Feeding the Beast

Tip #1: Join Targeted LinkedIn Groups

Groups provide a powerful way for you to get to know your target audience in the marketplace that you provide services to – or want to provide services to. The trick is to pick the right kind of group to join. Here are some things to consider before joining a group.

• Expand your reach: Don’t just join the groups related to what you do for a living. This won’t be where you find new customers. If you are a small business located in Los Angeles, California, and you specialize in making handmade black leather shoes for women, join the “I Love Handmade Shoes” group on LinkedIn.
• Participate: Once you are accepted as a group member, it is important to participate. If group members of “I Love Handmade Shoes” are posting questions about where they can find the best handmade shoes, participate in this conversation. A hard sell can be annoying, so start off by telling them what to watch out for (check the stitching, make sure there is a good return policy, etc.) and then let them know that you have an excellent product and provide a link to photos of your product online and make sure they can order your product from the link you have sent them too.
• Bigger isn’t really better: The “I Love Handmade Shoes” has 15,000 members and was started by a woman in Paris, France. Most of the posts are in French and while it may be fun to practice your broken French with this group, is it really the right place for you to invest your time in? While researching groups on LinkedIn, you also found the group “I Love Handmade Black Leather Shoes” that was created by a woman in Greenville, Delaware. It has 1,800 members and is very active. Which one do you think is a better use of your time? In my opinion, save the broken French for the vacation to Paris. You’ll probably gain more traction interacting with your US-based audience.

Once you start participating, you are making a commitment to participate in that group conversation. So make sure it is the best use of your time.

Tip #2: Participate by responding to LinkedIn Answers

Answering questions on LinkedIn is an excellent way to position yourself as an expert on the topic you are answering the question about. When answering questions related to your industry expertise, linking to other helpful information on a personal blog (that has been optimized for lead generation, i.e., a call-to-action on the page you are linking to) will position you so that you drive targeted (and interested) leads your way.

Tip #3: Conduct a LinkedIn Search

Want to get your foot in the door at that large corporation? Conduct a people search on LinkedIn. Using the drop down menu that is part of the upper right-hand search box, will help you generate targeted results. Once your results are listed, use the options on the left to refine your search. If you do not have any direct connections in your network to someone in that company, check the “2nd connections” box on the left. This will refine your search again and provide a list of names at your target company. On their individual profiles, you will see a list of shared connections. Ask your friends to introduce you via LinkedIn to the people at that target company and you’re in!

Without question, LinkedIn is a powerful networking tool. However, it is so much more. The entire LinkedIn site is searchable and when used properly, it can be an amazing lead generator. Leads turn into new business, and that cash register starts ringing. Who doesn’t like that sound?

Next Post: Can you be found on LinkedIn? Three tips to help make your LinkedIn profile searchable.

I am always asked, “How much time do you spend using Social Media?” My answer is, “as much time as I make for it.” Having a Social Media account like Facebook or LinkedIn is free, but the time spent using and maintaining them are not. It is important to pick and choose from all of the options out there, understand where your audience lives, and then provide content that they will be interested in.

My goal for each of these accounts is to provide content with a purpose. No tweets about my last trip to the kitchen for toast with peanut butter will show up on any of my Twitter accounts, but my personal Facebook page might provide some peanut butter induced fun… and lots of pictures of my dog.

Connect with Me

Facebook

Mishel and Fizzgig: This is my personal Facebook account. It contains all that newsy, chatter kind of content that you normally share with just friends and family.

Mishel Justesen: This is my “professional” Facebook account. This account is used to solve the conundrum of having to link a personal Facebook account to a company Facebook page. I do not post any personal (or potentially embarrassing) content on this page.

RBZ.Recruiting: This is the recruiting page for the company I work for. The target audience for this page is college students who are interested in working for our firm. Our goal for this page is to provide a fun way to showcase our firm culture.

LinkedIn

Mishel Justesen: This is a link to my personal LinkedIn profile. If you are not connected to me through your network but would like to send a request to join my network, my email address is parishopper@gmail.com.

RBZ Company Profile: This is a link to the company profile that I maintain for the firm I work for.

Twitter

@morphodesign: This is my personal Twitter feed. I post interesting links to graphic design and social media related news items.

@rbzllp: This twitter feed provides tax, audit and business consulting tips.

Flickr

Mishel Justesen: This is a personal Flickr account that I use to archive all of my favorite iPhone photos. It’s a very random collection of stuff.

Google+

Mishel Justesen: I haven’t completely jumped on the Google+ bandwagon yet, but I felt it was important to establish an account as I believe that this platform is not going to go away anytime soon, and well, it IS a Google product. Probably a good idea to pay attention to this one folks!

Tumblr

Morpho Blue Design: My beloved Tumblr blog – is very neglected. This was an experiment to see how it worked. I mainly use this account from my iPhone when traveling – which doesn’t happen very often.

FourSquare

Mishel Justesen: I am the proud mayor of Trimana – the cafe located in the building of work in. This is either happy news, or pathetic if you dwell on it too much. I’m not sure how this account helps me out professionally yet, but personally free food or discounted adult beverages when you “check-in” at a location is always appreciated.