LinkedIn Challenges and Strategies

Dan Ince has over 25 years experience as a Marketing Consultant, Marketing Director, Coach, Mentor and passionate marketing ‘fixer’. He founded BrandWorks Social in 2020 and now helps B2Bs grow with LinkedIn content that stands out. He has helped many Drive members sort out their LinkedIn Strategy and has popular and useful articles in our Learning Hub

Dan led an interactive discussion about the use of social media, particularly LinkedIn, in small businesses.

Hands up if you use LinkedIn or other social media for your business?

How happy are you in what you’re currently achieving?
1 (unhappy) 10 (ecstatic)
What stops you from being a 10?
The biggest challenges most people face are:

  • Time management
  • Understanding the platform
  • Content creation

This isn’t helped when there are so many people suggesting that the latest hack or shiny tactic are the answer. They never are.

The only things that really work are
1. CLARITY
2. CONSISTENCY
3. FREQUENCY.

Everyone is bombarded with so much content that it’s easy to get overwhelmed. It’s important to be really picky about who you follow and, if you want to make an impact, who you engage with. Be strategic about this – who are the people who will share your messages and engage with you? Don’t get sucked into just liking things because someone is your friend. The people who follow you will switch off and you’ll be left in the shadows.

You can’t afford to be a lurker!

Social Media is a great tool to build awareness of your business at scale for relatively low cost but you need to cut through the noise to make an impact. If people don’t know you, they can’t buy you.
In the eyes of the customer, the best product is the one they know.

OK. Let’s get to it!
Use the worksheet (link below) to jot notes as you go. Learning is great, but taking
action is better!


Dan Ince STANDOUT Worksheet PDF

1. CLARITY

Many businesses, especially solo owners and B2B use social media sporadically, lack strategy, consistency and get hit and miss results.

  • Why are you using social media?
  • What is your objective? To get noticed by customers?
  • Creating brand awareness? This is different to “generate leads”
  • What problem does your business solve, why should anyone care?
  • Who do you best serve? Focus everything on them.
  • What are your channels? These are the places where your customers are active and receptive to your message. You can’t be on all platforms so it’s best to do one or two well than spread yourself too thin. LinkedIn is a good place for most B2Bs

2. CONSISTENCY

What is the McDonalds catchphrase? Almost everyone knows it because for over 20 years it has conveyed a memorable, consistent message.
Consistency helps you stand out.

The three elements for consistency are:

    • your visual identity
    • tone of voice
    • content

For now, we’ll focus on content:
What content themes will resonate with your audience?
Use 3-5 of these themes as pillars, creating a mix of content that entertains, educates and inspires.
Start with a HOOK to stop the scroll – a great headline or image.
Then go into PAIN. SOLUTION. BENEFIT format.
An example of pillars:

  • Stories that demonstrate expertise
  • How to tips
  • Curated industry content
  • Events, networking – connect with other attendees, write a post about what you found useful & tag others
  • Social proof – describe client wins, projects, reviews.

Not sure where to start?
Listen to your customers. What questions get asked repeatedly?
What problems have you solved for customers?
Turn the Q&A into content.
Ask your customers what they really value about what you do for them – it’s gold.

JOT DOWN YOUR CONTENT THEMES
Keep it fresh, mix formats up – Text, Image, Carousel, Polls, Video, newsletters & consistent timing. E,g., Polls on a Wednesday, round up on Fridays?
Create a content folder & make it a monthly habit. Keep it simple. Capture everything in one place. Take lots of photos / video. Make time to plan, create & schedule.

Remember: Social Media is a great tool to build awareness of your business at scale for relatively low cost – but the cost is time so you need to make a decision to invest either time or money! 

3. FREQUENCY

Why do you need to be investing in social media on an on-going basis?
Because at any one time, 95% of your target audience aren’t ready to buy what you have to offer.  When they are, they’ll need to remember you.
Keeping your name in front of them, consistently sharing useful information, gives them  chance to get to know you.
We recommend posts 3x per week (consistency, find your own rhythm). You’re leaving breadcrumbs and building awareness.
ENGAGE!!! Don’t just broadcast content. You need to engage. Leaving an interesting comment on someone else’s post shows others that you have a point of view, or that you’re funny, helpful, or curious to learn new things.
When people leave comments on your posts don’t ignore them and don’t just say thank you! Get a conversation going. Start to build a relationship. Allow time to respond & engage with others.
Really focus on building relationships – it’s THE best way to attract new clients.

We recommend posting 3x per week, 30-45mins per time.
If you don’t have this much time, think about how much it would cost to use other ways to find new clients. This is the most cost effective way to do it so making time for it is important.

What would take your social media effectiveness up 2 notches?

Most people acknowledge that having a group of genuine supporters and people who are fans of your work is invaluable. (This is very different to social media “pods” where people agree to “boost” each others content regardless of whether it’s any good or not.)
The best way to build fans is to be generous. Share other people’s content with your network and they’re more likely to share yours.

Final Exercise…(one you could do EVERY week)

Write a post about today’s event. What did you find useful? Connect with and tag everyone you’ve met. When you’re tagged, like and write a comment – something more interesting than “thank you”, adding value and showing your perspective and personality.

If there are 20 people at an event and you get mentioned 20 times and make 20 interesting comments to 20 x other people’s networks, that’s a LOT of opportunities to stand out! (And that’s what everyone wants to do – isn’t it?)

If you have any questions, get in touch with Dan at BrandWorks Social
You can also find Dan on LinkedIn where he shares lots of useful tips. Be sure to sign up to his newsletter!