Episode 416: 7 Ways to Leverage LinkedIn to Build a Qualified Email List

Intro

0:00:18 – (Bob Woods): Welcome to the Making Sales Social podcast featuring the top voices in sales, marketing, and business. Join Brynne Tillman, me, and Bob Woods as we each bring you the best tips and strategies our guests teach their clients so you can leverage them for your own virtual and social selling. This episode of the Making Sales Social podcast is brought to you by Social Sales Link, the company that helps you start more trust-based conversations without being salesy through the power of LinkedIn and AI. Start your journey for free by joining our resource library.  Enjoy the show!

00:02:05:04 – (Bob Woods): This means, though, that we can’t rely on LinkedIn alone, and that’s the key word there alone to build our pipeline. What we do have is, however, our own email lists. Once you have a qualified opt in list, it is yours. So what we want to do in this episode is help you bridge the gap between LinkedIn and your own email list, so you’ll have a seamless experience that drives more leads, which is very important, obviously. Right, guys? 

00:02:42:07 – (Brynne Tillman): Absolutely. Yeah. I’m excited to talk about this. I mean, we talk a lot about lead magnets. We talk a lot about content that drives an email list. But I’m very excited to really break it down today and say, okay, so now we might have this lead magnet. How do we get people there using LinkedIn? So who

00:03:06:15 – (Bob Woods): woo who exactly? Stan. Anything. 

00:03:09:22 – (Stan Robinson Jr.): Just as much as we love Linke00:00:52:20 – (Bob Woods): Welcome, everyone, and thanks for joining us for Making Sale Social Live. Coming to you from the social sales link. Virtual studios and brought to you by Ask SSL dot a I. There is. If you’re watching us live right now there’s a QR code which is that way. And you can look on that and find out more there about our fantastic AI product. I’m Bob woods, I’m joined by Stan Robinson Jr., and Brynne Tillman. How are you all doing today?

00:01:20:07 – (Brynne Tillman): Just back. Ready? 

00:01:25:22 – (Stan Robinson Jr.): Yeah. Excellent. Thanks. 

00:01:27:20 – (Bob Woods): Excellent, excellent, excellent. So, I think and correct me if I’m wrong here, but I think our bias here at social sales, leaning towards using LinkedIn for starting sales conversations without being salesy, is pretty much well known. The thing is, we don’t own LinkedIn. And guess what? You don’t own LinkedIn either. Microsoft does. So we are at the mercy of whatever Microsoft and LinkedIn decide to do about the platform, no matter what it is they do. And as we all know, they do a lot of things and we’re just going to leave it there when it comes to that.

Sometimes it’s hard to remember that it’s a rented property. And when we connect with someone on LinkedIn, you know we have first degree connection but they still own the platform. And Bob, as you said, they can do anything that they want, at any time. So with an email list, as long as you pay for your subscription, it’s yours, 

00:03:34:07 – (Brynne Tillman): I love it. 

00:03:36:15 – (Bob Woods): Yeah, yeah. And actually, as long as you have a copy of it on your own computer, you know, that’s what’s really important. So I think that’s kind of an obvious thing to remember. But always keep a copy of your email list, no matter what email provider that you’re using. Make sure that you have your own copy as well. So with that, we have promised seven different ways to leverage LinkedIn to build a qualified email list. So,

00:04:06:09 – (Bob Woods): as they used to say on the radio when radio was a thing, let’s get the countdown started. 

00:04:11:07 – (Brynne Tillman): All right. Casey Kasem.

00:04:14:09 – (Bob Woods): Yes, exactly. Casey Kasem, number one, uses a LinkedIn banner image with a clear call to action. So your profile background banner is valuable real estate. And it’s it’s just it’s really an amazing place to add a call to action. Most people don’t even use the background banner at all. Of those who do use it. Numbers are getting smaller here. They use it. You know, it just kind of is okay. And then there are others who do have really good graphics and things like that up there.

