How to Use LinkedIn to Get Freelancing Clients The idea is to post something your "potential customers are looking to learn" instead of "what you and your competitors know"
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
You're reading Entrepreneur India, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media.
As someone who ignored LinkedIn for years, it is only recently that I discovered the treasure trove that the platform is and have been able to find clients for my marketing consulting as well as connecting with seriously successful people and follow their work closely. Have you struggled to find clients on LinkedIn and are a step away from abandoning it altogether? Here are some actionable tips for every freelancer and consultant out there.
Deep Kakkad is a 21-year old Growth Hacker, who has worked with more than 30 companies in the capacity of a consultant and is also the Marketing and Growth Lead at Growzila.com. Here are some of his tips on how to use LinkedIn to get freelance clients.
Post Invaluable Content
"This is how I have been able to get hundreds of leads. In November 2017, one of my LinkedIn posts went viral and received 300k views in one day. The number of leads, inquiries and opportunities to work I got from this single post is huge. LinkedIn's new update will get you exponentially better results than paid advertising, if you learn to post your best content for free," says Kakkad.
The point here is to post something your "potential customers are looking to learn" instead of "what you and your competitors know". The latter will attract like-minded people, who probably would be your competitors while the former will attract your potential customers.
As an example, if you are a freelance programmer, looking to work for startups, instead of posting "5 features of Java that will make your life easier (as a programmer)", post "How to make an MVP for your startup with no programming knowledge".
Build a Good Network
The easiest way to create a good network is to be empathetic. Help others when you can.
Have your past clients in your network. Keep them updating about what you do, keep learning about what they are doing and show that you care. Build a real connection and they will work with you again.
Use the Search Button Extensively
1) Find Your Target Audience by their Title or Role:
If you are a marketer for startups, you can search for "Founder' or "Co-founder' and connect with these people. While it is not a good idea to direct message them about services you provide, try to provide value and create a connection before you pitch to them. LinkedIn also allows the use of'AND' & 'OR' & 'NOT' search operators.
2) Reverse Engineer the Search: Find people who are looking for you.
As a founder, if you are ever looking to hire someone, you would post on LinkedIn either saying — "Looking for a graphic designer" or "Know a freelancer marketer?" or "Recommend a freelance journalist". On the other side, as a freelancer or a service provider, you need to search for people who have posted something like "Looking for a growth hacker" OR "Looking for a freelance marketer".
By default, LinkedIn searches for profiles, however, we are looking for a post so we need to click on "content' tab, which will result into a list of people/companies posting about their hunt for a freelancer.
Do proper research, connect and approach the prospect via DM/InMail, saying you found about their search for a freelancer and how your experience fits their role.
KartikDarwan, Founder of Moversreview.com, comes from a consulting background. "I got tired of working for others, and decided it was time to start a venture. We launched Movers Review in May'16. The biggest challenge was that we didn't have a lot of money to burn on marketing and branding.This is when LinkedIn became our focus." says Kartik.
These are the few pointers that helped Moversreview grow their connection to over 15,000 and helped them get in touch with the right people for their consulting business.
1) Profile: Get your LinkedIn profile/page to stand out and reflect what you do. Your profile shouldbe about how you can help people.
2) Approach: It's about having a multi-faceted approach, you should have a really clear understanding of who your business is trying to reach, define the major types of prospects that exist, and reach them in the most effective manner.
3) Selling: People don't like to be sold anything on LinkedIn. LinkedIn is for us to connect to the right people, selling comes later. Be with the "Help first' attitude.
4) Content: Create amazing content that people in your niche would love to consume. Interview people in your area, tag them in the posts and you will find that their connections are trying to connect with you too.
5) Consistency: Just be consistent. Engage constantly with your prospects in posts by commenting and liking them. Let them know that you are there without being "salesy'.
"These are the basics that you need to follow for your LinkedIn page. We have been able to connect with the right people and create a great rapport on the platform. We are consistent in the search results on LinkedIn and it has helped grow our community further and helped us land almost all the top Moving and Packing companies", adds Kartik.
