When it comes to social selling: “Are you popular or productive?” was the subject of my recent rant with Viveka Von Rosen, LinkedIn and Branding expert. From racy pictures on LinkedIn to productive marketing strategies we covered a lot of ground during a short conversation.
It’s Not The Size That Counts, It’s The Quality
If you have a MILLION random people in your network that you aren’t engaging with, it’s just popularity. When you engage with smaller numbers of the RIGHT people you’re saving time and building your business faster. The big question is: If you’re getting comments and likes on your LinkedIn content: Are you actually engaging with those people and getting clients?
Let’s look at how to be productive and what not to do…
Numbers Without Meaning: The LinkedIn post that got 10,000 comments. Now what?
You get 10,000 comments on a LinkedIn post – but then what? It’s not about the numbers, it’s about what you DO with those numbers and how you follow up with people. Engaging with the RIGHT 50 people will take you further than 10,000 comments that just sit there.
THE PROBLEM: Tricks to get numbers for the sake of numbers attract the wrong people and loses business opportunities.
THE STORY: Viveka tells her clients the end result of writing articles is NOT to get published on LinkedIn Pulse or media outlets to boost their numbers. The end result IS to create conversations with their target markets and gain new clients.
YOUR SOLUTION: It’s not about popularity or how many views your article gets. It’s about interacting with the people that comment. Answer these questions to get started:
- How are you engaging with them?
- Are you following up with them?
- Are you keeping track of your comments?
- Are you taking an opportunity when someone asks you a question in your comments to respond to them, get on the phone with them to answer their question and convert them into a client?
Branding Gone Horribly Wrong: That bikini picture with 500,000 likes and comments on LinkedIn
Everyone is commenting and commenting on the people commenting. But what are they saying about the person that posted it?
THE PROBLEM: Everything
THE STORY: If you post things like that you’re creating conversations with the wrong people and you’ve upset most of the right people. If you comment “This isn’t appropriate for LinkedIn!” then it will keep showing up on your timeline because of all the comments. You lose either way.
YOUR SOLUTION: Don’t post them. Don’t comment on them. Instead…
Attract the RIGHT people!
- Decide what you want to be known for. Bikini pics and genius games or professional expertise?
- Create content that amplifies your brand to the RIGHT people.
- Create a database of people commenting and reach out to them instead of “anyone that will listen” (Tip: Nimble does that for you!
- Share those peoples’ content and talk about them. Answer their questions, start dialogues and create opportunities to close new business.
“It’s all about being PRODUCTIVE with
The content you create.
It’s not about the number of views.”
~Viveka Von Rosen, @LinkedInExpert
CONNECT WITH VIVEKA!
Forbes listed Viveka as a top social media Influencer for 4 years in a row, and she has been cited in Entrepreneur, CNN, Forbes and more.
- Viveka loves sharing her experiences through interviews; if an interview like this one would be helpful for your audience let her know!
- If you know anyone that wants to create a better LinkedIn presence please let them know about her book LinkedIn: 101 Ways To Rock Your Personal Brand
- Currently, she’s focusing on speaking and consulting about third-party tools like Nimble that can help you FIND, CONNECT and ENGAGE with people and convert your connections into clients. If you need help with that reach out.
Her phone number and email are on her LinkedIn profile. Be sure to send a personal message and mention that you read this interview!
