Mastering LinkedIn for Social Selling

Discover why social selling matters and define its goals, explore the Rolodex story, and map your first, second, and third degree connections while noting your SSI score and privacy settings.

Learn why social selling matters as buyers self-educate online, leveraging LinkedIn to provide value and insights early, and identify decision makers in real time.

target increased sales conversations by leveraging LinkedIn through more phone calls, meetings, and Zoom calls. constantly ensure every tactic moves toward that goal, otherwise it's just a social media program.

Learn to search and filter your connections' Rolodex on LinkedIn to identify ideal prospects, request introductions, and generate referrals.

Understand your first, second, and third degree connections to map your LinkedIn network and guide social selling, prioritizing first and second degree relationships.

Explore LinkedIn's social selling index, a four-factor key performance indicator for professional brand, finding the right people, engaging with insights, and building relationships, with an initial SSI snapshot at getmyssiscore.com.

Navigate to profile settings on LinkedIn to optimize privacy and visibility, including your public profile, custom URL, email visibility, and who can see your connections and profile viewing options.

Explore the LinkedIn desktop interface, from the home page to search, network, messaging, and notifications, and learn to use groups, hashtags, articles, posts, and documents to engage and connect.

navigate the linkedin mobile app with a guided tour of profiles, messaging, posting, and privacy settings, and learn how mobile differs from desktop for networking and qr code sharing.

Craft a value-centric LinkedIn profile that shifts from resume to resource, offering vendor-agnostic insights that address buyers' challenges and position you as a thought leader.

Export your LinkedIn profile to a pdf before making changes to preserve a backup you can restore, using the profile’s More button to save to pdf and store it safely.

Use keywords and phrases in your LinkedIn profile and consider social proximity to appear in searches. Rename images and optimize banners, headshots, and headline, titles, and skills with those keywords.

Learn to optimize the above-the-fold elements on your LinkedIn profile—the background banner, headshot, and headline—to grab attention and encourage visitors to read your profile.

Create a branded LinkedIn banner in PowerPoint with a 4:1 ratio, add your logo and contact details, then save with an SEO-friendly name and update your profile.

Present yourself on LinkedIn with a recent, professional headshot that matches how you look in real life. Make eye contact and smile to engage others in social selling.

Learn to craft a LinkedIn headline that communicates who you help, how you help them, and why they should care, like a newspaper headline, optimized for 120 or 210 characters.

Update your LinkedIn contact information for easy reach on desktop and mobile, add up to three sites, a mobile number, and an email to make contact seamless.

Learn how to customize your public LinkedIn profile URL, manage visibility, and surface key links like schedule a call.

Turn your LinkedIn about section into a value-packed resource by leading with insights, not your solution, addressing the buyer's journey and offering vendor-agnostic tips and a clear call to action.

Add media to your LinkedIn profile to boost visitor value by uploading documents, photos, videos, podcasts, slide decks, or links in about and experience sections, with clear titles and descriptions.

optimize your LinkedIn experience section with SEO-friendly titles and keywords, connect to your company page, share your story, and include a clear call to action to boost engagement and sales.

Leverage the LinkedIn experience section to thread multiple titles and deliverables, add rich media, and tailor content by persona to boost branding and SEO.

Curate past experience on LinkedIn to boost current credibility, avoid overselling, include keyword-rich job titles for search visibility, and selectively list roles that add value.

Learn how to add your education to your LinkedIn profile to boost credibility and connections with alumni, including high school, college, postgraduate work, and activities.

Highlight your expertise by optimizing the skills and endorsements section on LinkedIn, pinning three top skills, and inviting endorsements to boost impression and search visibility.

Add and highlight projects, publications, organizations, courses, licenses, and certifications in LinkedIn profile sections to boost credibility and cross-pollinate networks for social selling.

Ask for recommendations after a personal conversation to add credibility and authenticity on LinkedIn. Craft a ready-to-use paragraph, guide the recipient, and offer to reciprocate with a recommendation or introductions.

Manage your public LinkedIn interests—influencers, companies, groups, and schools—via the bottom 'see all' page; unfollow or follow to shape what others see for prospecting.

Update your LinkedIn profile on mobile with nearly the same functionality as desktop, including editing sections, adding media, and saving changes, while managing followers and interests.

Boost your LinkedIn presence with Grammarly, catching grammar, spelling, and comma issues. Install the free Grammarly Chrome extension from grammarly.com to get real-time corrections.

Set up Calendly, integrate with Google Calendar or Office 365, customize availability and questions, and share a calendar link to book 15-minute calls with clients.

Learn to use Feedly to curate and share content for social selling, set up RSS feeds, follow sources, and build a focused content dashboard to support LinkedIn social selling.

Learn to use Hootlet, a free Chrome extension, to schedule LinkedIn posts and manage up to three profiles with optional email reminders for timely sharing.

Auto Text Expander provides a free Chrome extension that helps LinkedIn social sellers store and insert message templates via short codes like +w for welcome messages, boosting engagement.

Master the mobile text replacement feature by creating templates with phrases and short codes on iPhone and Android, then save them for use across your phone and Chrome app.

Use Chrome bookmarks to organize LinkedIn by creating folders, saving profiles with the star, and using the bookmark manager to open all at once for engagement.

Define a quality first-degree connection strategy by mapping buyers, engaging clients and networking circles, while avoiding connect and forget syndrome and building a consistent engagement system.

Choose a networker mindset on LinkedIn by connecting with clients, networking partners, strategic alliance partners, and even competition, to leverage referrals and connections for social selling.

Manage LinkedIn invitations by evaluating received requests and choosing to accept, ignore, or message for context; monitor and withdraw sent invites, mindful of a three-week resend rule.

