Up Your Game on LinkedIn in 2022
With all the strategies that we COULD implement to accelerate our careers and grow our businesses in the next year, which strategy is the one that will actually move the needle for you?
Using LinkedIn may be on your list somewhere, but let's talk about WHY it's the one that can have the greatest impact on your success.
Though it may not be the most trendy social channel out there (TikTok, anyone?) LinkedIn has staying power: it's the one channel that even the stuffiest professionals trust.
No matter whether you're a job seeker searching for your next dream job, solopreneur bootstrapping a new business model, or subject matter expert ready to skyrocket their influence in the new year -- LinkedIn is foundational to achieving your goals.
Within the next few weeks, we'll turn our calendars to a fresh new year, and if you're anything like me... you've been noodling over your strategies to make it the best one yet.
In this Mondays with Mindi episode, we discuss why LinkedIn is the most powerful tool for you to connect 1:1 or one-to-many with your ideal clients and customers, PLUS how you can up your game in the next year on LinkedIn with a crystal clear strategy!
Why LinkedIn is the Missing Link to Business Growth
Let’s discuss why LinkedIn is the most powerful tool for you to connect 1:1 or one-to-many with your ideal clients and customers, PLUS how you can up your game in the next year on LinkedIn with a crystal clear strategy!
Last week, I spent the first three days immersed in the Business By Design Live event hosted by the one-and-only James Wedmore and team. I met and mingled with hundreds of go-getter entrepreneurs, seasoned digital CEOs, and thought leaders making an impact.
Peer panels, presentations from other experts, people 10X-ing their business, starting a podcast, launch runways, the best messaging strategies -- and more. It was inspirational and also a bit daunting trying to figure out the next big move.
One mistake that we tend to make as experts is that we see “oh shiny” and jump to a new channel or place that all the “social gurus” are telling us is the next big thing.
TikTok was a HUGE portion of the social selling conversation, alongside everyone’s favorite… the Instagram.
I found it mind-boggling that nobody was talking about LinkedIn. As business leaders, it IS the one place where you need to have a solid foundation and where the money is at, especially if you’re in the B2B space or are trying to connect with other professionals with your “work hat” on.
Problems happen when we’re always pivoting to something new, when truly we should be evolving our business strategies over time.
Every time we stop-and-start, we lose the momentum and progress we made.
This happens on LinkedIn all of the time. We start strong, we do all the right things, and for some reason, it doesn’t work.
So we say “we’re pivoting - my audience is not here”
Or, we keep doing what we’re doing because we’ve been told that “consistency over time will generate results”
What the experts aren’t telling us is that consistency ONLY works when you’re doing the RIGHT things!
Yeah. I’ve been there, I’ve worked hand-in-hand with hundreds of experts trying to make a name for themselves, change the way people think and do more good in the world.
It’s all about that shift in perspective.
You must believe that LinkedIn is THE best channel for you to invest your energy
You must understand that to generate the results on LinkedIn that you want requires learning a new way of doing things and a simple (but well-designed) strategy
Then, all you need to do is implement that strategy and iterate every month/quarter
You WILL get the results you’re after, but you must know what is possible for you AND what goes into that strategy!
Growing Your Business Using LinkedIn
One of my recent cohort members from The LinkedIn Accelerator, Maria, came to me with a conundrum.
Though she’d had a successful career as an engineer, she had spent the last several months pivoting from being a full-time careerist to going all-in on her business to empower women in leadership roles.
We started working together inside The LinkedIn Accelerator program to dial in her profile, craft connection messages, and design a LinkedIn outreach strategy to reach out to decision makers in those Fortune 500 organizations where she could provide leadership training based on her unique framework and also get guests to come onto her podcast.
A few weeks after completing the program, she reached out to me and said “Mindi, you’re not going to believe it! I just sent off a leadership training proposal to a new LinkedIn connection who works at Clorox!”
And, boom. She has kickstarted her lead generation machine and feels that confidence that comes with knowing how to do LinkedIn right and how NOT to waste time on doing all the other things that don’t matter.
Does she spend hours a day hijacking people’s posts to get inbound leads? Nope.
