“Made you look!” When my kids were little I could play them with that phrase.
When they were teenagers, “I’m watching you,” was my serious message for don’t break curfew. And now today, in our world of social media networking, I find myself wondering, “is anyone looking?!”
Well, the “Who’s Viewed Your Profile?” module on LinkedIn is perfect for answering that question. This feature can be playful and serious when it comes to sales and business development. It’s designed to help you understand who’s been looking at your profile recently, and what you can do to fine tune your profile in order to show up in more search results. Here are four ways to power up your sales prospecting when you have a clear view of who’s looking.
1. Social integration check point. I display my LinkedIn URL in my Twitter bio. That means my new Twitter followers have a direct link to my LinkedIn page. When I’m screening my new Twitter followers I also take time to look at who’s viewed my profile on LinkedIn. Often I’m able to see a match between my new Twitter followers and my LinkedIn profile views. This provides direct evidence that Twitter is driving traffic and exposure to people who also have a presence on LinkedIn.
2. Forecast future opportunities and connections. Someone viewing your profile may lead to an introduction request. An introduction lets you contact members who are in your 2nd degree network or 3rd degree network. If a member is within your extended network, you can contact them through connections you have in common. Once the introduction is made it’s up to you to uncover the possible opportunities. It’s not unusual for solid business to develop from these soft connections.
3. Re-engage old contacts. Much of sales networking is about laying strong foundations with new contacts. However; past contacts, particularly people you have worked with closely can be great resources. But how do you seamlessly reengage them? One playful way is to simply look at their profile. If they are also spending time on LinkedIn they’ll soon receive noticed that you just looked at them. I looked, you looked back, and now we’ve got an opportunity to reengage in conversation just like two old friends running into each other at the coffee shop.
4. Who do you want to find you? Getting found by and connecting with the right people is a lot harder than it sounds. The who’s viewed your profile feature provides a handy breakdown that tells you who your profile viewers are. Are the right people finding you? If not, you need to go back through your profile to make sure it includes industry specific targeted words that are unique to your particular audience.
Yes, I know it feels a bit like an ego-exercise to be focused on this feature. So let’s just end with a Bogart toast, “Here’s looking at you, kid.”
