Episode 231: LinkedIn’s Top of the Fold and Your Bottom Line

Bob Woods  00:00

Welcome b2b sales and marketing professionals to Making Sales Social Live, Coming to you from the Social Sales Link Virtual Studios. I’m Bob Woods, the LinkedIn Sherpa and I’m joined by fellow social selling trainer, consultant and overall professional who is also known as the LinkedIn whisperer, Brynne Tillman. How’re you doing, Brynne?

Brynne Tillman  00:21

I am good, Bob, how are you?

Bob Woods  00:24

I’m doing well. Thanks, appreciate it. 

Intro  00:24

Welcome to Making Sales Social Live, as we share LinkedIn and Social Selling Training Strategies and Tips that will have an immediate impact on your business. Join Brynne Tillman, and me, Bob Woods, every week, Making Sales Social Live! This is the recorded version of our weekly Making Sales Social Live Show.

Bob Woods  00:24

So let’s get right into things. let’s do this, as a salesperson, your LinkedIn profile takes on a new dimension in your sales prospecting, you really should convert it from the same old boring resume style of profile that everyone else has to a true resource where you can attract, teach and engage your audience of prospects, because you are different from most other people on LinkedIn.

Who are using it for careers and things like that. And that’s fine, they should use it like you are different. When it comes to the LinkedIn profile, first impressions really count. That’s why we need to implement the Attract part to attract, teach and engage at the very top of the profile. That’s the section that we call above the fold. So Brynne, let’s talk real quick about the importance of above the fold. And then we’ll get into the nitty gritty of things. 

Brynne Tillman  01:45

Yeah, I love that. And this is a subject that is so foundational, because if you’re out social selling, and you haven’t taken a really good look at the top of the fold, and people get to your profile, they’ll pop off if there’s not something of interest to them, right, if it doesn’t resonate with them, or create curiosity. 

So I think, this top of the fold reminds me a little bit of the old-fashioned newspaper, now we read the New York Times on her phone, but you know, we used to go to a 711. You know, across the shelves were all the newspapers, and it was the top of the fold that would get your attention and get you to want to read the newspaper. Well, this isn’t that different, Right? 

Bob Woods  02:37

Yeah. And actually, if you think about it, and I just kind of realize this, myself, but newspapers and things like in and entities like that, still use that on phones and online and in their websites, they grab you with their very top things. So that you’ll scroll down and see more, it actually is the same thing. 

It’s just not a physical fold anymore, because it’s not actually in a newspaper, you know, it’s not actually in a print thing. But it still is top of the fold. And they still want you to read down and click through to all their other stuff. And really, as you get everything else, we are the same thing. Except we’re using it to start sales conversations ultimately.

Brynne Tillman  03:20

Digitally. Yeah, I love that. So yes, we don’t expect that you’re gonna unfold the computer. But it is top of the fold with the newspaper in mind. So Bob, do you want to start with the first element? 

Bob Woods  03:37

Yeah, so the first element is what’s at the tippy, tippy, tippy, tippy top of your LinkedIn profile. And that is the banner. And the banner is some of the most underutilized real estate that I have seen throughout almost any LinkedIn profile that I’ve seen, and it can be used for so many different things. 

But again, you have to deliver the value, you have to make sure that it’s engaging to the eye. And you know, combined with the other elements that we’re going to be talking about, at all constitutes top of the fold, and people should look at that and want to go and go. I’m wondering what else this person has to offer and then scroll down. 

Brynne Tillman  04:21

Yeah, I love that. This really is like your, your when you do billboards, that’s the word billboard. Yes. And, you know, it does, it doesn’t have to be static. So I agree, Bob 100%, that we should have that brand, bring consistency professional, but we have an opportunity here to really promote events that are coming up. And we mostly recommend if there are free events, right? You have opportunities if you have an event that you want people to register for, and by the way especially if you’re using Canva, it’s super simple to add a QR code. 

So in today’s world, which I am, this is one of the wonderful things that came out of the horrible COVID issue. Kind of like they were almost dead, you know, they were barely hanging on. And now everyone is using QR codes. And I really believe they’re here to stay. And what’s nice now I know if you’re on your phone, you can’t scan your phone. But if you’re on your computer, and you see a QR code, it’s so easy to pick up your phone and scan it don’t just have a QR code without any explanation, right? It could be downloaded as an ebook, they could be registered for a free event. 

