Here’s what you missed if you didn’t join us live for the LinkedIn special of the Informi Talking Small Business lunchtime webinar, where Sophie Cross talked to LinkedIn expert Gus Bhandal.
Introducing Gus Bhandal…
Gus is a LinkedIn trainer, social media specialist, highly experienced marketing strategist, and founder of the digital marketing agency 'The M Guru'.
Gus has been in the world of marketing since the late 90s and has seen a LOT of changes, such as multi-channel advertising campaigns, the advent of social media, and the rapid rise of AI.
In particular, Gus has worked on LinkedIn marketing campaigns for a number of years and helped literally thousands of organisations - from sole traders to global corporations - to utilise, grow and create sustainable success on the platform.
Gus also delivers regular LinkedIn workshops and masterclasses for the Chamber of Commerce and has a LinkedIn column in the quarterly publication Freelancer Magazine.
Webinar overview
What we covered…
- Why there’s so much opportunity to be gained from using LinkedIn
- Go from lurker to leader - how to stop the scroll and get involved
- How to use storytelling to become an engaging content creator
- What the FAST Approach is in social selling
- How to build consistency on LinkedIn
- How to find your tribe and ideal clients
18 key takeaways from Gus Bhandal…
- LinkedIn is a social media platform for conversations, not a CV site. Treat it like the longest networking event.
- Optimise your LinkedIn profile for search by ensuring you’re using all the relevant keywords. Treat your profile like your website.
- Start with 20-30 minutes daily scrolling your feed, liking, commenting and updating your profile.
- Commenting on posts can be as, if not more, effective as writing posts.
- AI can be used to assist with content creation to get ideas, but don’t use it to create your posts for you without a lot of input.
- Keep a LinkedIn journal and jot down what you do each day to get ideas for posts. Create content from genuine experiences; don’t force posts.
- Your LinkedIn headline is the most important thing and should say what you do (first), who for and how you do it. The first six or seven words of your headline should make it really clear what you do.
- Show your personality in posts, and write like you would speak. People want to work with people they like.
- Be intentionally yourself.
- Make yourself un-Googleable.
- Build trust through authentic storytelling.
- Use the FAST Approach - Find pain points in your potential client's experience, Agitate these problems by highlighting the consequences, present Solutions and how you fix these issues, and share Testimonials that prove your effectiveness.
- Consistency is key in content creation. Gus posts on LinkedIn three times a week.
- Use the free version of LinkedIn until you’ve maximised what you can do with it, and then get Sales Navigator (not Premium).
- Gus sends connection requests to people who have viewed his profile with a personalised DM.
- Marketing should focus on the target market's needs, not just self-promotion.
- Niche down to stand out and to attract (and put off) the right clients.
- Check out the specialist LinkedIn conference Gus is involved with - UpLift Live.
Watch the whole webinar back…
Connect with us…
Connect with Gus on LinkedIn
Connect with Sophie on LinkedIn
Informi on LinkedIn
Don’t miss the next Talking Small Business webinar…
On Thursday 8 May, 13.00-14.00pm (UK GMT), Angela Lyons, graphic designer, podcast host and co-founder of the Creatives Like Us event will be joining us to chat about…
- How to start something
- Staying sane while self-employed
- Basic graphic design tips for business
- How to start a podcast
- How to launch an event
- The importance of community