00:04:49:03 – (Bob Woods): But the one thing that they probably don’t have is a link or a QR code that takes your viewers to a landing page with a valuable download or sign up for an event, get your newsletter. You know, that type of thing. The other thing that you need to remember is that your banner is designed. In other words, you can change that sucker as often as you’d like. So think of it as like one of those billboards that you see at the side of the road. But they’re electronic billboards

00:05:19:24 – (Bob Woods): and they update with different messages and things like that. You can do a similar type of thing with your own banner there, so you can change that stuff all the time. And if you have a premium account, you can upload up to five different banners.

00:05:35:25 – (Brynne Tillman): And so I love to chat like so now this is great I love this. What are we driving them toward? Right. We want so we want their email but we have to. They are actually purchasing something from us. Even though we say it’s free, they’re buying it with their email. So we have to make sure that whatever it is that we’re offering and we’re starting with a banner, but really all the way through that, what they are getting in.

00:06:07:29 – (Brynne Tillman): So it’s the ask offer ratio. I’m asking you to invest in your email for my content. And we have to make sure that when they do that, if they’re getting extreme value from that content. Because if we first of all, we want them to stay opted in. That’s really important. And we want to make sure that they say wow that was a really good purchase.

00:06:40:02 – (Brynne Tillman): And I know you’re like a purchase. It was free. It wasn’t free content on LinkedIn that ungraded is free. They can stay anonymous. That’s free. But when they have to give you their email when it’s graded content, that’s actually a very small purchase, but a purchase nonetheless. So we have to make sure that it’s of incredible value. And, you know, Michael Porte in his book “Yourself solid” said something that just sticks in my head all the time, which is to give away so much value that you were afraid you gave too much and then give more. And this is so important when it comes to collecting emails from getting the emails. It’s really absolutely essential that we are giving too much value

00:07:40:01 – (Brynne Tillman): because that’s what helps us convert down the road, right? We want to build an email list, but we want to build an email list of people that are excited to continue to get content from us. So that first piece is really important. So from the banner we can talk about lead magnets and what that looks like, I don’t know. I’m sure we’ve talked about them before. We can talk about it again. But this is the opportunity. In your banner give a, you know, a one liner hook, download the e-book. Bob, you said, you know,

00:08:12:15 – (Brynne Tillman): register for the event, you know, whatever that might be. In some cases, you could even have a QR code to vote on a poll because it’s dynamic. When that two week poll is up, change it out with a different link with a different QR code. So the goal here is to really resonate with your profile visitor in a way that they want to opt in to that email. So just a thought.

00:08:44:07 – (Bob Woods): Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. And it’s funny that you mentioned lead magnets and the featured section because that is a number two. So that is actually featuring your lead magnet in the featured section of your profile. So the featured section, another section that people sleep on and they really should because we refer to it as the scroll stopper, because it usually has a graphic associated with each item that’s in there. It breaks up all of the text

00:09:12:11 – (Bob Woods): of the otherwise very text profile. So, people will tend to stop there and look at what’s in your featured section. So, you know, you should put your, a lead magnet or your lead magnets in there or any other type of copy that is actually, going to draw people to some place where they may put in an email address, just like Brian said, so that, so that they could gain access to that very, very valuable copy and value, value driven value deliverable, something like that.

00:09:47:09 – (Bob Woods): Copy. So you can include links, post rich media, and so much more in that featured section. And we do advise changing that out as well, just like you would up in the banner at the top of the fold of your profile.

00:10:00:24 – (Stan Robinson Jr.): Yep. The pictured section has nice big thumbnail images that catch people’s eye. And it’s still toward the top of your profile. One thing about banners that we’d mentioned, we mentioned QR codes. The beauty of them is someone can just take a picture and go straight to wherever you want them to go. You can put a URL there, but just keep in mind it’s not clickable. They’ve got to type it in.

00:10:28:13 – (Stan Robinson Jr.): So last thing is we’ve mentioned lead magnet several times. For those of you who aren’t in marketing, it’s just a way where you can offer, as the brand mentioned, valuable content in return for their email address.

