3 Ways to Increase Brand Awareness on LinkedIn
Are you top of mind in your niche or industry? Whether you have a full roster of clients or need to book your first discovery call, increasing your brand awareness on LinkedIn ensures you always have just the right amount of new business.
Many of the in-demand experts I work with are booked solid with client projects slotted for months at a time when things are good, so they make the mistake of thinking they don't need to "do marketing."
But when you finish your projects and emerge back onto the LinkedIn scene expecting those hot prospects to remember you. POOF! Where'd they go?
The smart experts learn how to make brand awareness a habit on LinkedIn, so they always have just the right number of perfect-fit opportunities coming their way at a cadence they can profitably manage.
In this next episode of Mondays with Mindi, we talk about why it's not about how MUCH marketing or networking you do, but about showing up as consistently as you can every single week.
I'll share three of my favorite ways to do this that don't require spending hours a day hustling to get sales calls or commenting on bazillions of LinkedIn posts!
What is Brand Awareness, Anyway?
Brand Awareness is really just being top of mind in your industry or niche when it comes to your organization (or you yourself as an entrepreneur or expert) to solve a specific problem or provide a service.
There are a lot of “fluffy” metrics out there that claim to measure brand awareness on LinkedIn.
What brand awareness really is… how many people are in your sales pipeline or marketing funnel? Are you happy with that flow rate?
If you have a steady stream of clients or customers, then your brand awareness is likely on point.
When you notice an unpredictable flow to your funnel, brand awareness may be one of the components to review to be sure it’s in alignment with your business goals.
Brand awareness is not always the culprit when it comes to getting the right amount of new business, but it is a contributing factor.
Many of the experts I know have an unpredictable flow of business where it’s either feast or famine - they have more clients or customers than they can handle OR they are hustling for hours a day trying to get sales consults or demos booked on their calendar.
The goal with brand awareness is to stay top of mind enough that you never run out of new business opportunities, while also not overwhelming yourself or needing to scale too quickly (and destroy your profit margins) to handle new business and projects.
Brand awareness may not be sexy, but it’s an essential component for new business owners to work towards and for seasoned experts or organizations to manage ongoing.
So how do we create the right amount of brand awareness on LinkedIn?
Why Should We Focus on LinkedIn?
Subject matter experts, business leaders and specialists in their field believe that to increase brand awareness, they need to “figure out their entire social media marketing strategy” before taking any action online.
If you have a team, you may deliberate with your team for months working on your messaging, your brand colors, your social media guidelines, your company LinkedIn Page. Still not really seeing any progress or changes.
If you are more of a bootstrapped solopreneur or freelancer, you may be trying to single-handedly manage all of the client projects, plus your email list, plus your social media posts, plus the backlog of calls on your calendar.
Now you’re telling me to add LinkedIn to my “to do list?”
How many people do YOU know who say they’ll launch, write that book, start that business… as soon as they have a marketing plan! Or a podcast! Or a YouTube channel!
They feel that it’s too complicated to get started now, so they just avoid doing it altogether.
Thing is, there’s ONE overlooked place that is absolutely FREE for you to start increasing your brand awareness. AND walks you step-by-step through all of the nitty-gritty details that should be included in your personal brand.
It’s LinkedIn.
That channel staring you right in the face.
You know, the one you don’t log into unless you’re looking for a job? Yeah, that one.
And if you mention LinkedIn to the aforementioned people, they will totally discount it as “one of the many channels they’ll get to in their social media constellation” after they dial in their branding or marketing strategy.
At this point, I just want to shout from the rooftops: YOU DON’T NEED A FANCY STRATEGY. YOU JUST NEED A LINKEDIN PROFILE.
I have worked personally with dozens of clients, business leaders and executives who didn’t have a website or online portfolio, but they did not let that stop them from starting their business, landing their next opportunity, or getting their dream job.
When you know how to “work” your LinkedIn profile, your brand awareness can START on LinkedIn - and for many professionals and B2B organizations, that’s the ONLY channel they really need.
Prioritizing Your LinkedIn Profile
What if instead of looking at LinkedIn as “one of the socials,” you decided to value your LinkedIn profile as the home base for your personal brand?
What if you decided to invest in a little bit of training for some external-facing members at your organization to help them learn the ropes of LinkedIn, dial in their profiles, and become your company’s best advocates?
LinkedIn has ALL the sections you need to increase brand awareness for yourself and your organization,
All that you and your team need to do are to get clear on your experience, your story, showcase your work, link people elsewhere, share content that engages, and attract the right people when they’re in the mindset to do business with you or your company.
It’s totally counterintuitive to what we think.
We like to make things more complicated and think that an expensive social media consultant, website designer or branding firm who has the most gorgeous website and logo are the answers.
