Is LinkedIn {Actually} the Right Place for You?
Contrary to popular belief, not every business leader needs to go "all-in" with LinkedIn. The one question you need to answer first is, "Are your target audience(s) found on LinkedIn, and are they spending enough time there?"
It's easy to operate under the assumption that LinkedIn is the ONLY social media channel designed for professionals, so your people must be there, right?
Yes, and no.
While the vast majority of target markets are easiest to identify and get into a professional conversation via LinkedIn, you need to be at least 95% sure they ARE before you... start googling LinkedIn tactics, experimenting with the latest strategies, and posting every weekday because some expert said you should!
I'm a LinkedIn advocate, and I do believe EVERY professional should have a decent LinkedIn profile they're proud of + a baseline network regardless of whether or not they plan to do much else.
BUT, I do not believe everybody should heavily invest in LinkedIn beyond that.
In this episode of Mondays with Mindi, we will discuss exactly which types of ideal communities, customer avatars, and industries are the most "reachable" on LinkedIn; how to determine if YOUR market is active enough; deciding your next step on your personalized LinkedIn strategy.
P.S. If you're curious about YOUR target audience on LinkedIn, leave a comment with a description of them below 👇🏽
Let’s discuss exactly which types of ideal communities, customer avatars, and industries are the most "reachable" on LinkedIn.
We’ll figure out how to determine if YOUR market is active enough
Then, you’ll be able to decide your next step towards your personalized LinkedIn strategy.
There’s no point in wasting time learning LinkedIn if your people don’t actually pay attention or hang out on LinkedIn!
Where are your decision-makers?
Have you ever wondered which social platforms were actually most conducive to finding and reaching the decision-makers who will actually buy from you?
It’s easy to get sucked into the latest and greatest social media trends.
TikTok in 2021, anyone?
How about Clubhouse in 2020?
But is that new, social media shiny object going to be the BEST place for you to invest your time.
You cannot be invested in multiple social channels, even if you think you can manage it all on top of all the stuff you need to do in your business or as a subject matter expert.
Though you may technically BE posting everywhere through using some savvy project management, a virtual assistant, or a marketing agency…
You yourself are not invested in all those channels.
It simply takes too much time and brain space -- there’s not enough reserve for you to immerse yourself in social media (unless social media IS your job!)
Last Friday, one of my clients with whom I’ve been working exclusively on LinkedIn for several months now on a specific campaign asked me about the best social media channels to be on for his target market.
He’s been having plenty of conversations on LinkedIn, but he wants to get even more strategic with his audience and go for larger organizations because they have the revenue to afford his premium services.
He asked me to rank/re-order all the social media channels for him based on his industry.
He’s in cannabis, by the way.
This opened the door for a great conversation based on his objectives. Someone told him that if he’s in cannabis he MUST be on Instagram.
Yes, and no.
I think he should have a basic presence on Instagram because it shows he’s up-to-date and knows enough about the average Millennial-aged cannabis business leader, BUT he’s not going to be able to research/identify the right individuals and decisionmakers to have a conversation that leads to a sales conversation on Instagram.
That’s not the channel to research/find them.
It’s not the channel to reach out to them for a conversation because it’s too casual.
In his case, LinkedIn should be the backbone of his campaign based on his target market, but Instagram should supplement his strategy by simply “being present enough” to show that he’s in the know and socially savvy.
See the difference? He’s not just choosing one or the other, but he understands the business value in each channel and where it ranks in his strategy.
Where does LinkedIn belong in your sales and marketing?
Instead of looking at LinkedIn as just one of many social channels, you must determine where it falls in your sales and marketing strategy.
LinkedIn is either the cornerstone of your strategy with other channels as supplementary and places to cross-post.
Or, LinkedIn is one of the many social channels that you just keep updated and refreshed because people like to look you up in multiple places (even if they don’t find you on LinkedIn first.)
So, how do we go about figuring out the importance of LinkedIn for YOU in particular?
#1 - Which communities, markets, and industries are actually on LinkedIn?
B2B businesses will see the most results from using LinkedIn. If you’re unfamiliar with the term B2B (it’s business to business - you’re selling to decision-makers within an organization or business leaders/entrepreneurs/owners)
Legacy industries, larger organizations, and those companies that have been around a long time are more likely to be on LinkedIn
If you’re in the B2C industry (selling your products to consumers), you don’t want to invest too heavily in LinkedIn because this is just not where you are going to be able to find your people.
Consumers don’t frequent LinkedIn with the intention to buy products - they’re in the mindset to do business with other business people when they are on LinkedIn
Match your product/service to the platform.
#2 - How reachable is your market on LinkedIn?
It’s not enough for them to have a profile, you need to figure out how active they are on LinkedIn.
I use a very specific assessment that takes into account their LinkedIn profile, levels of activity, and a few other factors to determine whether or not a market is actually reachable on LinkedIn.
I usually do a sample size of 20-50 ideal prospects and see what this assessment tells us.
If they’re not, you’ve got to find the place WHERE they are reachable.
Email? Instagram? TikTok? Twitter? Facebook? Clubhouse?
Unless your prospects are SO niche that you cannot find them anywhere (in which case, you need to broaden your audience)
#3 - How active is your audience on LinkedIn?
This is a little different than whether or not they are “reachable”
This is more about how active they are on LinkedIn - visibly posting content, sharing, commenting, engaging publicly, etc.
When you know how active they tend to be on LinkedIn, you can match your strategy and tactics to mimic their activity levels
For example, if they look like they post or comment a total of once per week (or month), you may not need to post content all the time to your own profile. You may need to only post once a week and spend the remainder of your time in your DMs.
I like to think in terms of “do what they do” on LinkedIn because that shows you understand them.
On the other hand, if they are big on commenting on posts and engaging with content, you need to feed them the content they want to consume at that frequency.
It’s critical to know their activity levels!
#4 - Tailor your LinkedIn strategy accordingly.
If your audience is not on LinkedIn - all you need to do is create a decent LinkedIn profile and have a solid network size to show you’re credible. Visit LinkedIn once or twice a week or so to engage, comment, check DMs.
If your audience is reachable (but not active) - spend more time identifying and reaching out to the right people via InMails, messages, connection invitations. You’ll do minimal content posting but might have a very active inbox.
If your audience is reachable AND active - mimic their behaviors on LinkedIn. You’ll likely spend about ½ of your time on the content and public-facing part of your strategy and the other ½ in your LinkedIn messages.
There is no right or wrong way to do this, but you need to match how you approach LinkedIn to your audience. I’ve seen too many people make assumptions about LinkedIn and either prematurely “jump in” without getting results OR ignore LinkedIn because they favor other channels.
Match your platform and buying intentions to your audience. They’ll respond better!
In conclusion, your goal is to create more meaningful 1:1 connections with the people you want to serve and do business with, and LinkedIn may be the best channel for you. Start adding them to your LinkedIn network and reaching out to them in a way that feels human.
My challenge for you -- think about your target audience and your people. Are they on LinkedIn? Are they reachable? Are they active? Based on that information, determine how much time you should spend on LinkedIn.
Remember, no matter if they are on LinkedIn mostly or elsewhere, you STILL must have a solid LinkedIn profile and decent network size. Because they will look you up here when they’re “googling” you and doing their research on you.
If you’re ready to dial in your LinkedIn profile for good and get started on building that strategic network, get on my waitlist for The LinkedIn Accelerator where I’ll be doing a free kickoff training to help you flesh out your LinkedIn strategy!
