Realise your online potential on LinkedIn

Do you just collect more and more connections at networking events but never really do anything productive with them? 

If this is your experience then we hope our advice and practical steps aimed specifically at mortgage brokers will help you explore what you could be doing to use LinkedIn to its full potential.

Is your profile good enough?

It is always a good idea to take a look at your profile as though you were someone wondering whether to connect with you. Ask yourself honestly: would you? If not, what is missing? What would put you off?         

Check that your profile gives a full picture of your job experience and professional skills. Make sure there are no gaps in your employment history.

When you first set up your profile, you may have kept it basic to get up and running, so it is worth going back and reviewing it. LinkedIn recommends that to be complete your profile includes:

• Industry area;
• Current position with description;
• Two more positions;
• Education;
• At least five skills;
• Profile photo;
• At least 50 connections;
• A summary;
• Work samples or projects; and
• Volunteer experience.

The more complete it is, the more likely you are to appear in searches, so it is worth spending time fleshing it out.          

Company page

As well individual profiles, businesses can have a company page. It is free and easy to set up and it makes sense to get your products and services in front of as many professionals, in as many formats, as possible.

Fill in a company summary and use as many keywords as possible to help your business show up in a search.

The cover photo is a good opportunity to prominently display your branding. Use the products and services tabs and ensure whatever you want to promote is listed first, as this will feature on the sidebar.

Then, start posting regular updates and ask your employees to follow and interact with any activity.

Using LinkedIn day to day

Whether you are looking to make connections, raise brand awareness or generate leads, LinkedIn is a great tool.   

LinkedIn uses an algorithm to stop its members being bombarded, so organic reach is hard to achieve. The first 50 people that see your status update play an important role in how well the post gets shared.

The more likes, comments or shares you get from these 50 people, the bigger the reach.    

Here are some tips on creating updates that can boost organic reach:

• Make sure status updates are between 700 to 1,200 characters
• Include a relevant image
• Do not include links to sites away from LinkedIn
• Use hashtags that relate to your subject
• Tag a few people in your post or comment section.

Every time someone engages with your updates, re-engage with a thank you or comment.

Advertising

You may decide you want to go further than what is currently being achieved through organic reach. If so, it is worth considering some advertising on LinkedIn.

You can build your audience and target them specifically in terms of demographic, location and job function.

You can boost some of your posts that are getting good engagement by treating them as sponsored content. LinkedIn can be a highly effective means of lead generation this way.      

Networking 

Networking or building relationships is probably still the most important aspect of LinkedIn. 

Like traditional networking, you get out what you put in. If you attend an event and do not talk to anyone, you will find it a waste of time.

However, if you chat to people and listen to them you will find it much more productive. So too with LinkedIn – if you just build your profile but rarely log in or actively post or comment, you are not going to get much from it.

The more connections you have, the more effective LinkedIn will be.

Think about the magic ‘50’ – the minimum number recommended for your profile and the first 50 people to engage with your posts and help with organic reach. 

Some people only connect with people they have actually met. Others will connect with anyone who invites them to build their network, as well as actively approach people they do not know.

Decide what works for you. It’s a good habit to look back over your emails once a week and see who you have communicated with and invite them to connect.

Use the groups 

Groups are a particularly useful feature of LinkedIn. They give access to huge numbers of people who are all interested in the same topics.

You are allowed to join up to 100 groups, so research a variety and join ones that are likely to present you with the best networking opportunities.

Look for groups that are related to your area, social causes and alumni. Try and find ones that have lots of members and activity. For example, there’s the Mortgage Brokers UK group with nearly 6,000 members.

Winning clients

Winning business should not be your primary motivation for being on LinkedIn.

We have all come across people who invite us to connect and then immediately launch into a blatant sales pitch. Instead use LinkedIn for building long-term relationships.  

Nevertheless, such a large network of professional contacts can be very useful. If you focus on building a group of people that you know you like and trust, it is only natural that at some point you will recommend people or do business with someone. 

The following stats speak for themselves: 51 per cent of companies acquired a business-to-consumer customer through LinkedIn and LinkedIn is responsible for 64 per cent of all visits from social media channels to corporate websites.

Recruiting

With 562m members, LinkedIn is a powerful tool for recruiting. By posting job vacancies on the platform, you are likely to increase the possibility of attracting the right type of candidates as the site will present qualified candidates with your posting.

You can also ask your network for recommendations for a particular job – the larger your network, the more referrals you will get of good quality.

Also make a point of staying in touch through LinkedIn with people you’ve worked with as these could be your next best employees. 

Hopefully these tips will help you to use Linkedin effectively to grow your business and get the most out of the opportunities it presents.

Jeremy Duncombe is director of intermediary at Accord Mortgages