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The Benefits of Networking and Sales Rituals for LinkedIn

by LinkedIn Training, Thought Starters

In this article you will learn more about the benefits of developing networking and sales rituals for LinkedIn and how to get started with your own LinkedIn rituals.

With the ever increasing hype on LinkedIn about content hacks and using AI to help you streamline your time online, this article is your reminder to show up regularly on LinkedIn and to meaningfully connect with your LinkedIn community. How you ‘get results’ on LinkedIn will depend on your goals. For some client facing professionals, lead generation is their primary goal and generating a list of prospects can turn people into transactional monsters who may forget the importance of building relationships and adding value.

For others who like the idea of LinkedIn but are not sure what to do when they are there, the case study below will shine a light on a series of rituals you can adopt when on LinkedIn. You may like to adopt these rituals daily, weekly, fortnightly or monthly. The choice is yours.

While tech tools that save you time are always on our ‘tools to review’ list, nothing replaces the power of human connection.

Benefits of Networking & Sales Rituals on LinkedIn

Having a more ritualised approach to your LinkedIn activity means you can spend less time on LinkedIn and get the same, if not better, results. It also means you ‘automate’ your habits. If you’re yet to read Atomic Habits, by James Clear, that last sentence may not make sense to you. The idea is that you decide the sort of person you want to be. Talk to yourself kindly and say “I will turn up consistently on LinkedIn and add value when I am there’. While there may be lots of more important habits and self talk you need to develop before you get to LinkedIn, this example hopefully helps explain the idea.

Deciding to commit to regular time on LinkedIn and knowing the steps you will take, or the rituals you will follow, when you are there is also a way to reduce decision fatigue across your day or week. A colleague of mine uses this idea with her ‘Fast Fifteen’. She puts a weekly repeating 15 minute appointment with herself to spend time on LinkedIn and has three actions she takes when she’s there. What is your version of this?

If you’ve taken the time to consider your goals for LinkedIn you will hopefully have narrowed your focus on who you’d like to get into more conversations with. This helps you be more intentional about why you are on LinkedIn. It is also a great filter for helping you decide what you follow on LinkedIn. You can then clean up your newsfeed, which has the major benefit of improving your LinkedIn user experience. What you see in your newsfeed will become much more relevant to your focus for LinkedIn.

How to Approach Your LinkedIn Profile Newsfeed

Here’s what to consider when cleaning up your LinkedIn newsfeed.

  • Narrow your focus: Develop a really clear picture of the types of people you’re trying to influence or get into conversations with here on LinkedIn. Once you’ve got that picture in your mind, it’s helpful to frame the 3-5 topics or types of information that you’d like to engage with that’s relevant to those communities and is also broadly connected to your organisation’s service offerings and the problems you can help your clients or potential employer’s solve.
  • Favourite reads: Think about all the sources that you currently subscribe to, the people who you love reading, watching and listening to and make sure you are following them on LinkedIn.
  • Follow thought leaders and companies: Follow those thought leaders and companies post content in areas relevant to your goals for LinkedIn. Not sure who these are? Consider specific hashtags and follow them for a while to find out who’s commentating meaningfully on LinkedIn right now in these areas. This is also a great way to learn from others and stay informed.
    Conversation starters: Think about the common and more general conversations you have with your clients and hiring managers and the topics that these are related to. This is not about self promotion, or the not so ‘humble brag’ it’s about considering the content pillars and narratives that are relevant to engage with via your LinkedIn profile.

Fast LinkedIn Learner Case Study

When I run LinkedIn training or coaching sessions with my clients I always ask at the end of the session ‘What are you going to do differently as a result of our time together?’  While most people have at least one or two things they’ll do differently, I had one client who was a fast LinkedIn learner and used the training to develop a daily ritual on LinkedIn. He is an example of exactly what you need to do in order to get maximum value from LinkedIn, especially if you’re in a client facing role or you’re in active job search and want to expand your connections on LinkedIn.

Two weeks after implementing these rituals he told me he believes this approach is reaping greater rewards than his previous efforts, because he is now much more focused and productive when on LinkedIn. Here are his daily rituals, which he wrote out and he’s saved to his device so he can access it wherever he is.

  • Review and respond to notifications
  • Like or comment on 1 or 2 updates a day
  • Manage invites to connect
    • Thank and keep in touch or;
    • Thank and ask how you can help
  • Once a week – share an article only if it is a good one
  • Whenever I present share a photo and @person’s and organisation’s name
Karen Hollenbach

Karen Hollenbach

As the Founding Director of Think Bespoke I help individuals and organisations unlock their potential with LinkedIn. Sign up to my E-insights for LinkedIn tips.

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