Why Use LinkedIn To Promote Your Personal Brand as a Sales Manager

October 5, 2022
LinkedIn, Personal Branding, Social Media

If you are a business professional, you are likely on LinkedIn. In fact, there are over 830 million LinkedIn users (for comparison sake, Facebook has 2.7 billion). LinkedIn is the most popular and preferred social media network for businesses over all other social media platforms except Facebook (which edges it slightly, based on sheer volume of users). As one of the fastest-growing social media platforms, LinkedIn’s power and influence is only going to grow.

As a business professional, you’ve likely created a profile, but are you one of LinkedIn’s 3 million active monthly users? This is where the real power of LinkedIn lies, and for those professionals who engage in the platform, they are seeing a number of benefits, both to their sales and to their personal brands.

Why Use LinkedIn to Promote Your Personal Brand as a Sales Manager

Find decision-makers – As the world’s largest B2B (business to business) platform in the world, clients, potential clients and decision-makers spend time on the platform each and every day. Whether you are seeking out decision-makers using LinkedIn’s targeted search tool, or you are attracting them to you using inbound marketing methods, you can use LinkedIn to find your ideal community. 73% of buyers say they would consider purchasing from a brand if a salesperson reached out on LinkedIn*; that number alone is compelling enough to be on the platform and starting business conversations!
Learn about your ideal client and community – Whether you are researching individual profiles or organizations, LinkedIn has a number of tools available to research your ideal clients, their organizations, and their habits. This wealth of information can transform the way you traditionally conducted sales, and your cold call to an organization’s gatekeeper will evolve into much warmer and more thoughtful activities. Consider using Groups, hashtags or deep dive into profiles and activities to listen in on what others are talking about, and respond by addressing their needs with solutions.
Showcase your abilities for job opportunities – Recruiters use LinkedIn extensively to find candidates, as well as research those that are applying for positions. A complete and compelling LinkedIn profile puts your best foot forward better than any traditional paper resume. If you are completing your profile, consider beefing up your About section with your skills and how they help your ideal client. Also, spend some time on the Skills section, and ask for referrals from your clients to boost your Recommendations section. Consider uploading some assets to your Featured section that speak to your transferable skills.
Showcase yourself as an industry thought leader – If you are a student of inbound marketing as an effective way to attract leads and retain your client base, using LinkedIn to weigh in on industry topics is a great way to serve your community and attract attention to you and your product. Consider creating native content for LinkedIn’s platform, or try your hand at writing an article. Not ready to create content? Consider commenting on other people’s content – this activity will put you top-of-mind for the content creator, and position you as a thought leader inside of the micro-community created by the piece of content.
Attract other branding opportunities – As you build out your LinkedIn profile and contribute to the platform with thought-provoking content, you may find other opportunities start to make their way to your inbox, including opportunities to speak, write, collaborate, teach, instruct, mentor, volunteer, etc. Set some goals around your own personal growth and entertain opportunities as they arise.
Learn new skills – Not only is LinkedIn the place to contribute great content, but also a great place to consume content. The platform is a treasure trove of great information, tips and advice in every area of business. You can learn from other platform users, as well as through LinkedIn’s online university, to develop skills and business acumen. Consider popping into a LinkedIn group to check out the conversation, and follow notable industry peers who add to the conversation on a consistent basis.
Rank in Google – When one has a LinkedIn profile, it can rank near the top of Google results for your name. In this way, you can control the messaging about what is being said (or read) about you in how you craft your profile. Take some time to review your profile and ensure it’s accurate, up-to-date and shows how you impact your ideal audience.

As you spend time on the LinkedIn platform, you’ll gain a greater understanding of its power, its wealth of information, and its ability to transform your network and your brand.

To your branding success,
-Leanne

Follow Leanne on LinkedIn

💥 PS. I’m covering a few more algorithm tips in my upcoming webinar, 3 Ways to Level Up Your LinkedIn Game…. FAST, this week! Find your preferred time here – www.leannecalderwood.com/masterclass

*stat courtesy of Omnicore Agency, 2022