Why are you not actively using Linkedin?
Your answer probably is “I’m just too busy.“
And that is quite understandable.
On average, entrepreneurs like you spend 72 percent of their time on meetings and the remainder sending emails. If anything, you need more time to get other useful stuff done before thinking about LinkedIn.
But more than ever before, CXOs and entrepreneurs like you need to be on LinkedIn.
Learn How to Set Up a Stellar Linkedin Profile
Here’s Why
LinkedIn is the third most popular social media platform on the planet, just behind Facebook and Instagram.
Currently, there are over 57 million businesses registered on LinkedIn and 800 million users on the platform from 200 countries.
And here is the interesting part. All these users are on Linkedin for one thing, business.
What could this mean for you as a CXO and entrepreneur?
EVERYTHING.
Linkedin gives you access to a global pool of talents and the opportunity to build and foster partnerships. That’s not all, depending on your target audience you can grow brand awareness and close deals on Linkedin. Also, if you want to be a thought leader in your industry, Linkedin is the place to build authority.
According to Hubspot, LinkedIn is 277% more effective at generating leads than Facebook and Twitter, with 80% B2B leads coming from LinkedIn.
Kinsta provides more LinkedIn statistics that’ll interest you.
These stats demonstrate the value of Linkedin but only a handful of executives and entrepreneurs reap these benefits.
Now the question is, how do you utilize LinkedIn, reap its benefits, and still have the time needed to look after your business?
Stick around and you’ll learn a proven strategy that can help you stay top of mind on LinkedIn with minimal time investment.
For an article written for executives and entrepreneurs, this article is a long one. I invite you to read step-by-step with me. But feel free to take a quick scan and jump to where interests you.
I disclose the full strategy (I call it the One-post Linkedin Growth Strategy) in the last section of this article. You can scroll down if you’re in a hurry.
Before we Dive in
I’m assuming you already have a LinkedIn profile or know how to get one set up. If you don’t, Judy Schramm pretty much covered it here.
Also, if you need any help with setting up and optimizing your profile, I offer limited LinkedIn profile optimization services for executives every month. Contact me on LinkedIn.
Let’s continue.
What to Aim for on Linkedin
Using LinkedIn is more than setting up an amazing profile. Here are the three top goals you should focus on:
- Building lasting and relevant connections
- Growing your authority
- Developing your network and community
Your stellar profile is a starting point. Focuses on these goals and the steps laid out in the rest of this article will help you drive results.
The Cylinders of the Linkedin Engine
Most car engines have four cylinders. Most successful and well-oiled Linkedin engines (i.e accounts ) have four activities, or cylinders, that drive results. Without these four cylinders, your LinkedIn account is just like an idle car collecting dust in your garage.
The 4 Cylinders of LinkedIn
While these may sound familiar, they are completely neglected and underrated.
Cylinder 1: Creating valuable connections
Cylinder 2: Posting consistently
Cylinder 3: Engaging in others’ post
Cylinder 4: Fostering meaningful conversations.
I explain the four cylinders individually and show you a strategy to simultaneously get all four of them firing with minimal effort.
As you’d learn in the strategy I put forward, these cylinders do not take more than 20 minutes to produce the desired results. This means you’d still have the entire day for other business priorities.
LinkedIn provides the most extensive professional network available right at your fingertips. But just like a car in your garage, leaving your account idle won’t get you to where you want to be.
Cylinder 1: Creating valuable connections
Add people to your network. These are called “connections” on LinkedIn and the process of doing this is called “connecting.”
Wondering who to add to your network? Here is a quick list to get you started:
- Colleagues
- Former colleagues
- Employees and co-workers
- Target customers and partners
- People in the same industry
- Mentors and industry leaders.
You don’t need to add 1000 connections in one day. It is a gradual process that my strategy makes effortless.
Note: Treat LinkedIn like a real business tool. This is your prospecting machine and stack of business cards all in one.
Cylinder 2: Posting consistently on LinkedIn
In addition to adding the right connection, consistent posting puts you top of mind with your connection.
Posting is how you draw attention to yourself and build a personal brand on Linkedin. Jennifer Spencer pretty much covered why you need a personal brand in her article for the Entrepreneur Media.
What should you post on LinkedIn?
Most CXOs find this difficult because they overthink it. But posting on LinkedIn is not the same as presenting a pitch deck or business report. It doesn’t have to be pretty or perfect.
Here’s a quick list of what you can post on Linkedin:
- What you’re reading
- A current project
- Insight on industry news
- Your work and team
- Your hobbies and pass times
And you can share these as plain texts, graphics, or videos.
In the strategy that I share in this article, there is a simple trick to posting on LinkedIn that doesn’t require you to write your own content.
Cylinder 3: Engaging in others’ post
Posting a few times a week can increase your brand awareness. But to build a strong network that translates to business for you, engaging with your connections’ content is key.
There are three ways you can engage on LinkedIn:
- Liking/reacting
- Sharing
- Commenting.
Commenting is the fastest way to grow your presence. This is because it exposes you to others not currently in your network.
Cylinder 4: Fostering meaningful conversations
If you want to get the best from LinkedIn, you must build lasting and profitable conversations via DMs and messaging.
