5 Reasons YOU Need to Attend LinkedIn for GovCon

With over 2 million feds on LinkedIn and all major contractors (small and large alike), LinkedIn has become ubiquitous in the government market.  It has become the place for vetting companies and individuals (and where you are vetted), marketing and social selling, reaching out to influencers and potential partners to build business networks, to recruit key staff and much more.

Research from Market Connections and from Government Executive Media Group's Market Preview show the growth and reach of LinkedIn in our market.

But LinkedIn continues to morph, changing in ways that frustrate most users and makes it more difficult to do things we could do a few short years ago. We all need to learn how to respond to these changes and maximize the value of LinkedIn for our own purposes.

LinkedIn still offers one platform, one place where you can still do many business activities that will help you position and grow your business - and many of these things you can do for free, without the paid membership.

If you are not using LinkedIn well, you are losing business.

Here are five reasons to attend the upcoming (Dec 4, 5 & 6) workshops.

#1: Your target audience is here. ALL federal agencies and major operating divisions are are LinkedIn. Even the IC is represented, although in much smaller numbers. Nearly 2.1 million feds are on LinkedIn.

#2: 30-40% of the feds on LinkedIn have program or project management responsibilities or are in other management positions. When approached properly, many of these feds are open to connecting. These are the people who need to know who you are and what you do.

#3: Thought Leadership. You can use LinkedIn to develop a subject matter expert position for your SMEs and/or your company to stand out from your competitors.

#4:  24/7/365 free advertising when your employee profiles and your company profile are done well.

#5: Lead generation occurs when you use LinkedIn like a pro- and this workshop will take you there.

$195/seat- Only 15 seats per session- and you must register in advance.

Tuesday, December 4, 9:00 AM- Noon

8171 Maple Lawn Boulevard
Suite 200
Maple Lawn, MD 20759

Wednesday, December 5, 9:00 AM- Noon

4800 Montgomery Lane
9th Floor
Bethesda, MD 20814

Thursday, December 6, 9:00 AM- Noon

8000 Towers Crescent Drive
Suite 1500
Tysons Corner, Virginia 22182

Note: Each workshop is being held in the conference rooms of Offit Kurman.

Reserve your seat today!

Who should attend? Everyone in GovCon, but especially sales and BD managers and professionals, marketing teams, CEOs of small contractors and anyone interested in making LinkedIn pay dividends!

Beverages, snacks and the 200 page pdf of the slides are supplied.

Five reasons why LinkedIn should be one of your primary B2G marketing tools

LinkedIn has become become an integral part of the GovCon ecosystem, inserting itself seemlessly into our everyday activities.

While nearly everyone uses LinkedIn to some degree, only a small percentage use it effectively. 

It is now common practice for virtually everyone in our market to vet people by looking at their LinkedIn profiles, checking out shared connections and groups, and taking a quick look at their previous positions.

Still, that small percentage take it to a higher level.

Here are a few things you should know so you can take better advantage of what LinkedIn offers.

1) Your audience is here. 

There are over 2 million Feds on LinkedIn: 15%+ with IT titles; 40%+ with management, program or project management titles; and 5%+with senior management tiles.\

2) It's affordable- it fits ANY budget. There are many things you can do on LinkedIn that don't cost anything.

3) It is a great content and news sharing venue. 

You can blog (post) on LinkedIn, share articles from other sources, post them in your groups, send them directly to key influencers, and more.

4) You can develop SME platforms. 

If you or someone on your team is a legitimate SME, their profile can (and should) reflect this area of expertise in several ways.

5) It's easy to expand your reach with current accounts (ABM). If your business focuses on one or just a few agencies, you can develop an agency-focused marketing program using LinkedIn.

As the GovCon universe continues to evolve, especially in these turbulent times, it is important to use all of the available tools to position your company for stability and growth.

If you are interested in seeing how LinkedIn can help you and your company, drop me a line- mark@federaldirect.net

Three Common LinkedIn Mistakes

LinkedIn is the #1 venue where business professionals are vetted. That first impression your profile makes can either lead to more business, or to being passed by without a second glance.

In many instances, it is your first chance to gain credibility for yourself and your company.

There are several tactics to get more people to view and read your LinkedIn profile. These are often overlooked because too little time and planning has gone into the profile development. 

Here are a few things for you to consider. 

The first mistake is the photo - a picture of you. LinkedIn has been pretty consistent over the past several years saying that profiles with photos are viewed 11x more than those without. 

A professional head shot is always best, business attire with you smiling. Avoid photos of pets, boats, group shots (which one is you?) and stick to the basics. Selfies don't cut it, nor do bar, wedding or party pics. 

Be professional. 

The second mistake is not using the background (banner) area, the space behind your head shot.  

Here you have several options, including your company logo, a company "team" photo (depending on the size of your company), a word cloud displaying the areas of expertise you and your company bring to the market, or in my case, a photo of me speaking at an industry event. 

The default is something you see frequently: the pale blue background with the dots being connected.

The background/banner area is great, free advertising space that is grossly underutilized on LinkedIn. 

The third mistake is the headline, the line under your photo. 

Too many people have the default, which is your current job title.

Unless you are the CEO of a Fortune 500 company, your headline should convey more than a nebulous job title. 

Tell people what you do and who you do it for. If your company sells cybersecurity tools or services and you are the marketing manager, why not say "Cyvbersecurity Brand Strategist" instead of "Marketing Manager"? If you sell trade show give-aways, you are a "Corporate Brand Ambassador", not a trinket merchant.

Each of these areas is on your opening screen shot. 

When someone pops in to view your profile, and each tactic will lay a role in determining if your profile visitor stays to read a little more, or moves quickly to the the next profile. 

Developed with careful planning and used properly, these three tactics will make your profile stand out from your competitors. 

I welcome your feedback.