LinkedIn is the number one social network for professionals, so naturally, it can be a great social network to use to generate income in many different ways. We know you’ve read plenty of posts about how to create your profile, create a company page, and generate traffic back to your website, so we’re going to skip all of that and dive right into ways you can use LinkedIn to make money online by growing your mailing list, selling products, offering services, finding advertisers, increasing book sales, promoting affiliate products, and getting hired for your dream job.
(By the way, if you want tips like this delivered straight to your inbox, sign up for the MonetizePros free email newsletter. Or, if you’re a power user, you may wish to join MonetizePros [100% free!], so you can get access to our library of Web monetization e-books and post on our discussion forums.)
Grow Your Mailing List
Everyone knows that the money is in the list, whether you are selling your own products and services or marketing affiliate products. Here are some ways you can build your mailing list on LinkedIn.
Create a LinkedIn group around an interesting and relevant topic. You can email new group members using a custom welcome template when they join and once per week. Grow your mailing by using welcome and announcement emails to promote free content giveaways, webinars, and autoresponder educational sequences to get your group members to your list.
If you can’t convert people from your LinkedIn group to your mailing list, just remember to copy the most important email you send to your list each week (if applicable) and paste it into a weekly announcement email to your group.
Add your free giveaway (e-book, report, white paper, etc.) to the publications section of your LinkedIn profile. People will be able to click through directly to your squeeze page. This is a relatively new section, and not part of the typical lineup. You’ll see it in the right sidebar under “Recommended for you” when you go to your LinkedIn profile and click the Edit button.
Don’t be tempted to add your LinkedIn contacts to your mailing list. LinkedIn does not offer the option to export your contacts’ information so you can add them without consent to your mailing list.
Sell Info Products
If you are marketing your own information product, LinkedIn can be a great place to do it. Here are some ways to use LinkedIn to get people into your sales funnel and onto your sales page.
Create a free piece of content. Free training videos, white papers, reports, and e-books are an easy way to get potential customers into your sales funnel. Share a link to your squeeze page with your LinkedIn connections and groups.
Invite people to a webinar. Webinars promising free, valuable education (even if people know a sales pitch is coming at the end) are also easy to promote to your LinkedIn connections and groups.
Offer LinkedIn discounts. People love the idea of saving. Create a special offer code for your new product and share it with your LinkedIn connections and groups.
Add your new product under the projects section of your LinkedIn profile. The projects and publications section of your LinkedIn profile are the only ones that offer the ability to directly link to your website.
Take advantage of the promotion section of groups you belong to whose members would be ideal buyers of your info product.
Find and connect with influential members of LinkedIn in your niche to see if they would be willing to write a review or become an affiliate of your info product. Look for people with lots of endorsements and recommendations as they will likely be the people others look up to and trust for advice.
Know of similar info products that offer a private networking group on LinkedIn for members? Find that LinkedIn group. Even if you can’t join, you’ll see a list of the members that are in your network. Contact them to see if they might be interested in your info product.
Sell Physical or Digital Products
Does your business sell physical or digital products? Here are some ways to use LinkedIn to increase your sales.
Take advantage of the products section of your LinkedIn company page. Create individual product listings on your company page and fully utilize features such as banners visitors can click to go to your landing pages, variations that target specific types of customers, a YouTube commercial or explainer video, and people to contact to learn more.
Encourage people to write a recommendation for your product by adding the recommend button to your product page. This will add social proof to your products when people discover them on your company page.
Add a presentation, commercial, or explainer video as a media element to your LinkedIn profile’s summary section. Make sure that your media has a strong call to action and link.
Get involved in discussions within groups whose members are most likely to buy your product. Reply to posts publicly or reply privately when an answer could lead to a sale. If you are a helpful member of the group, it won’t even feel like a sale pitch.
Offer Services
Freelance writers, social media consultants, and other service providers can use LinkedIn to connect with companies who need them in the following ways.
Optimize your LinkedIn profile to be discovered by those wanting to hire you. Add your primary keyword (SEO consultant, freelance writer, etc.) to your profile’s headline, current and past job titles, summary, skills, and other areas. This will increase the chance of someone discovering you in LinkedIn search results.
Add skills to your LinkedIn profile. This is how people give you quick endorsements, and you also have the chance of showing up on a LinkedIn skills page.
Take advantage of the services section of your LinkedIn company page. Create listings for each of your services and fully utilize all of the features such as banner images that link to your website, variations of your service description that target specific types of customers, video testimonials, and people to contact to learn more.
Define your ideal customer (industry, interest, etc.) and join groups they would participate in, such as real estate groups for those wanting to promote their real estate marketing service. Being knowledgeable and helpful can lead to job inquiries, and sharing the same group means that people can message you without a premium membership.
If you don’t want to wait for potential clients to message you, message them when they ask the right lead-in questions. If you create Facebook pages, and someone asks how to create a Facebook page, answer their question with some basic steps publicly and reply privately to let them know you also offer this as a service.
Join groups for complimentary service providers. These are not your direct competitors, but rather people who may need your help from time to time. For example, SEOs might need graphic designers to create infographics for them. Freelance writers might need editors to go over their latest book. Network with these people in the group and you’ll be on their radar for the next time they or their clients need help.
Increase Book Sales
Do you have Kindle books on Amazon or e-books on your own website for sale? Here are some ways you can use LinkedIn to boost sales.
