A short LinkedIn training course given to sales and marketing individuals

1. z
LinkedIn Training presented by
Search Online Consulting

2. SOC and Ryan Sauer
• SOC was founded in 2009
• Worked with over 200 brands to deliver
quality digital solutions in consulting,
training and implementation
• Digital marketing agency
• Digital auditing
• About Ryan Sauer?

3. The history of social media
In order to know where we are going we
need to know where we have been
Where have we been?

4. The internet 1.0
• This was the beginning of the internet
• Websites were static and for the purpose of
passively browsing information
• No content could be generated and the user
could not communicate with the site.

5. The internet 2.0
A Web 2.0 site allows users to interact and collaborate with
each other in a social media dialogue
• Search functions
• Blogs
• Comments
• RSS
• Logins

6. The internet 3.0
The Semantic web:
• This means the internet will begin to think
• You can ask questions
• Based on the history the results
will be customised
• Internet browsing is customised
• Users find more relevant info

7. What is a social network?

8. So What is LinkedIn?
• LinkedIn is a social network that services the
purpose of connecting people in relation to their
professional careers and work paths.
• LinkedIn is made for people with business
interests to connect to others with similar
business interests.

9. So does it make money?
• Revenue for the second quarter of 2013 was $363.7
million, an increase of 59% compared to $228.2 million
in the second quarter of 2012.
• Net income for the second quarter was $3.7 million
• LinkedIn in SA grew by 20% in the last year
• LinkedIn has over 2.3 Million users in SA
• LinkedIn has 3 key financial drivers:
– Talent Solutions: represented 56% of total revenue in the
second quarter
– Marketing Solutions: represented 24% of total revenue in the
second quarter
– Premium Subscriptions: represented 20% of total revenue in
the second quarter

10. What is social capital?
• Social capital are the networks within and
between social networks.
– Bonds: Common Identity
– Bridges: Beyond shared sense of identity
– Linkages: Links up or down social ladder
• A social network has value and the ease at
which a person can move between networks is
an advantage in terms of networking.
• Calculating social capital

11. Why LinkedIn and not other Social?
• Different social platforms have been created for
different target markets
• Facebook: Personal life- friends and family
• Pinterest/ instagram: Pictures, daily life
• Twitter: SMS of the web for 140 character
thoughts
• Youtube: Video Content search engine and
social network
• LinkedIn: Business network for professionals

12. Social currency
Being truly social means not talking at people but rather
too people
Property of SOC
Duplication prohibited
Deposit Withdraw
Interest

13. LinkedIn basics: Creating an
Account- Key areas
• Use an email address you frequently check
• Current work and past positions and companies
are important
• Professional pictures make a difference
• Do not invite friends until your account is nice
and meaty
• Write all content in word and check for spelling
mistakes
• Aim for 100% complete profile

14. LinkedIn basics: Profile
completeness checklist
Task Date Completed Next update
Create a Profile
Professional photo
Customise personal headline
Add website and social media
Add linkedIn to your website
Get 5 recommendations
Get 20 endorsements
Add Skills and expertise
List experience
Sharing interesting posts
Connect with others

15. LinkedIn basics: Profile
completeness- Skills
• Check you have segmented yourself for the right
skills
• Keywords are key to being found
• Be unique or follow the main thought
• Make sure you focus on
– Professional Headline
– Title Fields
– Specialties
– Interests
– Recommendations
– Education (Activities and Societies)

16. LinkedIn basics: Profile
completeness- Skills
• Top 10 overused terms used in the US:
1. Extensive experience
2. Innovative
3. Motivated
4. Results-oriented
5. Dynamic
6. Proven track record
7. Team player
8. Fast-paced
9. Problem solver
10. Entrepreneurial

17. LinkedIn basics: Profile
completeness- Skills
• LinkedIn unfortunately rewards keyword stuffing
• So….Think of words that would be more niche
and less travelled than "business", "social
media", or "technology". Those mainstream
keywords aren't worth it as you'll have to
sacrifice your profile.

