Must-haves in your contact info:

• Work email address. Nobody wants to send you a work-related email to your Gmail.
• If you’re in sales and you want customers to be able to reach you easily, consider adding your mobile number.
• Company website URL. Make it easy for customers to get in touch and find out more.

If you’re looking for a LinkedIn connection’s email address or phone number, check the contact info in their profile first.

P.S. Look before asking for the person’s email address in the DM’s.

What does it actually mean when someone decides to follow you on LinkedIn?

It means they’re interested in what you have to say, because your perspectives, opinions and expertise may HELP them.

By following you, they’re opting in to hear from you.

We have a responsibility to serve our followers. (NOT TO SELL TO THEM)

Serve your followers by sharing posts that are helpful and interesting.

P.S. When someone connects with you, they’re also giving you express permission to DM them – don’t blow that opportunity to build a relationship by pitching them right away.

A hashtag, often abused, is simply a marker used to label a post according to topic.

Current research tells us to use no less than 3 and no more than 5 hashtags per post to get the best possible reach.

Your choice of hashtag needs some thought too – here are my recommendations:

• Always use one “branded” or personal hashtag per post, which identifies the post as yours, or in association with your business.

Mine is #nicholaskruldigital

(click it ↑ and see what happens – you are taken to a news feed of posts which all contain that hashtag – see how every post is written by me? What a super way to be noticed on LinkedIn!)

• Use hashtags which are very specific to your topic – avoid generic or vague words such as “build”, “new” or “project”

• Do some research – how many people follow the hashtag you’d like to use? Type in the hashtag in the search bar and find out! More followers is better, but not required – also check out the other posts containing that hashtag to make sure you’re part of the right conversation.

• You can also search for interesting hashtags to discover content about a topic you’re interested in. Want to learn more about NFT’s? Search hashtag NFT…..

Direct messages on LinkedIn…. the good, the bad and the ugly!

How should you be using DM’s and what to avoid?

The first thing to remember is that by connecting with you, other people have given you their express permission to message them directly.

It’s like giving someone your business card with your mobile number on it.

Secondly, remember that connections (and followers) have OPTED-IN to hear from you. You have a responsibility to communicate with them – in the feed and in DM’s.

You can make an easy start by using DM’s for the following:

• Thanking new connections
• Wishing people well for birthdays, new jobs and work anniversaries
• Mention their posts and ask genuinely curious questions

You should also AVOID the following:

• The connect-and-pitch. I know this is tough, but the days of “always-be-closing” are dead and gone. Build a relationship first!
• Keep it clean! I hear stories from my female counterparts every day about inappropriate messages they receive. LinkedIn is for professional engagement – want a date, go to TINDER 😡

Once you’re engaged in a conversation in the DM’s, give more than you receive.

Use DM’s as a channel for delivering value – and I promise the other person will reciprocate.

How much time do you spend in the DM’s on LinkedIn?

99% of people do NOT post on LinkedIn regularly.

Do you realize how easy it actually is to be part of the top 1% of people on LinkedIn?

Do you actually appreciate that opportunity?

Of the 900m+ people who have a LinkedIn account globally, 300m+ visit the platform monthly, yet only around 3 million post on a weekly basis.

It’s those 3 million people that get the 9 billion views.

What does this actually mean?

Imagine being in the top 1% of people in your industry. Imagine how that would affect your career and your business.

Long story short: serve your followers by posting a couple times a week and see what happens!

Are you up for the challenge?

Going overboard with hashtags and tagging people and company pages is killing your LinkedIn content, and here’s why ↓

– For one thing, giving your followers a sea of blue hashtags and name tags isn’t helpful for anyone, and makes your post look messy. People will simply scroll away.

– Secondly, if the people you’ve tagged don’t respond to your post quite quickly, LinkedIn will limit the reach of your post. You want as much reach as possible – otherwise why post?

– It’s also worth knowing that any post with more than 5 hashtags will get lower reach than a post with only 3-5 specific hashtags.

What should you do instead?

💥 Focus on delivering value to your followers. Simple as that.

Make sure your post educates, informs, inspires or entertains (and is well within your “lane”) and it’ll perform well AND position you favorably in the mind of the reader.

LinkedIn is more about giving than receiving – adopt this mindset and you’ll see a better response from your audience AND you’ll see better long-term benefits for yourself and your business.

In short: go easy on the “tactics” and hacks, and concentrate on serving your followers instead.