How to fail at LinkedIn

Hey there, it's Terra Milo here and today we are talking about how to fail at LinkedIn. Oh this one is something I really know a lot about. I'm kind of failing at LinkedIn but I have learned a lot of lessons I have been studying from the experts so we are going to dive in and talk about how to fail at LinkedIn and how not to. 

Welcome to the "how to fail" series. we're going to talk about what to do and what not to do to grow your business, communicate clearly, and find really good clients, and today we're talking about how to fail at LinkedIn. 

A little bit about me: I do consider myself a pretty epic failure these days but after running my business for over nine years now and helping hundreds of entrepreneurs with technology and marketing, I know what works and what doesn't. I'm obsessed with this stuff and I want to help you avoid mistakes so that you can really thrive in your business. 

Here are my numbers so you can see how I'm failing. 

It's a small business but it has longevity. People keep coming back to me because I know what I'm talking about, they get great results, and they trust me. I've helped more than 500 entrepreneurs and we've launched more than 200 products and services. It's just been amazing. 

I've been doing this for over nine years now and it's just been such a joy to work with so many amazing and impactful people who are doing really cool stuff in their businesses. 

Cool, before we dive in, I made a one-page cheat sheet for you about how to make the most of LinkedIn so go grab that now. You've got all the information in one place so you can not fail at LinkedIn. 

First thing you want to do is be consistent about time and topic. 

Don't just pop in and out whenever you feel like. 

Do try to post consistently. Choose a number of posts per week. It doesn't have to be one per day. That's ideal but it doesn't have to be. And also don't commit to anything but like do try to post consistently a couple of times a week and use the same number of relevant topics. 

You kind of want to stay on track on LinkedIn. You don't want to be all over the place. People are really looking for credibility and expertise on LinkedIn and if it helps you, use a scheduling tool. 

You can actually schedule directly on LinkedIn now which is so helpful but if you prefer to schedule it somewhere else like I like later.com. 

You can use a scheduling tool so that you can kind of batch all of your content. I love batching. Batch all of that content and schedule it. Just set it up so that it's ready to go and you don't have to worry about it anymore. 

So number one tip is to be consistent. 

Also, have the right focus and here I mean don't focus on yourself and do the humble-brag thing that LinkedIn is kind of known for. That's cringy and we all see through it these days so don't just talk about yourself. 

I know it's kind of hard to do this on a platform like LinkedIn where we want to kind of show how proud we are of our work but it's better to write with your audience in mind and solve their problem and inspire conversation so you're showing them your expertise but not telling them that you're an expert. 

You're just giving away some really valuable content consistently without being braggy like "I'm so good at this." 

Instead, just tell them the thing that you taught a client or I don't know something that you learned this week, but write with them in mind and solve their problems. 

If you can solve people's problems on social media, you're going to be seen as the expert and they're going to trust you and they're going to keep coming back to you so try to be thought-provoking, be engaging, and be all about them. 

And remember, it's social don't just post and run. 

You've got to engage and connect with other people. Comment on other people's posts. LinkedIn is all about that. 

I've actually seen some of the experts say you should comment on three and then post your own ideas. 

That it's kind of warming up the algorithm so if you go comment on three other people's and leave thoughtful comments that reflect on what they wrote, not just like "great idea." You want to be really thoughtful so go comment on other people's stuff and then post your own thing. 

If you're using a scheduler, I like to set the schedule for like two o'clock my time and then I just kind of make a mental note to pop into LinkedIn around 1:30 and comment on some other people's posts. That way, I can engage. 

And you know build a network there. That's what it's all about. Instead of looking at it as a marketing tool, you can look at it as networking and growing your connections. 

I like to go in there and comment on those and then I know that my scheduling tool is going to drop my post right on time. 

That's how I use a scheduling tool and also comment at the same time. That's how you make the most of LinkedIn - commenting and connecting with people and really growing that network. 

We can work together on this. I love helping people come up with a content calendar so that you can batch that content. 

You've got that content ready to go and post and schedule so that you are posting consistently. We can make sure that you're using consistent topics. 

I actually created a planning party that you can do whenever you feel like. It's a pre-recorded class. You can do the planning party and it'll come up with some topics for you and help you really plan and schedule over 300 social media posts. I've got a big sheet with 100 post ideas and then a bunch of different ideas to kind of generate some content for you so you can check out the planning party and join that and you'll really get a lot of posts, a lot of content ideas, so that you can post consistently. 

And another thing related to this is email sequences. You've got all this great content but it's out there on social media and you're not making the most of it if you're not sending people to your opt-in, your email sequence so that you can really engage with them via email. 

That's where all the magic happens and that's kind of the point of social media is to get them into your list so that you can connect with them in the way that you want to.

So we can set up email sequences for you so you're posting on social media, people are engaging, they're signing up for your free gift, and then you can send an email sequence that includes a welcome sequence and then nurture emails that follow that so they are consistently engaged with you and you're connecting with them over time. 

You'll be consistently launching and getting new clients if you use an email sequence in conjunction with your social media marketing. 

We can work together on all of that like I said. I love oh I love planning content for people. 

I'm really good at stepping into your clients' shoes and kind of understanding what your client wants to hear from you so we can build that content calendar together,

You can contact me at terra@terramilo.com, tell me you came from the Fail series. I would love to know who's watching and if this resonated with you. 

Or you can book a spot with me on my calendar it's at terramilo.com/book-me. 

Don't forget to grab that freebie. It's got one page with all the stuff you need to know to not fail at LinkedIn and thanks again for watching and I'll see you in the next video.