HOW CAN I USE

LINKEDIN TO GROW MY AGENCY?

By Ted Janusz

Unlike the other two other major social networking sites, Facebook and Twitter, LinkedIn is the networking site exclusively for business. In fact, LinkedIn was the last major social networking site that allowed photographs. Even today, you can only have one – as your profile photo.

No fun and games here. No posting tons of photographs like on Facebook, or telling your followers what you are eating for dinner like on Twitter, LinkedIn is like the corporate boardroom or the conservative, three-piece suit. LinkedIn is serious . . . about commerce.

Here’s a Brief History of LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a professional contact database that was launched in May 2003 by Reid Hoffman, formerly of PayPal. Its members can create a profile and network with its more than 100 million members in more than 200 countries. Members include high-level executives from all Fortune 500 companies.

How popular is LinkedIn?

LinkedIn has over 300 million users in 200 countries and territories.

So what? Why should I care?

Compared to the other two major social networking sites, LinkedIn’s users are:

• Older (median age: 41) • Wealthier (six-figure household income) • Predominantly male (2/3 male, 1/3 female) • College educated (4/5 have a college degree)

A Quick Tour of the LinkedIn Website

Wouldn’t you like access to that group of potential clients? Best of all, your use of LinkedIn can be free.

A question I often get asked in my social media marketing presentations is, “I’ve signed up on LinkedIn. What’s next?”

Though LinkedIn does not come with a user’s manual, you don’t need to be a computer whiz to get immediate benefits from the site. Let’s take a quick tour of the LinkedIn site.

It’s All About Connections

The main purpose of LinkedIn is to allow its users to maintain a list of contact details about people they know and trust in business. On Facebook these people are called friends. On Twitter they are called followers. But on LinkedIn these people are called connections. Users can invite anyone (whether a LinkedIn user or not) to become a connection.

This list of connections can then be used in a number of ways:

• A contact network can be built consisting of o direct connections o the connections of each of their connections (called second-degree

connections) and o the connections of second-degree connections (called third-degree

connections). • This network can be used to gain an introduction to someone you would like to know

through a mutual, trusted contact. • LinkedIn can then be used to find people and business opportunities recommended by

someone in one's contact network.

The first step on the website is to go to LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com and complete your user profile if you haven’t already done so. You see my LinkedIn profile on the screen shot below. Make sure that your profile is filled in completely, along with that one photograph.

In the screen shot below of the LinkedIn application, across the top of the screen, you will find the Home, Profile, Connections, Jobs and Interests links.

Let’s take a look across the top bar of the screen, from left to right. The first tab is for Profile. By clicking on the tab, we get the drop-down option for Edit Profile.

The next tab is for Connections.

From this drop-down menu, the first option is Keep in Touch. By going to this option, you have an excellent opportunity to congratulate your connections (who are hopefully your clients and prospects) who are:

• Celebrating a birthday • Celebrating a new job • Celebrating a work anniversary

The second option under the Connections link is to Add Connections.

By entering your email address, you can allow LinkedIn to import your address book. LinkedIn will then suggest additional connections for you based upon it knowing who you already communicate with via email.

The next option under Connections is Find Alumni. This is a very interesting link, because once you click on it, you can find fellow LinkedIn members who attended your college.

For instance, on the screen you will see that for where I went to graduate school, the Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business, I can find out the following about those who graduated from my class and other years:

• Where they live • Where they work • What they do • What they studied • What they’re skilled at • How you are connected

A very useful feature here in this section of LinkedIn for sales professionals is under the Notables link. By clicking on this link, you can see among your first, second and third degree connections prominent alumni from your college, with whom you already have something in common – your school!

If you attended more than one school, and you have indicated that on your LinkedIn profile, you can click the Change school button, select another school, and see similar information about LinkedIn members from that particular school.

The next link is for Jobs. When I clicked on that link, I found out, for instance, that currently there are 169 jobs available at Progressive Insurance. I also see the photographs of my connections who could help me get, if I were interested, one or more of those positions.

The next link is for Interests, and the first option is for Companies. By clicking on this Companies link, you will be taken to articles posted by the companies that you are following.

The second option under Interests is for Groups. By clicking on this Groups link, you will be taken to articles posted by the groups that you are following.

By looking at the screen, you will notice that I belong to 11 groups. Join groups that relate to your interests. These groups could include:

• The schools that you attended • The companies you work for or have worked for • The associations to which you belong

To do so, simply click on the blue Find a Group button on the right side of the screen. You may even want to consider creating your own group on LinkedIn by clicking on the gray Create a Group button next to it. A LinkedIn group that you should consider joining is the PIA – National Association of Professional Insurance Agents.

On the right side of the screen, you will see a link for Business Services. The first option from the drop-down list is to Post a Job. You can reach 300 million professionals worldwide by clicking the yellow Post a Job button.

The last option from the Business Services drop-down list is Sales Solutions. By clicking on this link you can learn about Sales Navigator.

In describing this LinkedIn feature, available for $80 a month, one regional sales director stated: "LinkedIn has become an indispensable resource for our Account Executives. Understanding the background of our target buyers and leveraging our collective professional network with LinkedIn helps us build relationships and access executives in a whole different way."

Finding Contacts at Companies

Let’s say you have been trying to get into Proctor and Gamble to sell your insurance services. With a large, multinational corporation like that, where would you even begin?

In the box at the top middle of your screen, type in Proctor and Gamble.

Once I do, and press the enter button, it takes me to the following screen.

At the top of the screen I see a first connection – this is someone to whom I am directly related – who is a former employee of Proctor and Gamble.

Below this first connection is a second connection, who is a current employee of Proctor and Gamble.

I could send a message to my first connection by clicking on the blue Message button, asking if she could help me connect to one or more of her former fellow employees.

Or, for the second connection, this again is a “friend of a friend,” I could click the blue Connect button, asking her if she would like to become a first connection.

Searching by Title

Let’s say that you wanted to target all the CEOs among your first, second and third degree connections.

Click the Advanced link at the top middle of your screen, then enter CEO in the Title box on the left side and click the blue Search button.

By the way, another benefit of joining appropriate groups, such as those of the colleges you attended, is that you can search among members of those groups without them needing to be among your first, second and third degree connections!

You will now see a list of all of the CEOs among your first, second and third degree connections displayed on your screen.

Of course, you can search by other criteria than Title. Scrolling down the left side of your screen, you will notice that you can also search by:

• Keywords • Location • Current company • Past company • Industry • School attended • Profile language • Even Nonprofit interests

The Power of LinkedIn Let’s say that you currently have 288 connections on the professional social networking site. LinkedIn could tell you that, based on those connections, you could have more than 91,200 contacts who are friends of friends, the 2nd degree contacts we mentioned, each one connected to one of your connections. In addition, you could have over 6,185,000 professionals (3rd degree contacts) that you could reach through a friend and one of their friends. Over 6 million potential clients. That’s the power of LinkedIn!

Because 92% of consumers looking for local businesses now start their journey with an Internet search, Ted Janusz speaks on how insurance agents can create great content for the Web, so that their agencies will be found. Ted has shared his expertise in each issue of the annual PIA Agency Marketing Guide as well as in social media webinars for PIA members. Contact Ted at ted@januspresentations.com.