LinkedIn Experts: 5 Unknown Strategies That Work
If you greatly value your time and effort, you no doubt are constantly looking for ways to make your life easier and get your work done faster.
This includes any time you spend on networking, marketing or lead generation on LinkedIn.
As someone who deeply values my precious time and energy, I am constantly looking for new ways to increase my efficiency and reduce the time I need to spend on LinkedIn, while improving my results. Over the years I have stumbled across a number of effective but relatively unknown expert LinkedIn strategies that I want to share with you.
Whether you have only just started using LinkedIn or have been using it for years, here are 5 little known, but easy to use and highly effective expert LinkedIn strategies.
5 Powerful LinkedIn Expert Tips
1. Boolean search on LinkedIn
Savvy users and LinkedIn experts know that you can add or eliminate elements from your search parameters on LinkedIn’s Advanced Search using Boolean modifiers. These modifiers help you to search more specifically, making it easier to find exactly who you are looking for.
This makes it more effective and efficient when finding your ideal prospects on LinkedIn.
Let’s say you wanted to find an expert in personal branding and you used that as a keyword in your search.
Your search results would show anyone who has the words personal and branding in their profile, even if the two words were located separately in the profile. By adding quotes around the term “personal branding” you would only get search results of profiles that have those two words together.
Here is another example. Let’s say, you want to find someone who has expertise in both social selling training and personal branding. A Boolean search for “social selling training” AND “personal branding” will give you more relevant search results.
Here is a summary of how to use Boolean search modifiers in LinkedIn’s Advanced Search and different ways you can use it to create more targeted search result.
Quotes
If you would like to search for an exact phrase, enclose the phrase in quotation marks. You can use them in addition to other modifiers.
Examples:
“social selling training”
“personal branding”
AND
If you would like to search for profiles which include two terms, you can separate those terms with the upper-case word AND. However, you don’t have to use AND. If you enter two terms, the search program will assume there is an AND between them.
Examples:
digital AND selling
LinkedIn+Expert [You can also add a plus + in between the words with no space.]
OR
If you would like to broaden your search to find profiles which include more than one term, you can separate those terms with the uppercase word OR.
Examples:
“Microsoft” OR “LinkedIn”
“Vice President” OR VP OR “V.P.” OR SVP OR EVP
Parentheses (round brackets)
If you would like to do a complex search, you can combine terms and modifiers.
Examples:
sales AND (trainer OR speaker)
(social selling training OR social selling trainer)
NOT
If you would like to do a search but exclude a particular term, type that term with an uppercase NOT immediately before it. Your search results will exclude any profile containing that term.
Examples:
CEO NOT (owner OR consultant OR sales)
(Google OR Salesforce) NOT LinkedIn
“As a sales person, we must be visible. We must put ourselves out there so that the buyers, when they’re looking around for answers, can find us.”
Koka Sexton, Social Selling and LinkedIn Expert
2. Showcase individual services in your Experience section
LinkedIn experts take advantage of the ability to shine a spotlight on new or existing services with the Position Grouping function in the profile’s Experience section.
To do this, go to your Experience section, and click on the + icon in the top right corner to add a new profile experience.
In the popup box, add the name of the service in the Title field.
This next part is vital.
You MUST select your current company in the Company field and add the same start date to Present as the date you have for your current company position.
Next, check the I currently work in this role box.
NOTE: Make sure you unselect the Update my industry and Update my headline boxes.
Next, provide a description of the service in the description box, and add any relevant rich media (videos, PDFs, images).
When you are done, click Save.
You can do this for as many of your services as you want. But don’t get carried away – stick to the ones you really want to feature.
You can rearrange the order of your new services under your main company experience:
- hover over that experience
- grab the four-line icon in the top right corner
- drag it into the position you want.
To edit an experience, click the pencil icon.
“Part of a social strategy is also deciding what not to do.”
Neal Schaffer, Social Media and LinkedIn Expert
3. Don’t send prospects to your competitor’s LinkedIn profiles
When checking out a prospect’s profile, you can see a feature called People Also Viewed on the right side of the page.
