Freelancing is often uncertain, and always hard. There’s no way around it.
You could have your inbox empty for weeks, just for it to explode with offers on the most unassuming days! This does put people in a kind of frenzied mood, but it’s better to have a myriad of projects waiting for you, than none of them at all.
This is where LinkedIn can help greatly. Many people don’t realize how many opportunities one can mine just by being proactive and making a few posts and tweaks here and there.
Here, we’ll show you how to start using your LinkedIn presence to your business’ advantage and make it grow like a weed!
You are a human — feel free to act that way!
Remember, LinkedIn is a social network, although made to connect CEOs, entrepreneurs and business professionals worldwide. Moreover, high-ranked company employees use it for recruiting: to hire developers for startups, find their new CMO, COO, or even the whole marketing agency.
If you think about it, this enables you to use the best of both worlds!
Don’t just connect with anyone to ramp up the number. They’re not Pokemons, you don’t need to “catch ‘em all”. Send requests to potential clients, people who might need your services and industry thought-leaders. This way you’re building a quality network and all the opportunities that come up will be relevant to your line of work.
Networking on the industry events used to be a thing before 2020 struck; now it’s time to make connections online. Once you connect, start building meaningful relationships with people from your niche. Likes, comments, shares, words of encouragement — all free, yet incredibly valuable! That’s how people get to know you and remember you when they need someone with the skills you have.
Keep an eye on people who visit your page, and send them a quick message informing that you’re available for any questions, and offer your services.
Automate your outreach, but be smart about it
Can you automate human connection completely?
Well, not 100% — but some tools save you hours and automate multiple processes for you. Expandi, for example, chooses your targets, scrapes all the info on them, creates campaigns and sends hyper-personalized messages to large quantities of prospects at the same time.
This is also the only tool on the market that uses a dynamic placeholder, that lets the personalization go far beyond the “Hey, (first name)!”
Supercharge your LinkedIn profile
Heading back to your profile. Is it good enough?
Because you can make it work for you just by filling the sections in properly — and nothing else. Yes, you’ve heard that right!
Let’s revisit the most important LinkedIn profile elements and see what needs to be done.
Profile picture
Just having one in the first place makes your profile 14 times more likely to be viewed by others. Now imagine how effective it could be if you do it properly.
Just trust your common sense when picking the photo; here are some reminders:
- Look clean, tidy and in a good mood
- Your face is in the spotlight
- Avoid too elaborate backgrounds and filters
- Pick a recent one where you’re alone
- Looking for new job opportunities? Make it known with the green ring on the profile picture!
Headline and Summary
Keep it short, sweet and to the point in the Headline section. Tell people what you do, and then you can expand in the Summary section.
In Summary, people like to pick different styles, such as bullet points, storytelling… In general, it’s best to section the text so it’s easy to read.
Avoid the buzzwords like plague (or this current menace)! Tell about your achievements rather than putting “passionate” or “expert” here.
Most importantly: add industry-specific keywords here to attract potential clients!
Experience, Education and Volunteer Experience
Self-explanatory. Use this part to link to your most notable projects as well and describe what you did in the past.
Skills, endorsements and recommendations
Don’t be shy! Ask your previous associates to help you elevate your profile by writing a couple of nice words and endorsing your skills.
When we’re at it, don’t list dozens of skills— pick up to 8 of your strongest assets, and be careful what truly counts as a skill.
Accomplishments
Awards, courses, languages and certificates — the important ones, not the crazy pajama contest from elementary school.
Post often, but do it well
The line between spamming your connections’ homepage and staying silent isn’t that thin. Posting 4 times a week works fine, occasional self-promotion too; industry news, valuable resources and bookmark-worthy content are always the best choices. There are many ways to make some noise on LinkedIn, so take your pick!
Don’t be afraid of being funny! No matter if LinkedIn is a business-first social network, going the extra mile to keep the occasional work-related post hilarious will pay off. One viral joke can expose your work to thousands of people, some of them in need of your services.
You can even get a bit provocative, to stir things up — as long as you’re well-educated on the topic and not offending anyone.
Build a distinguished personal brand
What you post, share, like and comment is who you are. Your LinkedIn profile is your interactive resume and ID among your competitors.
What’s the overall impression you give off? Are you quick-witted, or analytical?
Take your strengths, build them up and make them your most notable characteristics, the ones people think of when they see your profile. This LinkedIn blog has plenty of solid advice on personal branding.
To Summarize
In this blog, we showed you the most important ways to upgrade and use your LinkedIn profile to expand your business.
A few additional notes to recap:
- Stay proactive and hunt for the opportunities yourself
- Work smart, and hard
- Don’t be afraid to be bold and authentic
- Have something to offer for the crowd of your interest
Now that you know how, use these tips and maximize your LinkedIn efforts!
Author Bio:
Stefan Smulders is a SaaS Entrepreneur | Founder of World’s safest software for LinkedIn Automation / Expandi.io | for more than 5 years Founder of LeadExpress.nl.
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