47.5 million people in the UK are on LinkedIn.

23 million users log in every month. Nearly eight million use it daily.

And yet, plenty of studies suggest only 1–2% of users post regularly.

So, we have a platform with millions of users and very little competition – that smells like an opportunity to us!

Unfortunately, too many advisers/planners let it slip through their fingers because they’re close-minded about the opportunity, or they treat LinkedIn like social media and immediately switch off.

The truth is that LinkedIn success starts with two things:

• Acceptance: LinkedIn has issues. Yes, it can be cringey. Yes, it can be annoying.
• A reframe: LinkedIn isn’t social media, it’s online networking.

So now we’ve explained the opportunity, let’s take you through a three-step process to getting the best out of LinkedIn.

Step #1: Get your foundations right

Define your goal and what success looks like

If you don’t know your “why”, you’ll never use LinkedIn consistently or be able to judge your results.

There are many valid reasons to use it, including:

• Generating new enquiries
• It’s your mission to help others
• Supporting your business’s recruitment efforts
• Building a personal brand to advance your career.

Pick your reason. Write it down. Make it your filter for everything you do on there.

Review, and if necessary, rebuild your profile

You need an effective profile because:

• People who see your posts will click through to it
• Prospects may Google you after being recommended by an existing client.

Every part of your profile (banner, headline, about section, Featured assets) should support your “why”.

Check the effectiveness of your LinkedIn profile by clicking here to take our scorecard. Then, if it needs updating, use our definitive guide to help you. Alternatively, just click here to email us to learn more about how we can do the hard work for you.

Decide what you will (and won’t) talk about on LinkedIn

We know many people struggle with LinkedIn and other social media when it comes to the subjects they’ll talk about.

So, we recommend developing “content pillars”, which is a fancy way of saying that you should create two lists. The first of things you will talk about, the second of things you won’t.

Your pillars keep your posts aligned with your objective.

For me, the three things I’ll talk about are:

1. Marketing (shock!)
2. Mental health and wellbeing
3. The challenges of building a business.

I don’t actually have a list of things I won’t talk about, and I’ll happily politely challenge other people’s views. Although perhaps I should stop doing that on Rob Moore’s posts!

Step #2: Set up an ideas system

In our experience, “not knowing what to say” is the number one reason people don’t post regularly.

We get it.

You sit down to write a post, a blank screen stares back at you, and creativity disappears like Brooklyn Beckham leaving a family party.

The fix starts by understanding the four stages to every post:

• Ideation (the topic/message)
• Production (writing, recording video, etc.)
• Review (fact-checking, editing, and proofreading)
• Formatting (making sure it looks and sounds like you).

Other easy idea sources include:

• Articles you read in the press
• Government announcements
• Other people’s posts (react, disagree, build on them)
• Your business and your people (new joiners, leavers, charity work, exam passes, away days).

Once you have an idea, save it. Don’t rely on memory.

I email ideas to myself and file them into folders. You might use a notepad, an app on your phone, or a WhatsApp message to yourself.

It doesn’t matter what you use, as long as you capture the inspiration when it strikes. Because your memory will fail you at the exact moment you need it most.

Step 3: Do three things regularly

To achieve your LinkedIn objective (whatever it is), you need to do three things regularly:

1. Post
2. Build your audience
3. Engage with other people.

Let’s dive into each.

Post

We could easily write a long blog about posting, but let’s keep this short and punchy. So here are 10 quick-fire tips that will keep you more regular than a bowl of Kellogg’s All Bran.

Tip #1: Aim to post at least three times a week.

Tip #2: Avoid using jargon; most consumers don’t understand it.

Tip #3: If you’re linking to your website, put the link in the comments.

Tip #4: If your aim is to attract new clients, concentrate on being helpful.

Tip #5: Block time out of your diary to produce your posts, then stick to it!

Tip #6: Make your life easy by creating templates for the main types of posts you produce.

Tip #7: Use images of yourself and your team, especially on posts about yourself and your business.

Tip #8: Use techniques to encourage people to save or share your posts, both of which will catch the eye of LinkedIn’s algorithm.

Tip #9: Remember, your image stops the scroll, your hook (the first three lines of your post) encourages people to read it – spend more time on both than you think you need to.

Tip #10: Batch write your posts because, when you’re in the flow of writing, you should take advantage of it. When you’ve finished, schedule your post using one of the many tools available.

Too often, people spend all their time posting and not on the other two things that’ll help achieve their objectives. Let’s look at those now.

Build your audience

Naturally, you want your posts to be seen by as many people as possible, but you shouldn’t rely on LinkedIn’s algorithm to do the hard work for you.

Instead, we recommend that you actively build your audience by sending connection requests to people aligned with your objective. For example, people who could be clients, professional connections, or future team members.

LinkedIn allows you to send up to 150 connection requests per week. If you have Premium, you can add a personalised note to each to increase your acceptance rate.

One warning: don’t use automation tools. They’re against LinkedIn’s rules and can get your account restricted. At best, you won’t be able to use your account for days. At worse, you could lose your profile permanently.

Engage

If you only gave speeches and presentations at traditional networking events and didn’t chat to people, you wouldn’t be very successful. The same is true with LinkedIn.

Reply to every comment on your posts in a conversational way to encourage a reply and further interactions – which LinkedIn’s algorithm will love.

Then comment on posts from people outside of your network because it raises your profile, positions you as an expert, and gets you noticed by people outside of your network. In fact, we regularly see comments getting more impressions than posts.

We recommend picking 10–20 people, following them, and turning on notifications so you get an alert when they post.

When you get an alert, read their post, and if you can add to the conversation, leave a comment. Not something short and superficial like “great post” or “congratulations” but a meaningful, conversational, or interesting comment.

The people you do this for could be:

• Existing clients you want to help
• Prospects who’ve enquired but haven’t converted (yet)
• Professional connections you’d like introductions from.

A digital land of opportunity

If your target audience uses LinkedIn, the combination of huge user numbers and the lack of competition makes it one of the most significant marketing opportunities available right now.

Use the three-step process above, and you’ll start to see results.

Yes, it takes time out of your week. And that’s the bit many people struggle with.

So, if you want to take advantage of the opportunity but don’t have the time to do it properly, we’re here to help. We have options to suit different budgets and objectives.

To find out more, click here, and we’ll be in touch to set up a chat.