Thirteen years ago LinkedIn launched Groups, an online space for lively discussion and ideas. So what could possibly go wrong?
Well like every other free online forum on the web it quickly filled with people more interested in prospecting for clients than actively contributing to the conversation. As a result things became very spammy and the “real” discussions waned.
Seeing the need for reform, LinkedIn retooled Groups and instituted a set of rules, guidelines, policies and features designed to make it far less of a spam factory.
So how can you use LinkedIn groups for sales without annoying the very people you want to connect with?
The first rule is don’t be the “real estate agent” who only goes to parties so he can get his card in everyone’s pocket.
People can sniff this out a mile away. And they can see you don’t care about anything other than making money off those in attendance. Even the host is left wondering how you even got in.
So the trick is to be tactful about your approach.
Here’s one way…
On the Groups page, type into the search bar a topic that your prospects might be talking about.
So I type in the keyword ‘training’ and a message pops saying, “Hey, here are some discussions within the Sales Management Executives Group that include the word ‘training’.”
Seeing some useful groups in the search results, I would then post some useful content in the conversations there to further the discussions. The idea is that people would notice my statements, comment on them and ideally want to reach out to connect with me to discuss further.
The other way is a little more proactive. Look at the various comments on the subject and explore who is doing the liking and commenting. Then take a look at the commentor’s profiles and if appropriate, reach out to them about their comment in the group and set a conversation in play.
Both approaches require a fair bit of tact and finesse to ensure that those you reach out to aren’t made to feel like they’re a mark. That means, coming with your A-game with good content to add to conversations and a willingness to invest in the discussions.
There are two reasons for doing this. One, is to ensure that Groups are seen by users as a good place for discussion. The other is to ensure that you, and by affiliation, your company are seen as high-information contributors in the groups.
Because if you’re spotted as someone merely on the prowl for prospects, you’ll be as clearly identifiable as a tin of spam.
10 thoughts on “15 LinkedIn Profile Optimization Tips to Get Found This 2023”
My LinkedIn account was ranking on the first page for best mommys blog keyword quite a few years back and I didn’t have any idea. While working, I stumbled upon the Analytic section of LinkedIn and saw that most of the visitors are coming from search engine later on I realized that in my profile I’ve used “Mommy’s blog” word a lot of time and that is the reason why it was ranking well on SERP. This is how I came to know about SEO and I was also amazed by the fact that how easy it was to rank for competitive keywords back then. Anyways loved your article and please share more tips on SEO.
Thanks for sharing. The number of times you mention a word or phrase is still a factor for sure.
We love hearing tips as well as questions our reader, so keep them coming!
Should I change keywords overtime based on what’s popular on the internet?
There is a lot of value in this article, especially for those looking to improve their visibility on LinkedIn. My favorite of the fifteen tips shared in this article is number nine. I’ve observed that people with custom profile links, seem to get more attention than those who haven’t customized their LinkedIn profile URL. Interesting article, thank you for taking the time to put it together.
Customizing LinkedIn URLs create more visibility for sure! Thank you, Bret.
I agree with the recommendations, they are a very important part of our strategy on LinkedIn, it can give confidence to potential customers (or leaders when someone is looking for a job).
People shouldn’t underestimate keywords on their LinkedIn profile! This helped potential buyers to find me on LinkedIn more easily when they searched for certain products and/or services. Thanks Viveka!
Thank you for another great blog post. For the alt text and/or naming images, do you mean two to three different keyword phrases as a maximum, like this?
B2B cybersecurity content marketing writer , technical writing cybersecurity content , cybersecurity technical writer , David Geer
Or can you add more keyword phrases than this?
Hey David – I honestly don’t know the efficacy of adding more keywords than that. I would stick with what you have above.
All the information is very helpful which can help us to increase our Profile ranking on LinkedIn. Another big interesting article, this blog is very useful for the Optimization of my LinkedIn profile.
I also get much knowledge from this blog.
thank you keep sharing.