Your Profile
Before you consider searching for new clients ensure that your own profile is complete and looks professional. I am amazed to find people still not adding a photo to their profile, it`s important to know who you are dealing with, it helps to make people comfortable in connecting with you.
Professional Headline
Describe how you help people and ensure that the words you use create a response. Add a personal element to humanise yourself.
Branding
Linkedin offers you the opportunity to show your connections how you can add value, provide detail about the highlights of your career that give you a headstart against the competition. It is after all a platform suited for the individual to create person to person contact.
Use your 1st Degree Network
It is important to define your prospect and clarify how your 1st Degree network can help you. The real prospect value is in your 2nd and 3rd degree networks so you need to ensure your 1st Degree network understands your proposition before agreeing to help you.
Join Groups
Search for groups in your business and geographic area and contribute to the discussions. Help people with enquiries and create a level of trust for yourself. This is a great way for people to get to know you and will lead to opportunities. Use keywords for job titles and businesses you want to connect with. Don`t be afraid to ask for help yourself as people will be more than happy to help you.
Interests
Look for people with similar interests and similar organisations and use the advanced search to enter the relevant keywords.
Add a Personal Message
From my experience only a few people do this. When you request to connect with someone in your network add a message and make yourself memorable. It is a great way to move the relationship forward towards the next stage.
Use Applications
Share high quality and free content and do not try and sell your product or service. This is really important as you need to build trust with people and giving away free information goes a long way toward this goal. When the contentproves to be usfeul to them the more they like you and the relationship moves forward. Lead them towards your website for more free information.
Use Advanced Search
This allows you to search for business leads within a geographical area and to find the relevant decision maker you require. The next step is to find out if they are within your database of connections or Groups. Perhaps organise an event they will be interested in attending and invite them along.
Linkedin Sponsored Updates
If you have a budget this is great way to get in front of your target market. This is similar to Facebook sponsored posts and show up in the newsfeed of your target audience. It is a great way to provide content to the decision makers and influencers and can be seen on both desktop and mobile.