If you follow me on social media, read my blogs, watch my videos or have met me, you have likely heard me say, “LinkedIn is a business tool” repeatedly. I say this because I get real value for my business from my use of LinkedIn.
LinkedIn Business Processes
A few of the reasons I can get the value I get from LinkedIn include:
- My LinkedIn Profile is my public document regarding what I do to serve my Most Important Viewer (target audience). My connections, current and new, are clear about what I do.
- My LinkedIn Network is a collection of people I do or could do business with, in the industries I serve, the people I pay attention to, follow and lots of people I like. My LinkedIn network is an important portal to new connections, conversations and business.
- My LinkedIn content is a collection of articles, videos, stories and shares, again relevant to the work I do in my business and community service areas. The reputation I have build on LinkedIn positions me as what many call, “The expert in LinkedIn.”
- Daily, I use LinkedIn following deliberate processes that result in value for my business as well as for me personally. When I follow my processes I am far more successful achieving my goals.
Because my purpose and goals for using LinkedIn may be different than other’s, my processes could be different as well. However, my basic processes can be useful for everyone using LinkedIn for business, community and/or career goal.
Here are three of my primary business processes that include using LinkedIn as a business tool:
Process #1 – Business Card Process
Every time I meet someone new and they give me their business card I do the following:
- Enter their contact information in my Google Suite Contacts with notation of when/where we met.
- Send them an email thanking them for the ‘meeting’ and if appropriate, move the conversation to the next logical step in the message.
- Search for them on LinkedIn. If they are there, I send them an invite to connect with a personal note, again, referencing how we met.
- If they list a Facebook, Twitter or Instagram account on their business card, I connect there as well, again messaging them on each platform.
- I put the business card in a large bucket in my office, because I now have access to their contact information from all of my devices and social media sites.
I perform this process at the end of each day.
Process #2 – Inbound LinkedIn Connection Process
When I get an invite to connect on LinkedIn I follow this process:
- I manage all LinkedIn Invites from the Manage Invitations Page.
- If I have multiple new invitations (I always do), I right click on the LinkedIn Member Names and ‘Open in New Tab’ for each new pending invite.
- Before viewing the LinkedIn Profiles in the new tabs, I look for invites with personal notes. I process these first.
- I view each LinkedIn Member from the new tabs I opened. I determine if I want to accept the invite or not.
- If I want to accept the invite:
- I click accept from the LinkedIn Member Profile Page.
- Currently LinkedIn shows I accepted the invite in text at the top of the current page. I click on the LinkedIn Member’s name there to open their LinkedIn Profile back up.
- Currently I have to hit Page Refresh to show I have accepted the invite.
- I end this step by either calling the new connection, sending them an email or a LinkedIn message. The communication choice is dependent on the business relevance and their contact information.
- I I do not want to accept the invite, I close the tab with the LinkedIn Member’s Profile and move on to the next potential connection, in the next browser tab.
- After viewing all of the profiles of the potential connections, I return to the Manage Invitations Page. I hit Page Refresh to show the remaining invitations which I have not accepted yet.
- I respond to each pending invite with a message asking them for some insights as to why they want to connect. Currently the text I use reads: “Hello {Name}. Thanks for the invite to connect. Please remind me, have we met or talked yet, or if someone referred me to you. If you are searching for LinkedIn training or coaching, please let me know what type of support you need, individual or group. I look forward to your reply. Thanks Teddy Burriss” (I format the text better in the actual message.)
- I give the LinkedIn Member one week to respond to my message.
- If I get a relevant response
- I accept the invitation and execute step 5.4 above.
- If I get an irrelevant response or no response in 1 week’s time, I do the following:
- I respond to the message asking the LinkedIn Member to follow me. Currently the text I use reads: “Hi {Name}. Thanks for the invitation and response. Please follow me here with this link – https://www.linkedin.com/in/tlburriss/detail/recent-activity/posts/ I hope you enjoy what I share here {Name}. Teddy Burriss LinkedIn Coach, Trainer & Keynote Speaker” (I format the text better in the actual message.)
- I click Ignore on the invitation.
I perform this process at least once a day before the end of the day. I do not let my pending inbound LinkedIn invitations stack up.
Process #3 – Network Engagement
My LinkedIn Network is a component of my most important asset in life, My Network. For this reason it’s important for me to engage with my LinkedIn Network when possible. Despite what some LinkedIn Members say, I like the birthday and career move/milestone notifications in LinkedIn. When used with purpose and focused on your Most Important Viewer, it can create an opportunity for a conversation.
This is my basic process for managing these notifications:
- I scroll through the latest LinkedIn Notifications for no more than 30 seconds.
- I look for LinkedIn Members I know and/or those I want to expand my relationship with, who have birthdays, career moves/milestones.
- For those members I want to grow my relationship with I do the following:
- Birthdays – I go to their profile and call, email or send a LinkedIn message wishing them a great birthday. I generally will not click on the birthday announcement post in LinkedIn.
- Career move/milestone. I go to their profile to confirm the notification is accurate. If so, I call, email or LinkedIn Message them (in this order). Again, I generally do not use the career milestone announcement post in LinkedIn.
- For those members who are not highly relevant to my business, community or career goals (today), I may use the announcement post to wish them a great birthday, but I do not use the career moves/milestones announcement post.
I do this work typically in the late morning so I can catch the announcements in Notifications.
These are only three of my key business processes that relate to LinkedIn. I have processes for:
- Outbound LinkedIn Invites
- Prospecting
- Getting introduced
- Getting Mentioned in a LinkedIn Post
- Getting Mentioned in a comment on a LinkedIn Post
- Business Research
- Finding the best connection in an organization
- Posting new articles
- Sharing 3rd Party curated content
- Group management
- Company Page activities
- and others
Do you have LinkedIn business processes for your use of LinkedIn as a business tool? Should you?
If you want help using LinkedIn or leading your team to use LinkedIn effectively let’s talk – info@BurrissConsulting.com or 336-283-6121