How Freelancers Can Use LinkedIn to Find New Clients
Note: This article was originally published for the Guild on Advisable HERE.
Full disclosure: I am a LinkedIn fan. I truly believe that LinkedIn is the single most powerful and strategic way you can build your impact and influence as a freelancer, as well as forge relationships that’ll lead to opportunities and — of course — recurring revenue.
But I often hear that people get frustrated by the lack of ROI they see on their LinkedIn efforts. They’re putting the time in, but not getting the useful connections and opportunities out.
I figured that the insights I’ve gathered over supporting those people to play the LinkedIn game right could be useful for Guild members, too. I had a great time hosting my Guild event on the topic, and I’m sharing a quick debrief for you all here!
First thing’s first. Are you a player, or a bystander?
Over my years delving into the details of the platform, I’ve come to see LinkedIn as a game. And if you’re looking to grow your business and attract more opportunities, you’ve got to play it. However, that doesn’t mean pouring hours of your time into scrolling. It’s all about knowing the rules.
Rule #1: Show up daily
Take one action on LinkedIn, every day of the week. Post a comment, share some content, or send a private message. But make sure you’re in the right mindset — you’re turning up to LinkedIn to do business, so be intentional in your actions! Aim to connect with meaning, to inspire, to share insights.
Rule #2: Every interaction counts
Your comments, messages, and connections all count towards LinkedIn’s backend monitoring of how highly-rated the platform should rank you as a user, which helps boost your visibility on the feed. You can check out your LinkedIn Social Selling Index score here, to monitor areas where you could be upping your game.
Remember, LinkedIn wants you to make real connections with people, not send sales pitch-type messages. It pays off to put some thought into really interacting with the content your network shares. Plus, that back-and-forth makes the experience far more rewarding, entertaining, and useful for you, too.
Optimizing your LinkedIn profile
When it comes to nailing your profile, remember to optimize for your specific business, career, or professional area. What are those key potential connections going to be interested in seeing from you, and how can you bring those qualities across?
There are a couple of key sections in your profile (your Headline, your About, and your Experience) that I’ll fire out some quick tips on here.
Your Headline
This is your first impression and pops up with your name wherever you interact on LinkedIn. So use those 220 characters for all their worth!
My go-to's to include are:
Who you are → What do you do? Getting this right encourages the right connection requests and limits less useful ones.
Whom you help → Get specific about your target audience.
How you help them → Use keywords that people are searching for, but also a hint of your unique secret sauce!
The results you generate → Best to stay general here (e.g., “I help you build strategic pipelines”), rather than listing metrics that could come across as spammy.
Your About section
Here, you want a captivating opener. Pose a poignant question, make a profound statement about your area of expertise, or — if you’re the narrative type — tell a story. Just be sure to tailor it to your industry and expertise, and the professional presence you’d like to create.
Include a CTA, too. Let people know what they should do next: Connect? View your portfolio? Contact you about opportunities? Keep it simple — the safest option is just asking potential contacts to connect with you right there on LinkedIn!
Your Experience section
Here, it’s key to show experiences that lend credibility to your Headline and About section. Focus on your top 5 entries, as those are the ones visible without clicking ‘See more’.
If you've had a lot of roles (freelance or otherwise) that have taken you in different directions, focus on finding your common thread. This will help you summarise your key attributes in your Headline and About section, too.
Creating your strategic LinkedIn network
Bigger isn’t necessarily better! You shouldn’t see LinkedIn as a free-for-all, as worthwhile opportunities only come from well-thought-out connections.
Instead, fill your network with a good mix of people that you want to do good business with. That’s peers, colleagues, referral partners, potential collaborators and contractors, and so on.
And then — of course — leads, prospects, and current clients.
3 Kickstarter LinkedIn posts for you to try
You only need to post once a week to see results — consistency over frequency is the key here. To get your momentum going, try out:
Polls: Great to spark engagement, and easy to write. You can also use them strategically, to learn more about your connections and prospects.
Reflections: Take a storytelling approach, where you share an interesting or poignant moment from your week. Did you help a client solve a problem? Or find an innovative solution to a common headache in your industry? Try to end with a point that’ll stay with people.
Content: Share podcasts, blogs, features, etc. that you’ve been involved in. If you’re sharing them on other channels anyway, you can easily reshare on LinkedIn. Use an image (rather than just a link), as the algorithm likes attention-holding content such as images and PDFs.
In general, use a maximum of 5 hashtags in each post; too many means you’ll be downgraded in LinkedIn’s algorithm.
**That LinkedIn light bulb moment **
From spreading myself thin over all social media channels — for my clients’ businesses and for my own — I now focus solely on LinkedIn, for its unique ability to support meaningful professional connections.
Now, 95% of my business comes from LinkedIn network referrals, and I’ve shed that scramble for leads towards the end of each project! If you want to dive into any of the above in more detail, you know where to find me.
