LinkedIn has over 350 million members and has become a very powerful tool for professional connections. But because of the huge amount of fitness professionals and enthusiasts on it, it can get a little difficult to find clients for your business. Research says that LinkedIn is 277% more effective for lead generation than Facebook or Twitter, so using it to find clients is a vital aspect for your training business. But simply creating a LinkedIn company page doesn’t mean you automatically get the right connections. Like any social media platform, you need to create a cohesive and efficient strategy for Linked in to turn your followers into clients.
How to find clients on LinkedIn
- Dress up your LinkedIn profile
Think of your LinkedIn profile as how you physically present yourself during client meetings. You don’t show up in just an undershirt and sweatpants. Create a professional, optimised and client-focused profile that provides everything potential clients need to know about your business and what you offer. - Build up your connections in the right way.
To market to a group you need first to build the group. Don't be the normal spammy 'connect' with generic messages that are copy and paste. Take time to connect with your specific client base (you can do this by filtering) and take the time to connect with personal messages that show that you're going to add value. It is how ever a numbers game so ensure you take the time to do this on a day to day basis. A daily schedule could look like this. 10 connections per day, with 10 personal messages. 2. 5 Follow up messages with connections that may have not replied. - Choose the right LinkedIn groups
LinkedIn has a great Group Discover feature that lets you explore LinkedIn groups related to personal training and your specific niche. Once you have joined the most relevant groups that fit your target audience, scout for and engage with your potential customers there. Be relevant, not pushy but put value in your comments and interactions.Not everyone is active on LinkedIn, but groups are a great way to start for you to be visible to potential clients. - Sincerely engage with your followers
Send connection requests to potential customers, and make sure to send a personalized thank you message once they’ve accepted. Be sure not to self-promote in your initial messages aside from inserting the URL to your website. Overselling yourself can make it seem like the connection is inauthentic. Before trying to sell anything to your customers, make sure you have established a conversation to get to know the problems they are dealing with. Only then can you offer solutions, making sure you are the right person for the job. - Utilize the showcase page
The LinkedIn showcase page is one of the best ways to highlight the best and specialized services you provide. Put your best service on the spotlight and attract potential customers. A showcase page functions like a subdomain, so people can follow this separately. This is a really great way to connect with your specific niche. If you specialize in pilates for middle aged women, this is a really great way to present them your expertise and engage with the clients that matter the most to you. - Keep your page updated
Aside from focusing on getting new clients from LinkedIn, staying connected, and keeping your current audience satisfied can help boost your audience. Do this by regularly publishing valuable content like articles, blog posts, bits of hacks, crumbs of info or updates from your niche if there is. If you find a worthy read outside of your niche, don’t be afraid to share it with your followers. - Publish at the right times
The best time for publishing on LinkedIn is in the morning and after business hours. This is when people are most engaged online, and you can apply this to your strategy for posting. - Publish relevant content
Putting out content is of course key and doing it consistency is also fantastic to build engagement through the Linkedin Platform. Take time how ever to build and create content that is specifically aimed at the new connections that have joined your Linkedin profile. Gav Gillibrand built a six figure business from using Linkedin, if you missed his episode on the Digital Coach Podcast you can listen to it here. If you've cracked Linkedin then head over to our tips on how to get pt clients from Facebook.
