Reaching Your ICP on LinkedIn

Most people dislike making cold calls and pitches, but they're an essential part of building any B2B startup. Your B can't sell to other Bs until they've heard about you and what you can do for them, after all. That's why a prominent social media account can be such a huge benefit and time-saver for early-stage companies. Used properly, it's a funnel for new leads, passively gathering the folks who need your product or service the most and delivering them right to your front door (or, well, your front website).

One of our Founder University sessions recently welcomed marketing guru Aidan Brannigan of the "creative humor agency" No Boring Brands, to share his advice for finding your ideal customers and generating fresh leads on LinkedIn. Here's a sampling of the advice he shared with attendees.

PART 1: CONNECTING WITH YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE

As with all kinds of cold introductions, you want to avoid giving new LinkedIn connections a 'hard sell,' or really any kind of sales pitch. Your outward aim here is just to network, building a community of executives, acquaintances, friends, and colleagues who are likely to find your services or products helpful down the road.

To start, search for a typical job title that your ideal customer might have. You're particularly looking for people with corporate roles that would put them in control a budget, authorizing them to pursue a new SaaS or B2B strategy. Say, a CMO or a VP of Social Media.

Don't worry so much about your First Connections. These people are already in your audience and will see the content that you post. You're looking to expand your reach by connecting with second and third connections.

Start building these relationships with a simple note of invitation, using an introductory prompt that's likely to spark a conversation rather than sending a sales pitch. In this initial contact, you only want to open the door of for further communication, not close a deal.

Aidan recommends asking a straight-forward question, even if you already know the answer. For example, asking a CMO "do you run socials for your company?" It's actually not very likely that the CMO of a major company would run the social media accounts themselves, but if they respond to correct you, well, now you're involved in a discussion with them without really even trying.

Once you get a feel for this process, it's possible to save yourself time by automating your introductions. Aidan recommends Dripify to speed up your LinkedIn outreach.

PART 2: CREATING YOUR CONTENT

There are a few essential things for all internet content creators to keep in mind, regardless of which platform they've selected for their posts. They're true for LinkedIn, but also widely applicable for all digital content and social media accounts.

• Be interesting and opinionated: There are so many people competing for everyone's attention online, you need to stand out. That means having strong opinions and bold takes. You're not just discussing the news or describing a topic but approaching it from a fresh perspective and giving your viewer something to think about after they're done watching your video.
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• Be authentic: No one wants to make friends with a salesperson and watch ads on their feed. People want to connect with other real humans to whom they can relate. Speak in your own natural voice, avoiding marketing-speak and jargon. Infuse your content with your own personality to make it stand out.
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• Don't "pitch slap": Remember, you're here to network and build connections, NOT to be a salesperson. Your content should not focus on your product or the new features you just pushed. Instead, discuss the pain points that you're helping your followers to solve. That way, your content is personal and sympathetic to them, and relatable to their needs, not like a sales deck.
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• Do your research: Before you can create relatable content for potential customers and clients, you have to first understand them, their perspectives, and the specific pain points that they're facing. Spend time on Reddit, Facebook, and in other communities where you think your ideal customers are likely to hang out, and listen to the real conversations that they're already having. That will help you develop a level of confidence around these topics. (Reddit is particularly powerful for research because it is anonymous, making users more likely to voice authentic opinions than Instagram or another platform where they're using their real names.)

The MOST important trait that's rewarded on social media platforms is CONSISTENCY. You want to create the kind of content that you know you can routinely replicate frequently, as often as once per day. Consistency is the best and only real way to build momentum on social media, and every platform favors those creators that upload fresh content regularly.

Think of your social media account as a lottery. You want to maximize your entries in order to have the greatest chance to win a jackpot. (In this metaphor, winning a jackpot is going viral.)

The most lively hours on LinkedIn, which will maximize the number of followers seeing your content, are Monday-Thursday from 12-2 pm Eastern Time. Having said that, maintaining overall consistency in terms of how frequently you post is a lot more crucial than worrying about posting at the same time each day. Find a rhythm that is both comfortable and achievable for your team, that also keeps your name out there in the world regularly.

PART 3: PROFILE OPTIMIZATION

Your LinkedIn profile needs to immediately make it perfectly clear to new visitors what your company does and what services you provide. This should be obvious within 10 seconds of pulling up your profile page.

The first and most obvious place to communicate this information is in your banner. The banner should give a very quick and simple summary of what service you provide. (If you do not have a flair for graphic design, Aidan recommends hiring someone for this. You can start with a relatively low-cost task board like Fiverr.)

You should also use the banner and your bio to build up your credibility as best you can. Aidan, for example, lists his largest and most well-known B2B clients right below his name, in his LinkedIn banner.

This information, along with everything else on your LinkedIn profile, should be written in a casual style that is short, punchy, and entertaining. You want to, again, avoid corporate jargon and marketing speak here, and keep things really pared down and straight-forward.

The only data points you desperately need to share with people on your profile are the following:

• Your name
  
• Your job title
• Your company
• A quick simple description of what you do
• One or two fun or memorable pieces of featured content

In terms of this pinned "featured content," you should choose a video or a blog post that's focused on the basic offering that your company is making. That may not necessarily be the most popular or viral piece of content that you've ever posted, but something that gives the best and clearest context on who you are, what you do, and why you're posting to social media.

This featured post should also have a clear and immediate Call to Action that converts a visitor to your page into a follower. You're asking them to subscribe your account, but feel free to get creative in how you phrase this ask.

Additionally, it's okay to share an impressive factoid or data point about her company here, but beyond that, you're DONE.

Here are a few more quick tips for effective LinkedIn profiles:

• Choose a nice-looking professional headshot for your avatar, avoiding brand logos or other images
• Edit your direct URL into something simple, that's as close to your natural name as possible. This helps with SEO and makes your profile easier to find.

Bringing all of these elements together successfully creates a passive funnel driving new leads and traffic to your website, delegating a lot of the most work-intensive part of the customer acquisition process -- the cold outreach -- and allowing your team to focus on converting potential customers into new clients.