I mean, there’s a lot of calls to action that you can actually put in here. So leverage that image, in addition to all the other things, right? I am, in fact, I’m saying this, and next week, I’m updating my banner, because we will have a free event that we will be talking about, and that we’ll be inviting people to. And so we’ll let you know how goes. One last thing, if you want to do your QR code in Bitly, B I T dot L Y or bitly.com. Either one, I think works, you can track how many people have scanned it. It’s kind of cool. 

So if you have one just for your banner, you can do that. And um, can I give one more tip around that. And then I’ll throw it back your way. If you are a Sales Navigator, advanced user, you can actually scan into a Smart Link. So you can add your content, your ebook, whatever that download is, and you can see almost in real time, who’s looking at that, who’s downloading it. So really use your Banner as a prospecting tool.

Bob Woods  07:02

Absolutely. Absolutely. And because you stole mine with the Sales Navigator one, which is what yeah, that’s okay. It’s, it’s quite alright, we’re cool. We are good. So we are just actually just going to go on to the next element, which a lot of people sleep on this one too. And you really shouldn’t. And you shouldn’t show yourself sleeping either, obviously. And that’s the profile photo. 

So profile. Profiles and photos are very important. I forget what the latest statistic is. But it’s huge. It comes from LinkedIn and has 1520 times more likely or something like that, that if your headline and your name shows up on LinkedIn somewhere and you have a profile photo, your 15 to 20 times it’s something an astronomical number like that, more likely to have people click in and through to your profile than not having a photo there.

Brynne Tillman  07:57

The most current is 14 times more 14 times.

Bob Woods  08:00

Okay, so I was a little high. But still that is if that’s working. It’s 14 times. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. 1400, probably 14 100% Is my math right there, I don’t know and be promised. And we always promise no math on these things. So we’ll just go ahead and continue with that. But the profile photo is important, not only just to obviously have a presence there, but also to make sure that your settings are as such to where anyone can see them. 

Because there are a couple of quirks with that to where only your first Greece can see it, or only people on LinkedIn can see it. Yeah, you should make sure that as many people as possible are seeing it. And then the other big thing is that it should be professional, but you don’t necessarily need to wear a coat and tie unless you go out and are seen by customers in a coat and tie. What you should do is appear just as the way that you would appear during a zoom call when most people are on a customer visit or whatever. 

So if that’s a jacket, but no tie, but a nice shirt and everything. That’s how you should appear. And that’s for guys with gals. That can be all these guys are kind of limited goals and can go a long way. In terms of fashion and stuff like that. Yeah.

Brynne Tillman  09:19

Yeah. So I love that. I mean, I just gotta emphasize because I think you pretty much said all the important stuff. I’m just gonna emphasize the litmus test is, if you were going out to a meeting, what would you wear? And that is exactly what I would recommend what Bob just said, That’s how to determine. You just want that consistency. And I also just want to share because a lot of people will ask this question, where do you identify where your profile settings are? 

When you are on your pro? file, there is an area that says public profile and URL to the top right. When you click on that pencil, and you scroll down, you’re going to see Edit visibility. If people are shocked, there are people that sometimes only first degree connections are seeing it, but they don’t know that, because they see it. So I highly recommend this. That’s what Bob said, that’s actually tactically where to get updates.

Bob Woods  10:29

Yep. Yeah, yeah, it’s definitely a good tactic to have and to know, in your back pocket there. So then, you know, and obviously, if you have a five or 10 year old photo up there, and you look totally different nowadays, than what you use to update your profile photo, that’s the other big thing. Because if you go into a meeting, and nobody’s seen you before, and their only exposure to you is in your LinkedIn profile, and you look totally different, you’ll lose so much credibility.

Brynne Tillman  10:56

It’s funny because our buddy and I were tagged publicly, but our buddy Joe Applebaum tagged me in something with an image that’s over 10 years old. And I’m like, nobody’s ever gonna know who that is. So I’m sure he Googled, right, I’m like, can you just take it off my LinkedIn profile? But it matters like, Yeah, I mean, I have red hair and big black glasses. I don’t even look like. 

Bob Woods  11:23

Oh, I remember that. Look, it was really good luck. It just doesn’t look like you nowadays, though. 

Brynne Tillman  11:29

That’s what I looked like when we met. 

