As an entrepreneur, it’s important to know how to utilize social media for optimal sales growth. Today I talked with Erin Anderson about LinkedIn for entrepreneurs. As a career transition coach, she has great tips on utilizing LinkedIn to help reach clients and boost sales. Keep reading about LinkedIn for entrepreneurs, and gain tips for your own online business. 

How To Start From Day One With LinkedIn 

Erin believes everyone’s ideal client is on LinkedIn- And I agree! It’s easy to think Facebook and Instagram are the only platforms that will help entrepreneurs reach clients. But, LinkedIn is a great place to reach your ideal clients.

 Erin says “transitioning from a corporate profile” is the best thing to do when using LinkedIn for entrepreneurs. We don’t want to leave a stale profile, we want to refine it. Transitioning your profile to a business is a great way to make sure your profile is drawing people in, and representing you well. If you have left a corporate job, you want to make sure your page is up to date with your business and that it’s what you’re being found for, not for what you used to be doing. 

She also says creating a company page alongside your personal page is important. If you don’t have a company page, it can look like freelancing in stead of running your own business. Both pages will get different followers, depending on who wants to work with you. On your company page you may interact more with corporations and businesses, whereas on your personal page you’ll be connecting and reaching out to your audience, and gaining trust. Erin says with LinkedIn for entrepreneurs, the algorithm pushes your personal page up, and that’s where your success will come from, but you shouldn’t ignore your company page. 

Your “call to action” should be eye-catching as well, which on LinkedIn it can be your banner. Especially on your company page, it should be clear on what your message is. The banner should be different on both pages, but you want them to draw in your audiences. Using LinkedIn for entrepreneurs gives a great opportunity to connect with people, and it allows people to connect with the brand through stories and personalization. 

When it comes to making posts, Erin advises against selling right away. When posting, you want to capture your audiences attention in just 3-5 lines, and your content should be relatable to anyone reading it. LinkedIn for entrepreneurs is helpful in this way, because if everyone reads it and likes it, it boosts your views beyond just your followers. Your messages can be relatable to everyone while still targeting your ideal audience, but it’s important that everyone wants to read it. 

Is LinkedIn A Better Place To Get Clients Than Instagram? 

A lot of online business owners think Instagram is the best way to gain a bigger following, but it’s not the case. LinkedIn for entrepreneurs is better than Instagram in a lot of ways. Instagram isn’t designed for views and promoting businesses like LinkedIn. 

Erin says to look at your views and your likes and comments. Because of how LinkedIn works with its likes and follows on posts, your page gets more visibility. A like or comment only helps a little bit on Instagram, but on LinkedIn it makes a big difference. If your have more followers, you’re going to get more views than you would on Instagram.