While this feature can be handy for you when you are looking for potential prospects to connect with, you don’t want those same potential prospects to see this feature if they visit your profile.
If you leave this feature on, any prospect who visits your profile will see a handy list of your competitors they can check out.
A LinkedIn expert knows better than to let people leave their profile to view their competitors.
Go into your Settings & Privacy page.
Click on Account preferences in the navigation area on the top left and click on Site preferences. In this list, locate “Viewers of this profile also viewed,” and make sure this is set to No.
“Nothing makes me delete a message faster than someone whose initial messages are either way too “salesy” – “$$$$Open For A 50% Discount Today $$$$$” or too formal “I am writing today in the hopes that we might discuss …”
At the end of the day, people buy from other people – not from autoresponders. Sounding robotic in your emails makes you come off as unprofessional and amateur. Even more so than a simple one-sentence email.
That’s because it’s inauthentic. The most effective messages are the ones that “sound” like you. This also helps to build trust. When you eventually have a phone conversation with your prospect, you’ll sound just like you write.
This builds trust.”
Josh Turner, LinkedIn Expert
4. Write the way you would speak
It is hard enough to get your ideal client’s attention these days. When you manage to get it, don’t waste it with robotic, template sounding messages and posts.
A more expert approach on LinkedIn is to create great posts and personalized messages that sound like they just rolled off your tongue.
How do you accomplish this?
It’s simple. Say it out loud first. Literally pretend you’re having a conversation with someone.
I use this hack all the time. The easiest way to do it is through an app called Otter.ai. This is an amazing tool that lets you speak your idea straight into your phone (just like with your voice memo app), except Otter instantly gives you a transcript of your words.
Take that transcript, make a few edits and viola – you’ll have the perfect social media post or message to send to a prospective client.
No more staring at a blank screen for hours, wondering what to write. Just speak your mind, and let Otter transcribe it for you.
The key is to write as you would speak!
Otter has free and premium versions, and you can even get a free one-month premium pass by clicking here.
“Sales has always been social. It’s about building relationships.”
Jill Rowley, Sales and Social Selling Expert
5. Send voice messages
One of the best ways you can stand out like an expert on LinkedIn and build relationships with your connections is to personalize all your communications with them.
The LinkedIn mobile app provides a fantastic way to send personalized messages to your 1st degree connections through the Voice Message feature.
With this feature, you can record and send voice messages up to a minute long.
Voice messages allow you to communicate in your own voice with your connections, which helps them to know, like and trust you.
Here are some great reasons for sending a voice message:
- Easily message on the go: People speak about four times faster than they type, making voice messaging a more efficient way of explaining lengthier ideas, eliminating the need to type and edit your message.
- Get to it when you can: Leaving a voice message instead of calling your connection can often be better for them as they can listen and respond to your message when they have the time.
- Better express yourself: Speaking in your own voice allows you to communicate more effectively. It also prevents miscommunication, which often occurs in written communications.
To send a voice message on the LinkedIn app:
- Go to the messaging area in the mobile app and select the person you want to send a message to.
- Tap and hold down the microphone icon located in the bottom right corner to open the voice recorder.
- Record your message. You will see a box in the middle of the screen with the length of your message and instructions to send or cancel your message.
- Simply release the icon to send your message when you are done or slide the blue circle towards the middle of the screen to cancel the message.
- The blue circle and box in the center will turn red. Release the icon to delete the message or slide back to continue.
Additional Reading: 5 Crucial Steps to Mastering LinkedIn Lead Generation
Use LinkedIn like an expert
You can immediately begin implementing any or all of the five expert LinkedIn strategies I have shared with you here. Although these are mostly overlooked, they are simple to execute while also being incredibly effective, which is what makes them so useful.
Want more LinkedIn tips and tricks? Read my international #1 best-seller LinkedIn Unlocked and discover how to turn LinkedIn into the lead generation engine room for your business. >>> Grab your copy HERE.