00:10:42:03 – (Brynne Tillman): So I just in real time updated my featured section and said that downloading lead magnet made it easy. So I just go to my LinkedIn friend Tillman and scroll down to the featured section. And you can actually download a lead magnet Made Easy guide. Big win on both of those areas. I’ll actually even put in a lead magnet made easy.com that will take you directly, but if you want to see it in the featured section, there you go.

00:11:14:23 – (Bob Woods): Very good, very good. So with that let’s get to number three which is adding opt in links to your profile to the website section. So there’s a newer feature that’s available at the top of your LinkedIn profile called website. You can add a link that will appear at the top of your profile. You can refer that to a landing page, an event, a download here type of thing. And then you can actually name that link in the link box there as well.

00:11:46:09 – (Bob Woods): Now there’s one tip that I actually got from a podcast interview that I did, I think last month or two months ago, I’m not sure if it’s actually aired yet, and I don’t remember who it was from, but I thought it was a brilliant idea. People are always like, oh, how do you track stuff from LinkedIn to blah blah blah or whatever? This is a perfect opportunity for you to put a tracking code in there so that it will track that website

00:12:14:03 – (Bob Woods): that incoming link from LinkedIn. You can actually put the tracking code in there so that you know that it’s coming from your LinkedIn profile. I thought that was just brilliant, I showed it. There’s one of those. I should have thought of that type of thing before, but I never thought of it. And it’s, it’s a great suggestion.

00:12:30:21 – (Brynne Tillman): That’s awesome. So I just uploaded an update on my profile. That’s how easy this is, guys. I’m doing it under my location. They’ll say e-book lead magnets are easy, right? And so that is whatever your lead magnet is. That’s where that goes. Right? And so, just make sure that it’s very clear what they’re going to get when they click through.

00:12:55:19 – (Bob Woods): Yeah. Absolutely, absolutely. And then obviously when they click through and they download it, you get the email address, which goes back to the entire reason why we’re here. And that’s, you know, leveraging LinkedIn to build a qualified email, email, e mail list.

00:13:11:10 – (Brynne Tillman): Yeah. Next, one other thing like say as you’re building this out, I just want to share this. As a side note, you want to have a very solid drip campaign. I know those, but like, they’ve, now giving you the email, the first email they should get is download this e-book, but then you can have maybe 3 or 4 drips over the next couple of weeks that help them to implement that stuff.

00:13:37:22 – (Brynne Tillman): Right. Like it continues to bring value and then have a call to action now, if you want a little bit. If you want to explore how to implement this better, let’s set up a time to talk. Or maybe if I download an e-book now, I want to get them to an event. Right? So think about what you want them to do next that’s valuable to them, not buy something necessarily.

00:14:04:05 – (Brynne Tillman): Although if you’ve earned the right, there is a point where you can absolutely offer that, but you need to continue to build that value. I know I went off the rails there, Bob. I’ll bring you back. Bring me back in. You know me back to you. 

00:14:24:19 – (Bob Woods): That kind of makes sense right there. Okay, excellent. Excellent stuff. And you know, that was great. Definitely wouldn’t want to exclude it. So, next one is number four. And that has to do with including call to action links inside your content. So we have focused primarily on the profile. Definitely don’t only do this stuff in your profile. You really should be doing it inside every piece of content that you share somehow.

00:14:52:28 – (Bob Woods): You know, many experts say that putting a link in your post will negatively affect the algorithm, but the pros may outweigh the cons, especially with your goal of wanting people to get to your CTA so that you can get their email address. So if you have an e-book, an event, everything that we have been talking about here include a link by editing your post ten minutes later, or placing a QR code in the image of the post that you’re talking about that that you that that you’ve already written. Those are two clever ways to create a CTA that doesn’t bury your post because of the LinkedIn algorithm.

00:15:31:25 – (Brynne Tillman): Yeah. And often I will put in. So like join our next free event and social sales link.com/events. I will have this. So it’s another free thing right. So you have got great content. This is not a lead magnet anymore right. Like this might be but in this case maybe know, we talk about you know, how to write an authentic prompt in your voice.

