MWWPR Guest Blog: Four Tips to Use LinkedIn Effectively

As the Unsecured Finance Sector Sponsor of the National Association of Commercial Finance Brokers (NACFB), we recently hosted a LinkedIn workshop with public relations firm MWWPR. The half day course was aimed at brokers and financial advisers to help them understand how to deepen relationships, establish a stronger online presence and create new business opportunities via LinkedIn. Here Gareth Davies, VP Digital Strategy at MWWPR, shares his top tips for making the most of the social media channel.

LinkedIn is a fantastic platform for building business connections and whether you’re a one-man band or part of a huge organisation, it’s a powerful resource at your fingertips. Using the platform for sales and lead generation is a no-brainer and users are receptive to content that’s relevant to them and their profession. Below are some top tips for those who want to engage and attract new audiences on LinkedIn.

Conduct a personal profile health check

Think of your personal profile as an extension of yourself. It should reflect the best of you – your skills, your passions and your career history to date. Make sure yours does this properly. When looking to enhance your personal profile, think of the following questions:

1. Is there any critical information missing?
2. What information should I be communicating about my work and experience?
3. What do I want people to view on my public profile that isn’t there?

Getting this right is the basis of building an engaging profile that prospective clients and the wider LinkedIn community want to interact with.

Connect and learn from your peers

LinkedIn can seem a bit overwhelming as there’s a huge amount of content available. This also means that there’s a lot to inspire you and your personal or business profile. Start searching industries and sectors you want to target and look for relevant job titles to find the people and businesses you want to be speaking to. Spend time connecting and following these individuals and brands – learn from them, see what works and adapt your content strategy accordingly.

Pay attention to the content they’re posting; is it long-form or short-form? Are they sharing a lot of media stories? Can you see any key industry themes? Are there specific hashtags like #propertyinvestor or #investing that are driving conversations?

Create and curate your own content stream

Self-publishing is a key part of building your network and establishing yourself as a thought leader. That being said, don’t publish whatever comes into your head that day; think about the content that would engage and enthuse your target audience like any recent reports in house price fluctuations. You should share content three to five times a week, from industry trends and articles to content you have written yourself. When writing your own long-form content, it’s important to be as captivating as possible. Think
about the following when writing:

• What headline will get people’s attention? Do you want to be contentious?
• What are the key elements of an issue or story you want to cover?
• What’s your unique point of view on the issue?
• What does this mean for a business operating in this space?

Reach new audiences

Now you have an engaging and interesting personal or business profile, it’s time to start thinking about reaching new audiences. LinkedIn can be a powerful tool for building brand awareness, generating business leads and establishing yourself as a thought leader. Put a small amount of marketing spend behind your content to boost its reach and speak directly to your target audiences. The targeting on LinkedIn is incredibly sophisticated and you can advertise direct to the industries or professionals you want. This can be tricky at first, so play around with a very small amount of spend until you get the hang of it or enlist the help of people with this expertise.

If you need any more help with improving your LinkedIn presence and reaching new audiences, please get in touch with MWWPR.