We recently wrote about Engagement being a secret ingredient to the sales process. Most sales people are pretty good at generating leads or a prospecting list, and fail at engaging with those prospects. There are several ways to engage with prospects - today we'll discuss some tips and strategies for LinkedIn that I picked up from Jake Dunlap.

Review and Rewrite Your Summary

Many people used LinkedIn like an online resume when it first came out. As a result their Summary doesn't give you much about what they're expertise is. A good summary is targeted at your audience, and tells them what you do.

Set Goals

It may seem obvious, but if you don't have any goals for what you want to achieve with your LinkedIn account you won't be very effective with it. Set goals for what you want people to know about you and your company. Set goals for who you want to as your connections. Set goals for your number of connections.

Building Your Brand

Jake did a live LinkedIn call recently. CLICK TO WATCH IT HERE He emphatically stated the best way to build your brand is to be Authentic. Remember not to do things the way you think others think you should be doing it. In the words of one of the greatest innovators of all time, you want to "Think Differently." So instead of looking at what other people are doing, be prepared to fail, and fail often.

Failing often implies that you are posting regularly. Post something every 1-3 days. The more you practice this the better you'll get, learning what works and doesn't.

Go to Your Audience

Remember to go where your audience is. If they're on SnapChat, engage with them there. If they don't use LinkedIn, don't spend time on LinkedIn. An example for us is that our typical clients are 35-55, are senior management role (SVP, COO, CRO) or business owners, and are in the mortgage lending industry.

Do Your Research

After knowing where your target audience is, it's a great idea to look at their posts, and engage with them by thoughtfully commenting on their posts. Most people don't get much interaction with their posts, so it is a good way to build a relationship. After building a bit of familiarity between you, make the connection request.

Be sure that your connection request isn't boiler plate, and don't go straight to a sales pitch. Write something about one of their posts that you've researched on LinkedIn AND other social media sites.

Final Thoughts

Getting started can be daunting. But even a 1000-mile journey starts with the first step. Set some goals for what you hope to achieve using LinkedIn (if it is the appropriate social media tool) as a first step, and then start posting!