18. LinkedIn basics: Finalizing your
custom URL
• Make yourself findable in search
• Try get your name
• If you cant try get your middle initial in there
• If you cant try get your name and your co first
name
• Don’t have a URL that looks like:
linked.com/pub/ryan-sauer/6/8a/bb8/

19. LinkedIn basics: Posting updates
• Creating updates is where the social element
begins
• People can comment like and share updates
• Post in the morning for maximum reach
• Add links where possible
• Strong call to action

20. LinkedIn basics: Grow your
connections
There are 2 schools of thought:
1. Accept and invite everyone:
You will reach more people if you accept all
connections.
You never know who wants to do business with you
2. Accept and invite only close connections:
Create a small niche community of trusted people
Reduce the possibility of spam
Trusted community mean better endorsements and
referrals

21. LinkedIn basics: Endorsements Vs
Recommendations
• Endorsements are like a little poke to potential
people you want to connect with.
• Endorsements are a dime a dozen and do add
legitimacy
• Endorsements only come from first level
connections: so if it is people you don’t know its
because you have expanded your network that way!
• Delete ridiculous endorsements
• List your skills to get the right endorsements
• Recommendations take time and are much more
deliberate

22. LinkedIn intermediate: Searching
• Write the keywords of the people you want
• Do you want prospective clients or other
complimentary fields?
• Do you want to follow competitors?
• Finding the people you want
• Find the companies you want

23. LinkedIn intermediate: connecting
• Write a customised introduction
• Make sure the request is sent with the right
segmentation
• Introductions are used when you don’t know the
person and want another contact to introduce
you.
• Inmail: only available on Premium accounts-
Allows you to send a personal intro before
connecting
• You are limited to 3,000 invites (how do you
know how many you sent?)

24. LinkedIn Advanced: SEO for
LinkedIn
• LinkedIn has its own ranking algorithm
– The more complete the profile the better your chance
– Large networks mean you reach more search users
– Having keyword dense content helps but try not to be
spammy
– Endorsements do not affect your ranking on LinkedIn

25. LinkedIn basics: Company profile
• fill out the products/services part of a LinkedIn company
page. It is a great SEO opportunity and can really
skyrocket page visibility and ROI of your presence
• Send targeted messages to specific followers
• Encourage employees to be on LinkedIn- the increase
your network of people to connect to.
• Follow your competitors as a business and know who
they are hiring and who is leaving as well as news

26. LinkedIn basics: Company profile
1. Claim and create your Page
2. Add products and services
3. Organise and promote
4. Make your products tab dynamic
5. 5 next steps

27. LinkedIn Advanced: Groups
• Groups are the social part of LinkedIn. You can
only join 50
• You need to participate
• Create articles
• Comment on others
• This is how relationships are born
• Create a custom LinkedIn group for employees

28. LinkedIn advanced: advertising
• B2B communication
• Create Personas
• Work on a CPC basis
• Generate relevant ad copy

29. LinkedIn advanced: advertising
• keep in mind that the budgets, bids, and ads are set at
the campaign level.
• if you create a flat campaign structure (lumping all
options together in one campaign) you will have very
little control over performance
• There is a CTR minimum threshold - around 0.025%.
• tag your ad URLs
• Run A/B testing

30. A warning on passwords
• Keep it unique
• Change it frequently
• Have logic behind passwords Example:
RSLink2013Q3!

31. How to Integrate LinkedIn
• You have a larger marketing strategy for your
business
• You need to think how LinkedIn integrates
• Send potential clients to your public profile
• Post intelligent updates
• Link Twitter and Li
• Post your website URL in your profile
• Place social buttons on your website

32. Other cool LinkedIn tips
• Turn off your LinkedIn Activity broadcast
• Start the convo first connect later

33. References:
• LinkedIn.com- Various company pages
• linkedintobusiness.com- various pages
• dashburst.com
• Forbes.com
• clickz.com

34. Questions:

35. Contact us:
Ryan@searchoc.co.za
082-788-2249
www.searchoc.co.za
011-778-4631
5 Sturdee Avenue
Rosebank
Johannesburg