Bob Woods  11:30

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, man, those were the days anyhow. The last part that we’re gonna get into, and this is so, so important, is your headline. So, headline for salespeople, the last thing you should have up there is an account executive at Acme widget company, because it doesn’t describe anything that you do. 

And sometimes, you’ll have people that think, “Oh, my God, this is the salesperson and never want to deal with you again.” So instead of the typical position and company headline, you really want to hit on how you help people who you help, the results that you bring, and the services that you provide, you need to turn it around so that the headline is actually speaking to them. And it’s not about us specifically.

Brynne Tillman  12:21

Yeah, and I love that I mean, the goal of that headline, we’re gonna go back to the top of the fold, Right? When you look at that, which we’re talking about today, but when you’re looking at a newspaper, the image, the banner and headshot capture, you’re typically that’s the first thing that’s going to draw you in. And then the second thing is the headline, and the headline is what gets you to want to read. 

So if your headline is just an account rep at ABC Company, nobody cares. But to your point, Bob, if it’s, you know, helping sales leaders lead for, you know, might be helping sales leaders get more productivity out of their sales reps with less time and resources, right, and to go through what you know, through automated email software. I don’t know. 

I totally made all of that up. All right, but that’s so much more interesting to a sales leader who wants more productivity through email, if that’s who you’re selling to, then ABC rep. Right, so Oh, Jack Hubbard just let’s see. Hi, Jack. Our friend, too often, bankers put AVP in their headline assistant vice president. That is a non-starter for sure. And action words should start every has. Yes. Amen.

Bob Woods  13:40

Yes. 101,000 1,000,000%. And I know I promised no math. But yeah, that’s, that’s absolutely true, should be an action word starting out, because because again, you are speaking to the people who are visiting your profile, you’re not really talking about yourself in your headline you’re talking about where you can help, how you can help them serve as you provide, you know, and all of that stuff. None of that is going to come across. If you have assistant vice president at XYZ bank, what does that mean to anyone doesn’t mean nothing, especially when you’re trying to start sales conversations.

Brynne Tillman  14:15

Yes. Awesome. Awesome. So do we have anything else in our top of the folder? 

Bob Woods  14:21

Yeah, so we’ve got the big three eliminated. There are some others I wouldn’t necessarily call them minor, but maybe not quite as important, but they help more with look and with contacting more than anything else. So your current company that you’re working for, you should in your experience section, attach your current, your current job and your current experience to the company page that your company has out there hopefully that they have a company page there too. 

So then you can then show it up top so that it just looks legitimate. It just gives it an air of legitimacy. If you have the name Have the company out there. And their company pages set up in such a way to where their logo is up there too. It just makes you look real as opposed to not having a company up there at all, or, which I think is even worse yet having a company up there but having that big gray blob icon. 

Brynne Tillman  15:22

That’s right. No icon. Yeah. Interesting. And I’m not sure where I fall on this yet. But the trend now is to hide your company logo, because you can do that now. I’m not sure how I feel about it. Because I love what you just said that it kind of gives you this credibility.

Bob Woods  15:40

Yeah. Yeah, I would. Yeah, no, I don’t have to think about that. I’m sure I want that out there. I mean, that’s just me. And I would advise anyone out there to do it, too. I would actually want to hear the logic behind it before I come down with an ultimate.

Brynne Tillman  15:56

I’ll give you my logic. Okay, give you my logic behind it. I’m the CEO of social sales link, and the modern banker, and I can only add one, so I thought it was safer to add none. And we’ll see what happens. And that my brand is, I’m testing it. Okay. Right. Like, was it confusing? If someone I know, the answer is, this is what we do, we test, we test we test, right? 

So we came up, and this is new that you can do this. And, my education isn’t up there anymore, either. You know, what is the phrase used to say, “Oh, link, the LinkedIn giveth and take it away,” right, like, why would they have they’re taking away things that make me very sad? They’re adding features like this, and I don’t know why. But we’ll give it a shot.

Bob Woods  16:56

Yeah, So I mean, So I may amend things a little bit and say, Okay, if you truly have more than one position, then you may want to consider doing that. But I think that most salespeople are only with one company. So they should probably have it up there. If you are in a specific situation, you know, like what Brian mentioned, then yeah, you may want to, you may want to go a different route there.