I’m not saying those things are meaningless, but I am saying that you can make a TON of progress with your organization, your brand awareness, your presence online if you get laser-focused on your LinkedIn profile and those of your team members FIRST before worrying about other channels.
If you’ve been looking for a way to simplify your efforts and maximize your return on investment, let’s talk about why your LinkedIn profile can kickstart your brand awareness on multiple levels.
You don’t have to wait. You can start… right now!
And, if you decide NOT to prioritize you and your team’s LinkedIn profile, guess what?
You’re going to waste weeks, months or years trying to hack the algorithm, pay for LinkedIn ads, and try a bunch of complex strategies that don’t work.
Go ahead, waste time on a pretty brand.
Watch how the people starting out at the same time as you skyrocket ahead with their business or seem to have an army of employees resharing their LinkedIn Page content and raving about how much they love working at their organization and serving customers.
How the heck are they doing it?
They don’t even post every single day! Well, I’ll tell you a secret.
They know the power of their individual LinkedIn profiles, and they’re getting results.
They don’t NEED anything else right now.
3 Ways to Increase Your Brand Awareness
How do you actually increase your personal brand awareness and your company’s brand awareness on LinkedIn? It’s not about spending hours a day on LinkedIn, but focusing on the right activities that lead to long-term success.
Let’s talk through three of my favorite ways to improve your brand awareness on LinkedIn and how to get started now.
#1 - Update Your LinkedIn Profile
When is the last time you looked at your LinkedIn profile? When I ask this question, most people tell me it was when they were job hunting. This is not 2010.
LinkedIn is now the #1 place for people to network professionally and also to put their best professional foot forward.
If your profile is out of date or feels like a resume, you’re missing a huge opportunity to get the attention of the right people who matter most to your business, industry or niche.
I recently updated my profile on LinkedIn over the weekend because it was feeling a bit too skewed towards an area of my business that I am not prioritizing much these days. Here are some changes I made to my profile.
#2 - Optimize Your LinkedIn Page
For those of you who are a business owner or manager of your organization’s LinkedIn Page, this is vitally important that your LinkedIn Page is updated.
I work with a number of organizations who want to rework their LinkedIn strategy, and we always start with fixing a number of elements on the Page that most of the time they did not know existed.
Getting your Page right sets the stage for getting more people to follow your company on LinkedIn, learn more about your employees and activate your team members on LinkedIn.
Stop trying to “get more engagement” on your LinkedIn Page posts, and start with optimizing each of the elements of your LinkedIn Page, like your tagline, calls to action, keywords, and about summary.
Plus, there are a lot of other fun elements that you can explore once you get the basics!
#3 - Review Your LinkedIn Posts
How often are you currently posting on LinkedIn? Are you posting from your Page or your Profile? Which types of posts are getting the most engagement?
Understanding what’s actually resonating with your audience and why is critical to being able to increase your brand awareness over time. The numbers always tell a story, especially once you learn how to interpret them.
If you don’t yet have a benchmark or have not started posting yet, you’ll need at least 30 days worth of data with about 1 post per week. For those who post less frequently, you’ll want to review the last 90 days of data.
One of the easiest ways to look at your numbers from your personal profile is just going through your activity feed, but if you want to take it to the next level, take a look at Shieldapp.ai for in-depth analytics on how your personal profile’s content is performing.
If you are analyzing your Page performance, you’ll want to dive into the analytics in your Admin dashboard, as you can actually see who’s engaging with your content, what industries they’re in, and even what their job titles are.
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Tying this all together, your goal is to set the stage for increasing your brand awareness on LinkedIn in a way that is sustainable, based on the data, and takes into account your personal LinkedIn profile (and those of your team), and also your LinkedIn Page for your organization.
My challenge for you -- take a look at your LinkedIn profile and update ONE thing that feels out of date or needs a refresh. That’s it! Just one thing.
Let’s recap the meaningful connections process:
Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile (and train your team how to do this!)
Optimize Your LinkedIn Page (make sure it’s up to date)
Review Your LinkedIn Posts (or start posting for 30 days to get some data)
If you’re looking for that extra edge to get you started on the right path with LinkedIn to start booking your perfect-fit clients, get on the waitlist for the next cohort of The LinkedIn Accelerator kicking off in July 2022, which is tailored to take you through ALL of the sections on your LinkedIn profile in just five days flat - - one week, and you’re off to the LinkedIn races to start growing your network and getting conversations. If you’re interested, here’s the link to get on the waitlist and find out a few more details.
What additional questions do you have about increasing brand awareness on LinkedIn? Leave them below in the comments or shoot me a private message. I’m happy to answer them👇!
