In today’s SaaS world, personal branding is everything. A strong, optimized LinkedIn profile can brand you as a professional in the eyes of the world. Your profile provides the perfect opportunity to share your accomplishments and showcase endorsements. 

It’s an opportunity to highlight them since few others will. People all over the world are looking to find ‘like’ professionals.

Your LinkedIn profile, when done correctly, is a statement that you deserve to be noticed.

Your ability to network your SaaS is everything, and there isn’t a better online venue for business professionals to associate.

Marketing Your SaaS on LinkedIn

LinkedIn isn’t just for job seekers and professionals who are looking to network. While millions of people leverage LinkedIn to grow their careers, business owners, the world over, are using LinkedIn to grow their business.

Every day, thousands of businesses are making connections, generating new leads, establishing business partnerships, and growing their brand. Businesses are finding out that LinkedIn is an invaluable addition to their digital marketing strategies.

As a SaaS provider, your LinkedIn marketing goals will include:

• Finding connections and targeted customers
• Staying on your customers’ radar
• Nurture and grow your email marketing list
• Utilized Sponsored updates
• Always post high-quality/relevant content
• Participate in groups and stay active

Setting up Your Business Profile

#1. Provide a professional picture. Choose an image that captures the attention of your prospects and doesn’t make them feel creepy once they do look at it.

Just about every social media expert you ever consult with will recommend you use a professional image taken by a photographer.

It’s good advice worth following.

Dress comfortably and in your attire of choice. The look should be “trustworthy and dependable,” not quirky or over sexy. It very may be worth your time to have your picture taken by a professional.

#2. Create a professional headline that grabs attention. LinkedIn allows for 120 characters to tell the world your unique story and to describe what you do.

Remember to choose keywords that are compelling and descriptive. LinkedIn, like Google, is a search engine. The right keywords allow others to find you who are looking for your skills and experience.

Are you looking for new customers for your SaaS? Then state in your headline what you have to offer your new employer. Remember to share what would be in it for them not you.

Don’t be boring with your headline by just stating what your current job position is.

The idea is to use a headline that gathers attention and then provide routes for your visitor to follow in order to fulfill the promise of the headline.

#3. Create an effective summary. The summary section allows you to get into detail.

You can provide high-resolution photos, share an infographic, or launch a video. It’s well worth your time and effort to post a compelling and unique summary.

Think of your summary as an elevator pitch. It will be the first thing that people read and your goal is to captivate their attention.

Using a ‘core competency approach,’ you may choose to list the skills that you bring to the table along with the benefits your SaaS can bestow on customers.

You can also choose to take the ‘accomplishments approach’ and you or your business’s major achievements.

Some SaaS professionals even choose to share a compelling story that is tailor-made for your intended audience.

I recommend you do none of those things with your summary, however.

Instead, what you want to do is write a short direct response piece that is geared towards not only letting your profile visitors know what you’re about but also funnels them deeper into your sales funnel.

Not everyone can write direct response pieces well, though. So if it’s something you definitely do not feel comfortable doing then you should consider hiring a direct response copywriter for the task.

Given how short the summary section is, it won’t cost you an arm and a leg to go this route either.

Regardless of what direction you go with on your summary, your language should be straightforward and clear; highlighting your business strengths, past/present accomplishments, and current projects you’re working on.

Like I mentioned above your summary also presents an excellent opportunity to extend a call-to-action—for example, “Please feel free to discuss business opportunities in A, B, and C.”

Make it easy for others to stay-up-to date with their favorite brand. Hopefully that brand is you or your company.

If your content is useful, relevant, interesting and entertaining, others will be compelled to read and share within their network. Few people will follow your profile without regular, informative updates.

Like content anywhere on the Web, your LinkedIn profile page should be easy to read.

Break up your text with bold titles and subheadings. Avoid unnecessary words or jargon. These things can deter readership.

LinkedIn’s format allows you to get creative and incorporate various kinds of multimedia in your profile. With the right photos and logos, your page can be amazingly stimulating.

Again, your profile can be optimized for search by including links to white papers, videos, or your company website.

#4. Impress others with your experience. Your experience serves as the body of your LinkedIn profile.

This is your opportunity to really showcase your experience and skills. Convey the products and services your company provides. Include a list of satisfied clients and what you’ve accomplished for them in general. However, make sure those companies agree with the content.

#5. Pay attention to your LinkedIn keywords. LinkedIn keywords are important.

Use them, especially, in your summary and experience sections for optimum search engine results. Businesses query keywords when searching for SaaS products and services.

#6. Ask for recommendations. Recommendation is an area least focused on. However, it can be one of the most valuable assets in building your credibility.

Don’t be afraid to be proactive asking for business recommendations. These can come from colleagues, bosses, B2B associates, mentees, mentors, satisfied clients, or just about anyone you’ve collaborated with in a positive and effective way.

It may also be wise to follow a strategy when seeking recommendations. Each individual can elaborate and speak to a particular skill that you possess.

You can help by giving your ‘recommenders’ as much detail as will be helpful. The sum total of your recommendations should cover every business skill and experience.