Let your contacts know when you publish a new book. You can send personalized messages to each of your contacts (recommended) or send private messages to up to 50 contacts at a time. Add an invitation to interview you in your message to increase the chance for people to write about you and your new book on their blog.
Add books and e-books to the “Publications” section of your LinkedIn profile. The best part — you can include a link to books on Amazon or e-books on your website so people can click through to purchase.
Join groups relevant to the topic of the book. Monitor discussions for the right opportunity to mention your book. To keep from looking like a spammer, consider using the reply privately option to just let people who ask questions within the group related to the book about it.
Create a video trailer for your book. Add that video to YouTube and then add it as a media element in your LinkedIn profile’s summary section.
Write an awesome post on your blog about your book. Be sure to add the LinkedIn share button to that blog post and then share it with your LinkedIn connections in a status update. If your post gets a lot of LinkedIn shares, let the LinkedIn business development team know so you have the chance of beingfeatured on LinkedIn Today.
Define your book’s ideal audience and create an ad campaign toward LinkedIn users that match that definition.
Find Direct Advertisers and Sponsors
If you offer advertising on your website or sponsorship opportunities for company events, LinkedIn makes it easy to find potential candidates.
Keep an eye on advertisements in the LinkedIn sidebar, footer, and other areas throughout the website. These same businesses may also be looking for advertisements on websites or willing to sponsor events for professional audiences.
Use LinkedIn’s search page to find potential advertisers and sponsors. You can narrow the results by industry, company size, location, and other criteria.
Find the right people to contact on the company page by looking under Employees on LinkedIn. If it’s a small company, you can browse through to find the appropriate point of contact. Otherwise, you may want to invest in a premium account so you can use the advanced search filters and InMails.
Promote Affiliate Products
If you use affiliate marketing to generate income online and write great reviews, then here are some ways you can promote those on LinkedIn to increase your affiliate sales.
Share your affiliate marketing review posts as answers to applicable questions within groups. If someone asks how to choose the right WordPress theme, and you have a post comparing different premium themes (with affiliate links), this is a great opportunity to share it. If the group doesn’t allow links, reply to group members privately.
If you have your own group, be sure to email them about new review posts on your blog and any specials that they might be interested in, such as limited time offers, discount codes, and new product launches.
Don’t have any publications under your belt? Use the publications section of your LinkedIn profile to link to your latest affiliate product review posts.
Get Hired
Don’t have your own business yet? No problem. LinkedIn can help you secure your dream job so you love what you do from 9 to 5. Here’s how.
If you’re looking for a specific type of job, then gear your LinkedIn profile to impress employers looking to hire. Really aim to wow them in your summary section by talking about the passion, experience, and results you bring to the table for that position. Use the media elements to add samples, testimonials, and other impressive content.
If you have a lot of endorsements for skills related to the job you want, move that directly below your summary. This can be especially if you don’t have a lot of job experience, education, or recommendations.
Consider investing in a premium LinkedIn account for job seekers. Your applications will be moved to the top of the list and you’ll have a premium icon on your profile to make it stand out. You will also get access to premium search filters that will allow you to search for jobs with specific salary levels.
Want to work for a particular company? Follow their company page on LinkedIn and comment on their updates. Also see if they have any groups, join them, and participate. Keep an eye on the Careers tab of their company page and the Jobs section of their group for open positions.
Professionally stalk decision makers at companies you want to work for in groups. Go to the company page, click on the people you are 1st and 2nd degree connections with. Then visit their profiles to see what groups they belong to. Join those groups and start participating!
Join recruiter network groups on LinkedIn and demonstrate your expertise in front of the people most likely to get you into a new job.
Use LinkedIn Advertising
If you have some money to invest, you can use LinkedIn advertising to increase your income from the above methods in a variety of ways.
Create an ad campaign to market the free giveaway for your list. Use the targeting options to get different LinkedIn users’ attention. For example, if you have a Twitter guide, create ads like “Twitter for CEO’s” and “Twitter for Small Biz.” Directing visitors to a custom squeeze page to match your ad text will greatly increase your chances of converting.
Create an ad campaign aimed at your target customer demographic for your info product. Entice them into signing up for free content that will convert them into buyers, or create a sense of urgency with a special offer for a limited time.
Create an ad campaign aimed at your target customer demographic for your physical or digital product. Include a discount code, specific result that can be achieved, or other copy to get them to click through to purchase.
Create an ad campaign targeted toward the companies and people most likely in need of your services. Include copy that tells the potential employer what the main benefit will be if they hire you.
Unfortunately, you can’t use LinkedIn ads for affiliate marketing according to the guidelines. So while it may be tempting, avoid doing this. A workaround, on the other hand, would be to create a free autoresponder course for new subscribers. For example, advertise a free 10-day course to build a WordPress website. Within each part of the autoresponder series, add affiliate links to hosting companies, themes, tools, plugins, e-books, and premium training courses.
Create an ad campaign targeted toward people at companies you want to work for to let them know that hey, you’re available! You can even create a landing page for them like the Google, please hire me guy.
Bottom Line of the author:-
As you can see, there are lots of ways you can earn money using LinkedIn. Do you have some additional tips and strategies you use to make a living through LinkedIn? If so, please share them in the comments!
No comments:
Post a Comment