How to Use Your LinkedIn Profile to Find New Prospects

Like many business people, I’m sure you have a LinkedIn profile. However, are you utilizing it to help you and your company grow? LinkedIn is a great tool for generating new leads. Here’s how to use your LinkedIn profile to find new prospects.

Optimize Your Profile With Keywords

The first step in enhancing your LinkedIn profile is to optimize it with keywords your prospects use. Pick 2-3 primary keywords you want to focus on. Once you’ve determined your keywords, add them to your headline, summary section, current work experience, past work experience, websites, skills, and interests. Make sure all of these sections are organized and completed. Your profile is a representation of you and your company. An optimized profile will attract more prospects and lead to more potential business.

Identify Prospects

Even with an optimized profile, you should also be searching for potential prospects. The best way to do this is to determine the common titles customers in your market use to describe their positions and put them into the LinkedIn advanced search and LinkedIn groups related to your market. Then look at the search results and start sending connection requests to those you think are an ideal prospect for your company.

Send a Thank You Message

Once prospects accept your connection request you must send them a personalized thank you message. When crafting your thank you message be sure to include interesting information from their profile. Doing this shows that you actually took the time to read through the prospect’s profile. This message shouldn’t be used to pitch your products or services. Attempting a sales pitch in your thank you message could turn the prospect off and cause them to avoid you or disassociate with you.  

Follow Up Messages

A week or so after you’ve sent your thank you message, follow up with a message that can provide value to the prospect. Again, you are not making a sales pitch. You are sending a blog post, ebook, tool or video that has valuable information they can apply to their business.

Post and Interact with Status Updates

Post daily status updates with thoughts and content that are relevant to your industry and connections. A daily update keeps your profile in front of your prospects’ eyes and also positions you as a thought leader in your industry. You must also like and comment on your connections’ status updates. Interacting with them will increase the chances of them interacting with your posts and viewing your profile.

Join and Engage in LinkedIn Groups

Examine your prospects’ profiles and join their LinkedIn Groups. Join the groups that are the most relevant to you and your business. Share posts regularly within your LinkedIn Groups and interact with others who post articles and information about upcoming events.  

Following these simple steps will increase your leads from LinkedIn. Once you have created a relationship with your LinkedIn prospects, your next step is to connect with them at networking events and eventually develop the opportunity to meet with them in a personal one-on-one meeting.

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