Thank your recommenders and follow up with a recommendation for them if they ask. Even if they don’t ask, you can always draft and send a potential recommendation.

#7. Make it a point to belong to relevant associations and groups. Associating with groups is a powerful way to build relevant relations and to network with people that will support your SaaS.

Lending your expertise can establish you as an authority on a topic. It can also help build your own brand.

At present, there are over 1.3 million LinkedIn groups from which to choose. Join as many groups as LinkedIn’s format will allow. Just make sure that you can find the time to contribute to their discussions.

#8. Fully complete your profile. If your profile is complete, LinkedIn says that it can appear 40 times more in search results.

LinkedIn’s search algorithm is hard at work finding and creating new, relevant connections. Its algorithm views complete profiles as active profiles.

Posting on LinkedIn

As mentioned, joining in on discussions can position you as an authority in your field. Posting articles is equally important.

Keep the following in mind:

• Write a compelling title. Your title is what draws your audience in. However, your content should readily reflect and complement your title. If it’s relevant content, others will join the discussion.

• Tell the audience what you think. Have the presence of mind to provide a clear overview as to why you created your post.

• Don’t be shy about including third-party links. Whenever, and wherever possible, include a link to a third-party. This helps if you want to advance an opinion around a specific idea or issue. It can also spur discussion because the article appears to be better researched and more professional. Link only to trending stories. These will be the stories that grab the most attention. Trending stories will also give you additional credibility. BuzzSumo.com is an excellent source for finding trending news and stories.

• Make it clear to your audience what you want. Are you seeking an opinion? Are you fielding a topic that warrants discussion? If it’s self-promotion, be honest about it. Just realize that LinkedIn is not the right venue for self-promotion. Present your topic of discussion in ways that will benefit others.

• Don’t be afraid to own the discussion. The fact that you started the discussion means that you own it.Engage and respond to others. There might be something that you disagree with, but don’t make the mistake of ignoring that person. Be polite, but engage with others and protect your point of view. Your goal is to bump your discussion to the top of your group’s list. The more views you get, the more traffic you can expect at your website. Replies that you receive can be answered directly on the discussion page or through LinkedIn Messaging.

• Post your best blog articles. This is a good visual and lets others know that you’re constantly adding relevant content. LinkedIn publishing is a smart way for B2B marketers to provide high-quality content for their social network. Publishing on LinkedIn is a powerful way to build a personal or business brand. The content will remain a part of your professional profile. It’s shared with a network that you trust, and can potentially reach millions among the largest group of professional ever assembled in one place. Members can also follow you and be informed immediately about your latest post.

Link to Your Website and an Automated Sales Funnel

While sales funnels are nothing new, the introduction of smart online marketing tools and methodologies have made them easier to manage and scale.

If your SaaS hopes to attract and convert new customers, it’s essential that you build an effective ‘sales funnel’. Creating a sales funnel via your profile can help ensure that prospects become customers.

Your sales funnel, ultimately, helps determine how many prospects can become customers.

Your customers start at the bottom of the sales funnel. As you work those customers through the funnel, customers with no interest in buying can be filtered out.

This allows you to focus your energy on qualified leads.

Let’s Review

1. A LinkedIn business profile/page can offer multiple benefits. It can help your brand build its image and it can be a great tool for building social networks.
2. Your connections, through your profile, can learn all there is to know about your SaaS.
3. Since your company page is the source that introduces you to the world, it should be nothing less than outstanding.
4. Your profile is the worlds “first impression’ of your SaaS products and services. Through your profile, you have the ability to attract people or push them away. It has to be a good impression for it to be a lasting impression.
5. Your profile page should be enticing, but truthful. Content, still king, is an important element that can help build your online presence.
6. All the data you provide should be without blemish or fault. Any changes in information should be updated immediately. This includes information such as your business location, services, products and contact number.
7. Your content should also be free of grammatical and spelling errors. People will get a lasting impression of your company just by looking at the style of how well you communicate.
8. You may also choose to post any job vacancies. Posting job vacancies can give others a good sense about your company’s validity.

Cross-Promote Your Social Media Profiles

If your business maintains a number of social media platforms (this should actually be the case), make an attempt to create a social media strategy that integrates all of them.

This includes Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest etc. Include links from those locations back to your LinkedIn profile, and vice versa. The goal is to get as many people looking at your LinkedIn profile as possible.

Get a Custom LinkedIn Profile

Your LinkedIn URL should be true to who you are.

You can visit your profile page and look for a gray bar under your profile picture. Clicking on it opens up a sidebar on the right side of the page that allows you to customize your URL.

If you have something to say in today’s digital marketing world (and everyone does), LinkedIn is the best place for professionals to share a perspective.

It’s your own perspective and branding that has the power to make you unique. Use LinkedIn to advance your uniqueness.

Your audience will happily go along for the ride.

It’s the one social media venue in the world that’s fitted to your business needs of increasing leads and growing your SaaS.

Learn how to market your SaaS on LinkedIn and start getting the leads and recognition your business deserves.

Did I miss any tips you wish I had covered? If so, let me know by posting below. I’m always game to learn new tactics!