Master the LinkedIn inbox by composing messages, managing enter-to-send settings, and using unread filters to capture and respond to messages from first-degree connections.

Learn to create LinkedIn pods: group inbox messages up to 50 people for mastermind or content amplification, invite members, name the pod, and manage participants on mobile and desktop.

On LinkedIn, welcome new connections with a value-driven template, share resources, and initiate sales conversations using the network tab, profile viewing, and customized messages.

Identify new LinkedIn connections from the Network tab and send a purposeful welcome message, tracking the full message thread to ensure each new connection receives the appropriate welcome.

Set up your mobile text expander to speed up on-the-go messaging. In the LinkedIn app, review connection requests, accept appropriate ones, and send a personalized welcome message in three parts.

Engage with who viewed your LinkedIn profile to drive business development by sending personalized messages to first-degree connections or targeted requests to second- and third-degree stakeholders, following a caller-ID mindset.

Learn how to send personalized connection requests on the LinkedIn mobile app, using the three-dot menu, private messages, and options like follow and QR code.

Build targeted LinkedIn buyer lists by crafting boolean search strings with or, and, not, quotes, and parentheses for titles like vice president or director in marketing or sales.

Use your LinkedIn search string with all filters to map buyers by title and location, then narrow to staffing and recruiting in the Greater Philadelphia Area.

Find and engage first-degree connections with targeted searches by geography, industry, company, and job title. Save searches as desktop folders or chrome bookmarks to access new matches and support re-engagement.

Discover how to find and engage first-degree LinkedIn connections with timely, personalized welcome messages that share value and spark introductory calls, using saved searches while avoiding spam.

Export your first-degree connections by downloading your data from LinkedIn settings and privacy, selecting connections, then open the csv archive to view names, companies, positions, and connection dates.

Run a LinkedIn re-engagement campaign focused on first-degree connections by buyer mapping, saved searches, and targeted engagement - profiles, activity, endorsements, and content - to stay top of mind and spark conversations.

Explore how to navigate LinkedIn notifications, customize settings across network, news, and profile, and respond to different notification types to stay top of mind and reengage your network.

Learn how to use LinkedIn notifications for endorsements, birthdays, and mentions to engage targeted buyers, stay top of mind, and share thought leadership in social selling.

Reinforce a horizontal and vertical connection strategy, including hr and supervisors, to stay socially proximate. When new jobs or promotions occur, personalize congratulations, re-engage, and seek introductions to expand opportunities.

Learn to use LinkedIn reactions, comments, and shares notifications to engage your network, stay top of mind, and grow thought leadership.

Learn to use LinkedIn mobile notifications, mirroring desktop controls with mute or delete options and privacy settings, and engage quickly during the golden hour to support social selling.

Master warm market prospecting by leveraging LinkedIn connections to identify ideal clients through second-degree searches, craft personalized intro templates, and nurture relationships with value and referrals.

Learn to generate warm introductions on LinkedIn by mining your clients' connections, building a searchable list of 2nd-degree contacts with filters, and delivering personalized outreach via your CRM.

Leverage client relationships through permission-based name dropping to secure targeted introductions, send thoughtful connection requests, and schedule calls using customizable templates, while crafting welcome messages that prompt calendar scheduling.

Improve your sales networking by coordinating with trusted partners to exchange LinkedIn connection lists, craft introductions in each other’s voices, and make targeted referrals after coffee meetings.

Navigate your school's alumni page on LinkedIn to filter by school, find alumni at target companies, and review their roles, skills, and connections for personalized outreach.

Apply account-centric sales on LinkedIn by researching targeted companies, mapping stakeholders, prioritizing paths by social proximity, and cultivating champions to secure introductions and appointments.

Map social proximity to prioritize first-degree decision makers, influencers, and second-degree connections, using warm introductions to penetrate target accounts and refine your go-to-market strategy.

Identify similar prospects on LinkedIn by using company pages to build a list of opportunities beyond initial targets for social selling.

Engage on LinkedIn by sharing value-based, vendor-agnostic insights to lead with knowledge, build social proximity, and become a thought leader through consistent, insightful content.

Mastering LinkedIn for social selling shows how to create buyer’s journey content categories—from before the need to cross-sell—while building a thought-leader profile with case studies, white papers, and ROI data.

Discover 10 LinkedIn content types—blogs, white papers, interviews, case studies, imagery, e-books, infographics, podcasts, webinars, and video—and learn to post, repurpose, and engage audiences.

Explore the what, where, and why of LinkedIn posts and articles, including post formats, article headlines, and the role of hashtags in discovery for your prospects.

Learn how to start posts, upload images, videos, or documents, add hashtags, tag people and companies, and give kudos to grow your LinkedIn network.

Learn three ways to curate content for a personal library of insights, using Phoebe dot com to build a content dashboard, hashtags, and keyword-driven discovery for engaging with industry influencers.

Learn how to use LinkedIn hashtags to discover and curate content, follow topics, save and organize bookmarks, and share relevant posts to boost social selling.

Curate and organize LinkedIn posts for consistent engagement by saving and bookmarking top creators' posts into a 'people's posts' folder using the bookmark manager.

Create original content across formats, including blog posts, images, native video, text posts, and documents, and apply best practices for captions and LinkedIn posts to attract buyers.

Master the art of LinkedIn blog post publishing by crafting a clear title, compelling graphic, and promised takeaway, plus SEO keywords and a decisive call to action for social selling.

Recycle evergreen posts to drive traffic by sharing them in your news feed, groups, and email signature, and mention people in welcome messages to invite first-degree connections.

Close your social selling journey by connecting with Bill and myself on LinkedIn and signing up for the social sales income newsletter for updates on LinkedIn tactics and strategies.