00:15:58:11 – (Bob Woods): Yeah, 

00:15:59:25 – (Brynne Tillman): maybe that’s the content and then want to learn more? Join our next free events. And then we have a page that it goes to when they sign up for the free event, we’re capturing their email. So all of these things are about I add value and I earn the right to get their email. 

00:16:17:11 – (Bob Woods): Yep. Absolutely. 100%. So with that, anything to add to that, Stan?

00:16:23:10 – (Stan Robinson Jr.): Only one thing you mentioned at the very outset, Bob, which was an opt in email list. Just keep in mind, I know we’re moving into the topic of email, in addition to LinkedIn, that the option to opt out needs to be prominent in the emails that you send. And one thing you do not want to do is download your LinkedIn connections. Pull in their email addresses to like a constant contact, and blast them with an email without their permission.

00:16:55:28 – (Stan Robinson Jr.): Again, they go without saying, but since we’re talking about it, I figured let’s mention it. 

00:17:01:25 – (Brynne Tillman): You know, and that’s the reason LinkedIn changed. You don’t get everyone’s emails anymore. They have to opt in to it. So maybe one out of 20 or 30, you have an email. But, you know, I’ve been a victim of that. I’ve been a victim of, like, the moment I connected with someone on LinkedIn. I’m now on their email list. But the key, and I know I’m jumping ahead. This is the next one.Welcome message. 

00:17:26:11 – (Bob Woods): Yeah. You know, let’s just let’s just go ahead and just roll right into that. So why don’t you go ahead and just run with it, Brynne. 

00:17:33:25 – (Brynne Tillman): Okay. What number is this? 

00:17:35:11 – (Bob Woods): Number five. 

00:17:33:25 – (Brynne Tillman): Number five. You’re welcome. Message. So often, I’ll. Especially if I’m accepting a connection request. Someone that asks me to connect. I have a welcome message that says, thanks for connecting. I’m not sure if social selling is a priority for you, but we’ve got free content around X, Y, and Z. Let me know if you’re interested. I’m happy to send a link we’ve got right. And so now it’s permission based.

00:18:05:15 – (Brynne Tillman): If they don’t answer, I don’t have them. But I’m making sure to touch every single person. And I’ve accepted a connection request to remember that they connected with me. So I have no problem asking them if they’d like more information. I may even at that point, and I almost always do have a P.S. May I ask how you found me? Just find out, you know. How did they get to me? Maybe it was a referral, maybe it was something else and that might change the kind of content that they want or need.

00:18:40:12 – (Brynne Tillman): So I really find that welcome message to be very, very powerful. And, we have over 11,000 people that have opted in to our free public library over the last 11 years. Many of them came from that welcome message. You know, they came from, great to be connected to here. You know, I would say probably the majority of them came from there. Others might have come through signing up for events or downloading e-books. But the majority are really that welcome message. So 

00:19:19:11 – (Bob Woods): Excellent. Excellent stuff. So with that, Stan, do you want to do you have number six in front of you and do you want to handle it or should I set you up for it at least?

00:19:27:19 – (Stan Robinson Jr.): The number six is to ask their perspective. And there are different ways to do this, both kind of formally, if you are writing any book and you’d like to get their perspective on that, because we have sort of campaigns around that. Or it could be something simpler just in terms of asking their opinion. But Bob and Brynne, anything you’d like to add in terms of that? Go ahead and run with it in terms of asking their perspective. 

00:19:57:12 – (Brynne Tillman): Yeah, I love that. Right. And there are different ways you can do this there. You could have a form like a Google form, but recognize if you’re doing that and they’re not signing up directly on your website, that they need to check a box that says, you can add me to your email list. You have to be careful with that. So getting their perspective is fantastic, but we’ve got to make sure that we’re doing it the right way.

00:20:29:18 – (Brynne Tillman): Another way to do that, if you do have forms inside of your, in your look, we use Kajabi for everything. So they have automatic forms where we can add those questions where we can gather their insights, but they’re also opting in to kajabi at the same time. It’s all of the criteria there. But I really love that, especially if we’re going to go out and now mention them. Right. So I’d love your perspective to quote in an e-book, to quote in a blog post, and, you know, they, they click through, they fill it out. You’ve got their information. We mentioned them when it went live.