Brynne Tillman  17:23

And I don’t know if I’ll land there. That’s just what I’m trying to do.

Bob Woods  17:26

Yeah. Exactly, exactly. So then. Yeah. Yeah. So Brynne mentioned that her education is now no longer there. You can list education up there. Again, I think it adds credibility. Plus, it does seem like that most everybody does have education up there. So, you know, maybe that’s more of a situation where, you know, if, if you have that available to you, and you should probably have it up there because it might look weird, because so many other people have it up there and you don’t But again, there there there may be a specific situation there too. So Tom.

Brynne Tillman  18:04

Go ahead. 

Bob Woods  18:07

Well, yeah, so this directly relates to what Tom says or even if you have multiple ventures, it should always be clear where the passion is or what your plan A is, which is, which is definitely true. And for most people who we advise who have more than one week, we tell people that you should probably go with the one that is most. That is your plan, a brand is kind of unique in that.

Brynne Tillman  18:35

I have to plan it.

Bob Woods  18:37

So it’s gonna depend.

Brynne Tillman  18:41

Yeah, and there is a I mean, it’s there’s the very similar common denominator, the young, you know, social sales link, as LinkedIn, and sales training for all b2b Except banks, and then are all of our banking businesses who the modern banker because they have unique needs, and it just makes sense. So, every piece of content I share could be used in both places. So there is a consistent story, Anyway, If we can just quickly mention what happens when you turn on creator mode to the top of the fold. And then we could probably round it out. Do you want to do that? Or shall Why don’t you?

Bob Woods  19:26

Why don’t you go ahead and take that because I have a feeling I know that you know where you’re going. So go for it.

Brynne Tillman  19:34

Where’s Brynne’s brain right now? Let’s okay. So, so top of the fold underneath your headline, you will see there’s an OB an area there that if you are contributing to collaborative articles on a consistent basis, and we’ve already done a show on that, so if you’re curious, just go back, go to socialsaleslink.com/podcasts and look for our collaborative article show. But you get, I have a ton of top voice badges now, which is great, but you can list one. 

So I was social selling, but I have other ones I can list as well. That gives you some credibility. The other thing is when you turn on creator mode and right, but there’s options to add, what do we talk about, and there are some hashtags in there that we believe help in search, but we’re not 100% Sure, so I’ll just let that be. 

Because they’re actually talking about taking away hashtags. So that’s another story for another day, but they may keep them in talks about, we’ll see. The other thing you’ll see is it you may not see it, but if you’ve creator mode on you could put a call to action, where you have a link that you can add in your profile that goes to I think our is good mine goes to free library, it could also go to ebooks, it could go to a Smart Link.

Actually, I might change it to a Smart Link today, because I think that makes sense. I could send lots of things. And then you’re gonna see, there’s a new I am section that will say I’m looking for a job I’m hiring, I’m providing services. And you can choose one of those, you’ll also see a profile section and more. And I think that pretty much covers what you see at the top of the fold. Did I miss anything?

Bob Woods  21:31

That’s it, I think we’re set so just to kind of sum up top of the fold, very important, generate interest, so that people will be interested in what you do and at the same time also kind of know whether or not you can help them directly. Because obviously, you’re gonna have people who visit your profile who may not necessarily be in need of your services. 

And almost acts as a little bit of a qualification there a little bit as well. So, but the people who are definitely there, they will know who you are and how you help them in the services that you provide. And they’ll want to scroll down more to learn more about you. So hopefully you will earn that first sales conversation.

Brynne Tillman  22:15

So perfect. I think this is a great time to bring this to Furlan.

Bob Woods  22:20

Yeah, I think so too. So thank you again for joining us on making sales social live. If you’re live with us live on LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook, or x, formerly known as Twitter right now, we do this every week, so please keep an eye out for our live sessions. If you’re listening to us on our podcast, therefore, it’s recorded and you haven’t subscribed already, go ahead and hit that subscribe or follow button. 

If you’d like more information on our podcast, social sales like that pod is socialsaleslink.com/podcast is where you get all of the deets about that. We do two shows weekly. This one and our making sales social interview series where we talk with leaders and experts in sales, marketing, business, and many many many more areas. So when you are out and about, be sure to make your sales.

Brynne Tillman  23:09

Social. Bye guys. Thank you everybody.

Outro  23:14

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