First off, Happy Black History
Month!
We’ve got something extra going on this February and are rolling into Social Media Month by revisiting LinkedIn.
When was the last time you dug in to LinkedIn? I mean REALLY dug in to use it as a productive tool for your freelance business? If it’s been a while, or even if you’ve been busy on the site recently, this month will help you get even more out of it.
Before we get
going though, the basics. If you don’t have your LinkedIn profile set up to reflect your freelance business,
check out this post to get that rolling.
If you’ve read that already, you know my thoughts on the site — it’s a powerful tool that way too many freelancers skip past in
building their business. Listen though…LinkedIn for freelancers is a completely different animal than it is for employed folk, and we all need to treat it that way. I’m consistently see them making changes that not only focus on freelancers, but also help shape the way companies see people like us.
That’s why this month we’re going to hit the site from four different angles. After you’re done, you’ll have everything you need to use LinkedIn as a productive
tool.
So those angles…
- Prospecting for New Contacts
- Contacting People for the First Time
- Connecting with Interested Buyers
- Researching for the Future of Your Business
With that, let’s get going on this week’s challenge
Prospecting for New Contacts
There’s a mistake I see
a lot of us making, and it’s killing all our opportunity to grow as freelancers. I say that last part, because the more productive we are as individuals, the stronger our networks our, which in turn means more opportunity for everybody.
The mistake I see people making is, instead of talking to decision-makers, we’re trying to build our businesses on attention.
Now, that can work…eventually and with a lot of “ifs”. I’m guessing
though, that you don’t want to wait for “eventually” and that you want to minimize your “ifs.” You want to get your business moving as quickly as possible so you can boost your income and grow as a freelancer.
That’s why this week, we’re going to work on a crucial exercise in getting past that practice. That’s going to be identifying the people who pay.
Those people are the only ones who matter for you and your business right now
— Not the compliments or fans — the people who are going to sign checks. Finding them quickly is where LinkedIn comes in.
The first thing I want you to do, is get comfortable using LinkedIn’s search function to search by position. What position?
That’s going to depend on the work you do, but it’s not too hard to figure out.
Content strategists and writers like me work with positions
including
- Marketing Manager
- VP of Marketing
- Content Marketing Director
- Editor
Web and graphic designers will use a similar list. If you’ve worked in your freelance field, think up the chain of command in your employed life. Who was a step or two above you? (If you ever aren’t sure, especially for smaller companies, focus on presidents or CEOs in your niche.)
The next step is the
search. Try popping any of those terms into the search bar (and then clicking “People” over on the left) and you’ll have more results than you can handle.
I’m going to ask you to do that this week, but to also narrow your search down (either using the choices on the left like location, industry, etc., or by including specific company names in the search too) and find 10 people you think might be interested in your
work.
That’s it. This week all you’re doing is finding contacts. Just keep a list of their profile URLs (Insightly or even a regular spreadsheet will work for this) and we’ll put them to use next week.
If you get tripped up on any of it, as always, shoot me an email. Have
fun!
Megan.