00:21:14:19 – (Brynne Tillman): And not only do we have their email, but we’re also promoting their perspective. So Stan, I love that one. That’s a great one.

00:21:21:16 – (Bob Woods): Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. So let’s get to the final one. And that’s earning the right to their email address when you’re scheduling a call with you. Now, this is one of those things where you’re going to hear it and hopefully you’re gonna say, wow, why didn’t I think of that?

00:21:37:17- (Bob Woods): Because I said the same thing until I actually read this and I think it’s absolutely brilliant. So use your calendar link system. We use Calendly here. If that rings a bell, some of you may have a different one. So in other words, a calendar scheduler that you know, when they, you know, they can have insight into your calendar and then schedule something to their time as long as their time matches with your time, that type of thing.

00:22:02:17 – (Bob Woods): But use your calendar link system to opt in your call schedulers into your email list. Sounds simple. Also brilliant as well. Now you have to be sure to be completely transparent that you know that if they click on the box or whatever, that they’ll be opted in. And of course, always offer the option to opt out with another quick check box. Depending on how you want to do it. Because this is a great way to do things because they are already proactively interested in having a conversation with you. So if they want to have a conversation with you, hopefully they will also want to see the valuable content and make sure that it’s valuable content that you’re sending. That’s one of our rules.

00:22:46:27 – (Bob Woods): You know, that they can benefit from. In other words, you’re continuing to build the relationship through the content because you are using your email list and the content that you are sending effectively.

00:22:59:01 – (Brynne Tillman): I love all of that stuff. And I think, it can make such a huge difference when you move them and now you’re touching them in two different places, right? You’re on LinkedIn with your stuff, but you’re sending content as well. I’m going to give one big warning make sure that what you were sending in an email, whether it’s a newsletter or a weekly update, whatever that is, is that you have detached from what that prospect is worth to you and attached to what you are worth to that prospect, meaning that content needs to be what they want to consume.

00:23:40:10 – (Brynne Tillman): Can you have a call to action at the end? Yes. We you know, we often will have, you know, something you want to join the sales navigator class $197. But it’s rarely occasionally at the top. But we’ve earned the right because we’ve earned the right over time. But other content in that newsletter is going to bring great value beyond trying to just sell something. So, and if you do have a one off sale, you better have earned the right over weeks and months and even years so that otherwise you’re going to get some mass opt outs. 

00:24:21:27 – (Bob Woods): Yep. 

00:24:23:10 – (Brynne Tillman): Okay. I’m done 

00:24:24:27 – (Bob Woods): 100%, 100%. Anything to add there, Stan?

00:24:27:09 – (Stan Robinson Jr.): No brynne. Hit it on the head. Leave it with value. Provide more value than that. You ask in return and provide the value first. Because the mistake most people make is starting with promotional content before they provide value

00:24:44:25 – (Bob Woods): provide it first. Provide it always. That’s a good way to take it.

00:24:48:10 – (Brynne Tillman): Awesome line. And personally and my friends, 

00:24:51:25 – (Bob Woods): we are the control tower. We are clear to come in. So whether you’ve been with us live or recorded via our podcast, thanks for joining us for this episode of Making Sales Social Live, sponsored by Ask SSL dot a I know we do these live session sessions every week. So join us and we’re glad that you’re here today too. But if you’re listening to us on our podcast and you haven’t subscribed already, go ahead and hit that. Subscribe or follow the button. And we love comments as well. So besides these LinkedIn lives, we also interview leaders and experts in sales, marketing, business, and many more areas.

00:25:29:11 – (Bob Woods): So catch those episodes as well. They’re always fun and they’re always educational. If you’d like more information on our podcast, go to socialsaleslink.com/podcast. That could not be easier. So when you are out about this week and every week, be sure that you’re making your sales. So show that. All right guys, thanks. Bye.

Outro:

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