LinkedIn has around 800 million users across the globe, and over 57 million listed companies. With this in mind, it’s an invaluable resource for every single business to utilise and is one of the top social networks.

If your business doesn’t already have a presence on LinkedIn then you could be missing out on countless opportunities to not only win new business but to attract and retain talent as well.

Why is LinkedIn so important for professional services?

LinkedIn generates leads at a conversion rate of 2.74% which is almost 3 times higher than both Facebook and Twitter – or 227% more effective. In fact, LinkedIn outperforms social media in general overall when it comes to converting leads.

There are a few different reasons for this, but one of the most obvious is that LinkedIn is a professional channel that people join in order to showcase or advance their careers. When people log in to the site they’re already in a business mindset which means that content shared from businesses is likely to perform better.

It’s not only a great platform for pitching sales, but it’s also really effective when it comes to sharing your business’ values, mission, and personality. This will enable potential clients to feel like they’re able to connect to you on a meaningful level and will increase the chances of conversion.

What makes a great sales pitch?

When it comes time to begin sending out sales pitches to potential clients, it’s really important that know your client. It’s good practice to spend some time reading through your prospective client’s profile before sending them your sales pitch.

Review their recent activity to see the kinds of posts that they’ve liked or reacted to or the topics that they’ve recently posted on. You can then also read through their about section in order to learn a bit more about them.

Look for any interesting information that you can bring into a conversation with a prospective client and ensure that you include this in your sales pitch. Your goal is to stand out from all of your competition on the platform and give them a reason to not only reply back to your message but to convert from a prospect to a client as well.

Including this kind of information also tells the client that you’re interested in them on a personal level and that you’re not just trying to sell them something. Remember that you should be reaching out to connect to your prospect, not to sell them a product. Once you’ve connected with them on a personal level, then you can follow up with a sales-focused message in the future.

How can you ensure that your business stands out?

With so many businesses currently utilising LinkedIn as part of their marketing strategy, it can be difficult to know how to stand out from your competition.

The first step is to not only ensure that your business has a company page on LinkedIn, but that it’s actually complete as well. According to LinkedIn, fully completed company pages get 30% more weekly views than those that are missing information.

Once this is complete ensure that your page is regularly sharing content that’s actually useful for your prospective and current clients. Your aim should be to provide them with content that’s valuable and shows them why you should be considered above your competition.

In order to ensure that your company is being shown to the right kind of new prospective clients, you need to make sure that you are making the most of hashtags. Hashtags are really effective on LinkedIn and mean that you’ll be getting exposure to exactly the right kinds of people.

Aim to use between three and five hashtags per post for maximum efficiency and use a variety each week to ensure you’re being seen by multiple audiences.