This is where deals are made, partnerships are sealed, clients are sold and lasting connections are built.
So there you have it, the four cylinders of the LinkedIn growth engine.
Here’s the most interesting part…
You might be thinking, “I don’t have the time to read and like a post let alone leave a comment or start a conversation. How do I fire all four cylinders without burning lots of productive hours.”
The One-post LinkedIn Growth Strategy
I developed this strategy after 2 years of searching for how to stay top of mind on LinkedIn without biting deep into my work time.
This simple strategy fires all four cylinders of the LinkedIn engine and creates the momentum you need to get results on Linkedin.
This is how the one-post LinkedIn growth strategy works.
You use one LinkedIn post per day from your feed to hit all four cylinders.
That is, you select one post from your LinkedIn feed that you’ll:
- Use to Post,
- Engage in,
- Create connections from
- Start conversations from.
How many cylinders does it fire? All four, right?
Here is the one-post Linkedin growth strategy in five simple steps.
Step 1:
Select one post from your news feed that:
- Centers on the topic you’d want to share with your audience
- Contains lots of value
- Already gathered a lot of engagement (or has the potential to)
This one post can be selected from your news feed or from your list of saved posts.
Having a list of saved posts gives you a pool of content to select from any time. Especially when nothing interesting is on your newsfeed.
Once you’ve selected a post from your saved list or from your newsfeed, move to step 2.
Step 2:
Leave a very thoughtful comment on the post.
Take time to read the post and understand the message, if it’s a video, watch the video till you get the content of the video. Then leave a comment detailing your thoughts, your takeaways, and your objections.
Do not be afraid to oppose people on LinkedIn. If you think a post is wrong or you have a different opinion say so. I’ve learned opposing comments draw more attention. So, when you see the opportunity to oppose an idea, grab it. But make sure you do it respectfully.
Also do not leave comments like “love this,” “thanks for sharing,” or “great job.” Anyone can type this without blinking an eye. You want those reading to pause and read what you have to say, engage with it, and click through to your profile. They may end up sending you a connection request or a DM.
After posting your comment. The next step is easy.
Step 3:
Scroll through the comments in the post you chose, and engage in at least one comment that resonates with you. Or a comment from a person you’d love to add to your network.
Like the comment, and reply to it.
Step 4:
For each comment, you engage in, send the author a connection request with a note.
Most people only connect with those they know or have interacted with in the past. The reply you gave to the person’s comments will act as a form of prior interaction. This eliminates the strange feeling that they may have for strangers and increases your chances of getting your request accepted.
Click to the person’s Linkedin profile so you can add a note to your connection request. In the note, refer to their comment in the post that you engaged in.
I usually use a script like this
“Hi [firstname]
Your comment on [name of poster] post was [your take, e.g ‘was on point’]. I really think [your thought].
I would love to connect with you on LinkedIn to engage with more of your content [or any other reasons].
Great to connect with you.
John”
If your request is accepted, you have a foundation to build your conversation on already. You can steer this conversation in any direction you want to give you your desired outcome on LinkedIn.
Step 5:
Share the content with your network with a personal note.
This is the trick to posting on LinkedIn without writing your own content. It’s very simple — you use other people’s content to keep your account updated using the ‘Share’ button.
Do not just click the share button, add your thought and direct it to your audience.
Sharing content like this helps you:
- Post without thinking too much.
- Use other people’s expertise to grow your authority and exposure.
It is a fast way to post useful content on Linkedin. You use some words to push other people’s content to your connections.
Note: This is not the same as copy/pasting other people’s content.
Now you see how this strategy helps you:
- Post consistently without breaking a sweat
- Engage easily
- Connect with the right people without a heavy search
- Start conversations that open doors to a lot of opportunities
All four cylinders from only one post. Easy peasy. Without breaking a sweat, typing your fingers off, or thinking too hard.
How long will this entire process take?
20 minutes.
And yes! I’ve calculated.
Here is the breakdown.
- Finding a post and reading it: 5 minutes
- Leaving a thoughtful comment: 3 minutes
- Engaging in other’s comments: 4 minutes
- Sending a connection request with a note: 5 minutes.
- Sharing it with your connections: 3 minutes
That’s 20 minutes in a day to get results from LinkedIn.
How often should you do this?
Every day.
If you’re too busy to do this every day, every two days is a good start. If you’re super busy you can do it once a week. The key is to be consistent.
What time of the day should you do this?
Anytime that is convenient for you.
It could be the first thing when you wake up, when you first sit down at your desk, during launch, any free time, or in the evening. However, it pays to get it off your to-do list before getting clogged by work.
Just choose what works for you and go with it. Once you’ve gotten a hang of this strategy, it will start taking less time to do.
There you have it, a simple strategy to get you results on Linkedin.
Go Get Your Engine Running
You have a lot to benefit from using Linkedin. Having a good-looking profile is just the first step to getting results from Linkedin. You must get all the four cylinders of LinkedIn running to reap the benefits of the platform.
The one-post strategy helps you get all four cylinders firing for as little as 20 minutes daily.
Now it’s time to take action.
I’ll love to hear how useful this article was and how the strategy has helped you reduce the brain drain you felt while trying to stay top of mind on LinkedIn.
Visit my blog for more content on how to grow your business.
