phone and calling your prospects. To get help with your LinkedIn strategy, why not schedule a discovery call today. Book your discovery call today     Here’s a belter which is a sure fire winner, Louise. Find people on LinkedIn you don’t know and then send them a connection request. Maybe even make it a personalised one. Then as soon as they accept send them a DM saying, “BUY MY STUFF. BUY MY STUFF. BUY MY STUFF.” It works every time. I made 7 figures just last week using this “hack”. I would love to find out what other 'hacks' you have been told about for LinkedIn and whether you try them out or not...    www.louisebrogan.com

Ep 114   Using LinkedIn to promote your event with Lean In regional leader Nicola McGuinness   Are you organising an event or a conference? Did you know you can now create ‘events’ and raise awareness about your event on LinkedIn?   This week on the podcast, I interview Nicola McGuinness, who is the Policy Research and Information Project Manager for Inter Trade Ireland and the founder and regional leader of the Lean In Newry Network, which currently has 220 members.   In the first half of this episode, Nicola and I talk about the Lean In network, which supports women to achieve their potential through an inclusive, diverse, and confidential support network. Nicola regularly holds training and facilitates networking sessions, but this year she’s also organising a conference called Gender Equality is Everyone’s Business on Friday, the 6th March 2020.   So in the second part of the podcast episode, I give Nicola some tips around how to promote her conference and raise more awareness and create a buzz around her Lean In circle. So if you run events and want to find out more about this undervalued and underused LinkedIn feature, tune in to find out more!  You will learn…  How and why you should create an event on LinkedIn to promote your upcoming event.   Why you should invite your network to start having conversations in the event section on LinkedIn.  What type of content you should create to raise awareness and create a buzz about your event (with examples!).    About Nicola  If you’d like to connect with Nicola, you can find her on LinkedIn, through the Lean In Newry website, or on Facebook.   Do you want to learn more about using LinkedIn for business?   If you want my help to leverage LinkedIn to raise your profile, get your message out there, and create a solid strategy on how to use LinkedIn for your business in 2020 and beyond, check out my Work with Me page.    I offer 3 types of services:   A LinkedIn profile review with a video walkthrough of your profile and a 2-page action plan for you to implement.  A LinkedIn profile review + consultation, including a 45-minute strategy session for using LinkedIn.  And a series of 4x 1-hour LinkedIn strategy sessions followed by a tailored action plan.  If you have any questions, send me a message on LinkedIn or email me at louise@socialbeeni.com.   Would you like FREE tips on how to grow your LinkedIn network?  If you’d like more tips on growing your LinkedIn network without being salesy and spammy, you can download my FREE guide here or head over to my website to pick up my FREE LinkedIn profile tips.    More about me  If you enjoy the show, I’d be very grateful if you could share it with at least another person and leave me a review on iTunes. And if you haven’t subscribed yet, why not?  If you have any questions on this episode or on LinkedIn or would like to offer any feedback, I’d love for you to reach out. You can find me on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook or Twitter.      

This week, I am closing the doors on my LinkedIn group coaching programme – Level Up Your LinkedIn.  This is for you if you want to use LinkedIn to start attracting your ideal client to reach out to work with you directly.     www.louisebrogan.com   LinkedIn Etiquette   Every social media platform has its own etiquette or expected behaviour.     People go to Facebook to connect with friends and family.  They go to Instagram for a daily dose of inspiration.  Twitter is great for short sharp news briefs (and political announcements!).   If you aren’t posting the same content on each platform, then what works on LinkedIn?   LinkedIn is definitely a more business-like platform. That doesn’t mean it has to be boring or stuffy.  A good rule of thumb is to treat LinkedIn like an in-person networking event.    Let’s imagine you are going to a networking event in your hometown this week.  How will you prepare?   Normally you will find out who is running the event.   Find out if there is anyone who will be there who may be a person of interest to your business.    But we don’t only connect with potential clients at networking event.  At least, I don’t.   I also connect with people who seem interesting. Potential collaborators.  Someone who is good at conversation.   In an article on Forbes about the best way to network by the Young Entrepreneurs Council, they suggest the way to approach networking is to go with the intention of helping someone else:   True networking occurs when there’s an understanding that everyone in the room has equal value. In its purest form, it’s about people enjoying other people, communicating passions and connecting with others who share those passions. It’s about listening, figuring out what others need and connecting them with people you think can help, without any designs for personal gain. The most successful networkers build genuine relationships and give more than they receive. They go beyond thinking, “What’s in it for me?” to ask, “How can I help?”     So why not apply the same to LinkedIn?   The most successful and engaging profiles in my network are the people who help others.  Sharing advice, tips, answering questions.    But what do you need to do first?    Get your LinkedIn Profile optimised. When someone sees your profile on LinkedIn, and clicks on it to find out more, you want them to find something interesting enough that they reach out to connect with you. Make it clear how you help people.   In your headline and your About section, do people understand how you work and what you do?   Start engaging.  You start conversations.  Approach people and ask them about what they do.    If you need help with any or all of the above, please reach out to me.  People work with me who want to have a clear and complete LinkedIn profile that leads to business.  My one-to-one clients leave our strategy session with a workplan full of ideas and actions that make spending time on LinkedIn valuable.   What do you not do on LinkedIn then? The main ‘crime’ I see on LinkedIn, is immediate selling.  There is nothing worse than accepting someone’s connection request and immediately getting a sales message.    If you went up to the coffee table at the networking event and said hello to someone, what are the next words out of your mouth?   Do you launch into sales mode?  IF you do, I will find a way to make a swift exit!   It’s the same with LinkedIn.  When someone sends me a sales message after connecting, I drop the connection right away.     Building a valuable LinkedIn network is about relationships.  People will hire you when they get to know you.  Not when you drop them a cold sales message straight after connecting.   What about etiquette on creating posts? I have seen some truly awful posts on LinkedIn.  Posting conversation starters that wouldn’t be out of place at 2am at the local dodgy nightclub.    Please keep your adult X-rated conversations off LinkedIn.  Did you know that you can report a post on LinkedIn?  The person who made the post won’t be notified that you have reported them. It is important to LinkedIn to keep their platform a professional one.    What about the posts you see that are attention grabbing? I prefer to work with clients who want to develop a presence where they can show their knowledge and expertise.  Not in an arrogant way. But in a way that engages their audience and helps them with a particular issue or problem.   What would be an example of this? I was working with a client who is a sales coach at the end of last year.  She has a particular style of working with her own clients.  However, if she only posted about her great sales successes and wins, she isn’t demonstrating how she works.  Or particularly engaging me to converse with her.     This client instead posts conversation starters about how to help YOU in your sales journey.  By giving examples of how she has overcome certain obstacles in sales, and asking questions in those posts, she is getting great engagement on LinkedIn.  With the type of people who are attracted to her style of selling.   And how do they know her style of selling?  Because of the way she posts on LinkedIn!   The top advice I can give you is:   Optimise your LinkedIn profile first. Deliver value in your posts Be helpful Stay professional Comment on other people’s post where relevant Share content that your audience will find interesting Start conversations. Answer all comments on your posts.