Attracting clients on LinkedIn
Feb 24, 2020What if I told you there was a nearly effortless way to attract clients to you? Almost as easy as getting referrals…
I heard the same thing and thought it was hogwash so I set out to prove it wrong.
A while back I kept hearing that LinkedIn was the platform to be on, and how easy it was to get organic reach. But I kept thinking, “but the only people on LinkedIn are recruiters and my old coworkers.”
Then I happened across a webinar by Brittany Krystal about how LinkedIn worked so well so I took literally two pieces of advice from that and decided to try them out. Actually, I’d already implemented one of them mostly, so really I only implemented one and still saw success. I’m going to share the three things with you that the webinar covered, but I’m all about things being easier for me lately and spending less time on social media, not more.
After just a week of fine tuning my profile and following Step 2 below, I received two leads, and one is now a client. Having potential clients find you is optimum.
Why LinkedIn?
LinkedIn is perfect for B2B—Business-to-Business. And last I checked, as a bookkeeper you’re a business who serves other businesses. Of course, if you truly don’t think your ideal client is on LinkedIn then don’t hang out there. But at the very least you should have a profile. 3 reasons:
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To showcase your prior experience instead of effectively having your resume on your website
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To show that you are a professional.
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Your LinkedIn Profile will come up in google searches if someone searches for your name.
How does LinkedIn Work
Do you remember the days when Facebook showed you all of your friends’ activity? One of your friends commented on a post of someone who wasn’t your friend but you could see that?
That’s what is happening on LinkedIn. Someone in your network comments or reacts to something you shared (and it can just be someone else’s content, doesn’t have to be yours), and their network will see that activity. Then they may get curious about who you are and check your profile, especially if you are providing thoughtful and value-added conversation. This is basically free advertising. Something unheard of on Facebook these days unless you have a highly engaged Facebook Group.
This is called organic reach. No paid ads, no trying to “beat the algorithm.”
How to use LinkedIn to market your bookkeeping business
I know, I told you to set up your personal profile. Not a business one. Yes, there is an option to set up business pages, but it isn’t necessary for small companies unless you want to run ads or put up job postings.
I’m sure you’re ready to dive into those 3 LinkedIn secrets on how to grow your reach, increase your visibility, or advertise for free—whatever you want to call it.
STEP 1: BUILD YOUR PROFILE
Your LinkedIn Profile has various sections and you should fill them all in. But there are a few key points I want you to focus on getting right:
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Your photo—this must be professional. Whether you can manage to get a head-shot done or have someone take a pic in portrait mode for you. Please make sure you have a good quality, not pixelated or blurry, professional, clear and close enough picture so people can see your face. This builds connection and trust.
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Headline—this essentially is your value statement. If you haven’t figured this out yet, go back to this post or download the Bookkeeper’s Bizkit to help you out. Who you help, how you help them.
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About section—write out your 30 second elevator pitch. This is a more in depth version of your value statement. Again, check out the Bizkit for help honing in on this messaging. Write it out in first person, in your voice. If you were to read it or say it out loud, it needs to sound like you. Don’t write in 3rd person. Everyone knows you wrote your own bio. Don’t pretend to be introduced by someone else! Talk about the transformations you bring your clients and the value you provide. They’ll see your experience when they scroll down to look at your experience section, so you don’t really need to go over that.
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Featured section—this is where I see a lot of people go wrong. This is prime real estate for links to your website or something you’ve created. Make it easy for someone to land on your website and learn even more about you or hire you. Don’t make it hard for people to find a way to contact you! This should be the case on any social media platform and on your website!
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Experience, Volunteer, Licenses, Recommendations—obviously fill all of this out. If you have prior co workers or clients, ask them to provide a recommendation (testimonial) via LinkedIn.
STEP 2: ENGAGE ON LINKEDIN
By engage I mean comment and share. Find some companies or causes you resonate with. Perhaps someone who puts out great content related to business, accounting, or trends in an industry you serve (or of course, trends in the accounting industry!).
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Comment on their posts—share how this impacted you or how you resonate with it. Offer another point of view that their article or post didn’t touch on. Add value.
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Share their posts—when you share, don’t just simply share the article, add your thoughts in the post as well. Again, share how it impacted you, or enlightened you. Offer your point of view or talk about something that you think the article was missing. Add value.
Common theme: add value. Make sure your comments are either uplifting or thought provoking and you’re adding value to the conversation, or a different perspective. LinkedIn is no place for trolls. Let’s keep it professional.
STEP 3: CREATE CONTENT ON LINKEDIN
This is the step I have only dabbled in, but not on a consistent basis. And if you know anything about online marketing, consistency is key. Here are some types of content you can create:
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Native Articles—this means you write a blog, essentially on LinkedIn and post/share it.
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Text Posts—these are your regular ‘ol status updates.
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Images—Just like sharing a picture on Facebook.
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Video—yes, you can upload video on LinkedIn, just like Facebook and Instagram.
One thing that really helps about LinkedIn is that most people have fairly public profiles, unlike Facebook. Which is totally fine, because LinkedIn is not a place you’d share highly personal stuff. With that, let’s talk about...
How not to use LinkedIn
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Don’t share super personal stuff you wouldn’t want your colleagues or other professionals seeing
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Don’t share something you wouldn’t want your clients seeing
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I wouldn’t share photos of you on vacation until you return… This still boggles my mind when people do it on Facebook, but to each their own.
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Don’t be negative or disparaging. In other words, DON’T TROLL.
Key takeaways
If you take anything from this, do this:
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Make sure to have a complete profile with a clear way to reach you and hire you, showcasing exactly what you do. Don’t be cryptic or overly clever.
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Engage authentically and add value
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Create content that is relevant, inspiring, and thought-provoking
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Follow Brittany Krystal for some amazing tips on building a personal brand and learn more about LinkedIn marketing.
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Follow me on LinkedIn for some bookkeeping and accounting inspiration
Have you implemented any of these steps on LinkedIn? Comment below to tell me which ones and what successes you’ve seen so far.
If you would like more strategies for finding your ideal client check out The Bookkeeping Client Closer
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