LinkedIn Etiquette: The Do's And Dont's

Did You Know: Updates with photos get 14x MORE views?

When it comes to LinkedIn etiquette, there are some things that businesses owners need to know. Firstly, LinkedIn cannot be treated like any other social network because it is a B2B network, being used for professional purposes.

This however doesn’t mean your approach needs to change completely. You still need to be as engaging as you would on other social networks, but there is an etiquette which I want to talk about in this article.

Here are today’s top tips to help you have a greater understanding of the largest B2B social network with over 430 million members.

DO COMPLETE YOUR PROFILE

This might sound basic, but I come across so many business owners who have yet to fully complete their LinkedIn profile. LinkedIn makes life really easy by telling you how completed your profile is through a percentage system, and once at 100%, you will get your “All Star” status.

DON’T EXPECT EVERYONE TO NETWORK LIKE YOU DO

Just like I touched on in yesterday’s article, people buy from people. This however doesn’t mean that everyone will engage with you in exactly the same way. Some of your audience might engage with you consistently as this is how they want to talk with you. Other potential customer may engage with you when they feel like engaging with you.

When looking at LinkedIn, you do need to be patient and understand that not everyone uses LinkedIn like you do. Not everyone has the time to respond straight away, nor do they want to.

DO PERSONALISE CONNECTION REQUESTS

When reaching out to someone who you don’t know on a personal basis, but want to build a working relationship with, personalise your connection request. Explain who you are, why you want to connect with them and whether you see an opportunity together. This will make the connection feel more open to accepting the request, and opening dialogue with you.

QUALITY OUTWEIGHS QUANTITY

I believe that quality will always outweigh quantity on social media, no matter what network you are using. Whilst some businesses may approach Twitter of Facebook and constantly share, share and over share. LinkedIn is a professional network, and whilst building a network is important, adding people you do not know isn’t worth your time.

DON’T SPAM

There are so many ways you can use LinkedIn that doesn’t involve you spamming your LinkedIn community. Don’t post attention-seeking updates and don’t send friend requests to people you do not know. It is important that your audience trusts you and spamming will only work against you.

DO SHARE VISUALS

As I said earlier in this article, posts with visuals get 14x more views. Get creative, but stay brand consistent with the images you share. Think about infographics and how you can create one that is engaging, whilst also being informative.

I hope this article will help you with your LinkedIn etiquette, and don’t forget; this is just the second of three articles, and video’s I am going to be sharing with you. Day 3 will cover LinkedIn relationships. If you haven’t read the first article in this series on B2B tone of voice, click here.

WHERE TO GO FROM HERE

Join our upcoming webinar on Wednesday, 12th February at 19:00 GMT where Social Selling expert Vic Williams and I will be sharing more than 25 years of combined LinkedIn experience to help you be successful in 2020.

In just 90 minutes, Vic and I will help you optimise your profile and content to take it to the next level and ensure success, and will be sharing the latest, most up-to-date strategy to be successful.

WHY IS THIS FOR ME?

• Get to the TOP of LinkedIn for your specific keywords in less than 60 seconds
• How to position yourself as a trusted EXPERT everyone wants to work with
• Build your LinkedIn network with QUALITY business connection
• Learn 3 SECRET LinkedIn features you didn’t know about
• How to build and grow your PERSONAL brand
• How to turn LinkedIn CONVERSATIONS into hot leads and paying clients
• The top 5 MISTAKES most LinkedIn users make (and how you can avoid them)
• Design and implement a networking STRATEGY

Register today to learn how the top executives on LinkedIn get the most out of their profile and content.