LinkedIn Myth #3: I need to build a following

So much emphasis is put on gaining followers today (as well as ‘likes’ and ‘shares’ of our posts), that few people focus on what’s really important.

Because let’s be honest, if we had all the clients we needed, how many of us would bother with social media? For the time and energy it takes, I would say, not many (unless you’re in marketing or love doing it more than the area you’ve built your expertise up in).

Having a huge following does not mean we have a successful business, because followers don’t necessarily translate into paying clients.

And this is where it all goes so wrong. When we focus on our popularity and engagement, and not on booking sales appointments, we do a lot of work for very little return. Our goal isn’t (or shouldn’t be) to become popular, it is to build a healthy thriving business. 

A healthy thriving business is one that attracts the right number of ideal prospects, has a high sales conversion (efficient use of resources) and delivers its clients transformational results. As it is only by doing so we keep ‘the lights on’!

Any other metric is just vanity. 

What matters is that we are booking Sales Appointments and winning new sales. 

I am often approached by marketing agencies asking if I will write a LinkedIn Profile for one of their clients, and when I ask them what the goal is they say ‘Build up a following and get more connections’. When I ask why, I am usually met with silence. 

If our marketing team do not know that the end goal is to book sales appointments, what hope do we have.

Converting a huge following into a regular stream of sales appointments requires a great deal of content creation. Something for many businesses, especially Expert Entrepreneurs, do not have the time nor resources for. 

Personally, I would rather have 4000 connections on LinkedIn and spend everyday working with clients who inspire me, than spend my day feeding 40,000 people with content to stay relevant and potentially win sales.

So, if you are someone without the resources, or the inclination to boost your popularity and become an influencer, rest easy. 

Success on LinkedIn is not a popularity game. 

If you would like to know more about these strategies, I invite you to download a free copy of my book The Expert Economy. In it, you’ll learn how to structure your business so that prospects come to you pre-sold and ready to buy, and avoid the ‘influencer’ game!