Is her LinkedIn network in the thousands of followers? Nope, she booked that call with less than 500 connections
What about pumping out a lot of content on LinkedIn? Nada, she repurposes content from Instagram.
But what she’s doing right is that she understands her LinkedIn strategy and has a clearly defined approach to identifying her perfect-fit clients and has the confidence to craft and send messages to get conversations started with new connections.
That’s it! There is no complication, just the confidence to create and implement a very simple strategy.
Your 2022 LinkedIn Strategy Blueprint
Every single professional on LinkedIn MUST have a strategy for how they are using LinkedIn and what their objectives are.
I don’t care if you’re a careerist looking for your next job, an entrepreneur trying to break through the noise, an influencer who’s trying to shape people’s perspectives, or a salesperson who wants to book more calls.
LinkedIn is the most effective way to grow your business and accelerate your career in 2022.
Let’s talk about the most important things to consider as you’re creating your LinkedIn strategy for getting the results you want.
#1 - Decide on your primary 2022 objective for LinkedIn
Are you trying to get popular and build thought leadership?
Do you need to get more 1:1 conversations with your ideal prospects?
Is deepening your connections with your existing network a priority?
Hoping to be known as the go-to expert in your niche?
This objective will shape the results you must track on LinkedIn and the tactics you implement. If you’re trying to build influence to get more LinkedIn followers, it’s NOT a good idea to spend all of your time “behind the scenes” in your LinkedIn DMs because that energy would be better spent commenting on posts.
Likewise, if you’re trying to get into conversations with your LinkedIn network that may lead to partnerships, sales, collaborations or projects, you should NOT be spending the bulk of your time creating the perfect LinkedIn post. 80% of your time should be spent having conversations in your LinkedIn messages.
#2 - Assess where you are now on LinkedIn
Do you already have a solid following established and simply need to focus on working your existing network?
Is your LinkedIn profile out-of-date and not reflective of what you’re doing now?
Are you fairly comfortable using LinkedIn and just need to up your game?
Be honest with yourself about where you are currently and where you want to go on LinkedIn, based on the primary 2022 objective.
Maybe you already have the skills you need to up your game, and in this case, you just need to put together your action plan. If you feel like you don’t, then you will need to decide where you are going to get the training, skills, and resources you need to make LinkedIn your most effective social channel.
Find a person whom you trust. Review all of their free content. Sign up for their programs! (Shameless plug - I have a program called The LinkedIn Accelerator that can help with this!)
Don’t be afraid to invest in yourself and your professional growth.
I practice what I preach - I just signed up for an $11,000 group coaching program for 2022 that I know will give me the expertise, no B.S. coaching, and guidance I need to improve my own business model and deliver better results to my clients and cohort members.
#3 - Take that one next step towards your LinkedIn strategy
This may sound too easy, but it’s all about taking ONE next action towards making LinkedIn work for you.
You can sit there watching this and say “yeah, Mindi… I already know this.”
But you need to actually DO something that shows your commitment to making the business growth happen for you in 2022.
If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you always got.
Sound familiar?
It’s just ONE step -- not mapping your entire strategy.
For example, maybe you’re going to sign up for a LinkedIn masterclass, get a free resource, finally fix your LinkedIn headline, look for a few experts whom you trust that teach how to do it right.
Choose one next action, and that will start the domino effect for the rest of the actions you take.
Personally, my favorite “one next step” tends to be doing a brainstorm. I brain dump everything into a note in Evernote and then make a decision what to do next.
Growing your business and skyrocketing your influence on LinkedIn can be as simple as you want it to be - it’s all about creating a strategy that works for you and generates the results you want.
Decide your 2022 primary objective - just one thing!
Assess where you are now on LinkedIn
Take one next step towards your LinkedIn strategy
If you’re looking for that extra edge to get you started on the right path with LinkedIn to make 2022 your best year yet, get on the waitlist for the next cohort of The LinkedIn Accelerator kicking off at the beginning of 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. 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 creating your strategy for LinkedIn? Leave them below in the comments or shoot me a private message. I’m happy to answer them!👇
