How to leverage social selling on LinkedIn to drive new business

LinkedIn can be a powerful driver of new business and opportunities. Millions of users are using it everyday, posting about subjects that matter to them, interacting with each other’s posts, and giving you unique insights what they need.

But it can be overwhelming to know what to do next if you don’t have a clear process for prospecting and selling on LinkedIn.

So we’ve pulled together 5 tips for building out a social selling strategy that helps you gather insights about your prospective client before reaching out, so your first interactions feel personal and nurture a lasting relationship.

Obvious, but start by building for yourself a LinkedIn profile people can trust

It may sound obvious, but make sure you profile is up-to-date, shows your expertise, and, ideally, has colleagues who’ve vouched for you. Here’s a quick checklist for you:

• Profile description with an approachable photo
• Current job title with company logo
• Past companies and short descriptions that highlight impact
• Relevant professional groups that highlight your expertise
• Recommendations from previous colleagues and clients

Remember there’s people behind the screen and engage accordingly

LinkedIn is made up of real people interacting over subjects they care about. Don’t forget there are humans behind the screen.

When engaging in a group, a community, or on a post, make sure to prioritize providing value, do what feels authentic to you, and avoid using excessive business jargon.

This may sound trite, but the truth is people will remember you for how you made them feel.

Create target lists for yourself and make a plan to reach out to them, over and over

If there are some specific people you want to keep track of—and catch the attention of—make sure to create yourself a “watchlist” so you can remember to interact with their content frequently. Sometimes the surest bet is nurturing a relationship over time. You can easily do this with folk with our folkX extension.

Make sure to create set reminders for yourself to keep it up and organize your interactions (or insights) so you can reference them later once in conversation with your potential client.

You can also leverage LinkedIn filters to look for people who match a specific criteria, whether you’re focused on a certain industry, market, or even seniority level—use these to build a highly targeted list and start there.

Reach out to people based on the posts they’ve interacted with

Take note of posts people of interest have either liked or commented on and reference the subject to spark a  discussion. This will make the icebreaker way more contextual and personal.

folk’s new free tool helps you easily export people who liked or commented a post, enrich their email address with one click, and send your first message—all from one place. Make sure to include the context of the post and, maybe even a link, in the email.

Slip into their DMs

Reach out directly on LinkedIn by using DMs. But proceed with caution, LinkedIn inboxes can be intense places. Make sure to personalize every message so you don’t feel spammy.

folk’s Conversation Templates can help you start a conversation without starting from scratch. In one click, apply a template for an exchange you tend to repeat and the variables will personalize to the contact you’re reaching out to.

Make sure to save the LinkedIn exchange on folk in one-click, so to keep track of your interactions and leverage this info in-future for context.