LinkedIn expert, Wayne Breitbarth, is back with more excellent insight into LinkedIn strategies to promote and grow your manufacturing business! Jim and Jason ask the hard questions about the worth of a premium account, when and how to say no to offending taggers and salesmen, and when, where, and how to post the good stuff. Be sure to listen the whole way through for all the tips and tricks to boost your business and put you on the leading edge of the manufacturing industry! Connect with us:www.MakingChips.com/contact The premium life: LinkedIn strategies for greater coverage Is a premium account worth the cash? Wayne shares a helpful gauge to determine if it’s time for you or your business to bite the bullet for premium benefits. If you are running into what Wayne calls the “free wall,” then it’s time to pay. If trying to keep up with who has been viewing your profile is taking up all your spare time, then you may want to consider going premium. With the upgraded account, you can see the past 90 days of profile “stalkers.” Being able to go back and see who has been visiting your profile will help you determine who to reach out to and build relationship with. Another way to tell if it’s time for that premium account is if you are maxing out your search allowance for the month. A premium account will give you a wider berth for searching out the perfect people to build your business and professional alliances. Wayne suggests the “Sales Navigator/Professional” premium setting as the perfect “rocket-ship” to carry your profile to the next level. Dealing with unwanted attention Jim and Wayne both get frustrated and feel offended when someone tags them in posts that have nothing to do with them. Some people use tagging as a sales tactic to take advantage of others’ many followers. Wayne suggests that if this happens to you, untag yourself from the post. If it happens again with the same instigator, direct message that person, and politely - but firmly - ask them to stop. If it still continues, disconnect with that person. How do you respond when someone sends a connection request and within minutes of you accepting, direct messages you trying to sell you something? If there isn’t any effort being made to build relationship with you first, Wayne suggests disconnecting with that person. Learn why building relationship is important in establishing credibility before a sale and why pre-canned, automated systems aren’t the best tactic by listening to the whole episode! What to post and where to promote Earlier in LinkedIn’s history, one could post an article, and all of that person’s connections would be notified that an article had been posted. Articles, however, aren’t as profound as they used to be. Wayne explains that the tactic originally worked because LinkedIn was trying to garner quality material within its platform. Over time, however, people began cutting corners on the quality of their articles and began only posting a sentence from a blog post or a small paragraph. LinkedIn pulled back from the promotion of articles as the material deteriorated in quality. While it is important to include your latest blog posts and articles on your profile, make sure that your writing is of high quality. People viewing your profile will want to see professionalism throughout your material - including your writing. Excellent writing builds credibility. Wayne encourages the strategy of re-sharing articles that may be a month old and didn’t receive the attention it deserved. Unimpressive impressions What does a view or impression mean? Unfortunately, they aren’t as big of a deal as some might wish. Wayne explains that an impression or view is essentially someone sweeping by your post but not actually looking at it. The activity to get excited about is comments. Making sure you are active on your posts and promoting conversation is also helpful. A response to others on your own post still counts as activity that will help broadcast your post to