Each week on Workbar Live, we feature leading experts in their field to help support our members continued education and progression.
Erin Halper is the founder and CEO of
The Upside, a community of consultants and experts who network, collaborate and share knowledge for the advancement of everyone. Since launching The Upside in 2017, Erin has advised more than 1,000 professionals on how to redefine the 9-5 by building a respected consultancy practice that generates consistent clients and affords them the freedom of working when, where and how they want.
LinkedIn is the fastest-growing social media platform for generating here and now business opportunities. In this workshop, we learned how to position yourself on LinkedIn to attract your exact target audience, grab attention, engage them in a meaningful way and how to create a quality funnel to drive inbound business leads.
Let’s get technical - what are the most attention grabbing updates we can make on our LinkedIn page?
Your Headshot. Show professionalism, show personality, show your style!
Your Banner. This is a personal billboard, it’s free ad space.. Use it! There are five winning banner styles that work well: strong branding, impact, clear message, credibility and pedigree.
Your Headline. This needs to be clear and concise! Tell people what you do in as few words as possible, what industry you work for and what is your value by using action words, not adjectives.
Providing Services Section. This is in Beta, so you will need to register, but will overall increase your inbound leads. Make sure these are services you provide and not just tasks you complete.
About Section. Don’t put what you do, put what you will do for me. No fluff! Put your one line elevator pitch, quantify your results and show your pedigree.
Featured Media. Don’t ignore this section. You can create JPEGs in Canva and it’s more than likely no one is going to click on the content, but like the other sections, it adds to your credibility.
Your Experience. Again, this is not about what you did at your job. Under each employers, you want to communicate in one to two sentences the results of your work.
Your Recommendations. Make sure this is current. When you ask people to make a recommendation, write it for them and they can edit and/or approve. It also allows you to send the message you want.
How can we grab attention and drive leads for our business? Here are the top four takeaways:
1. It’s all about positioning and maximizing the value perception. Your LinkedIn page is a free ad for positioning yourself on a pedestal as an expert and telling people why you or why your company.
2. People are using LinkedIn as an inbound customer or client funnel. It is where Instagram was five years ago. It isn’t a perfect platform, but functionally it does work as a funnel if you use it properly.
3. Be visible and be positive. Use it as an engagement tool - comment on posts, reach out to people directly, let people know you have seen their professional successes. Take ten minutes a day to engage on LinkedIn.
4. Each person in your network is a door. This cannot be stressed enough. Even if you don’t personally know them, but they are in your virtual network, it opens the door to virtual coffees and conversations - this in turn could be the next door in your career.
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