Richard van der Blom’s Post

🎬 New Couch Talk Video Alert: LinkedIn™'s Least Favorite Users! 🎬 Ever wondered who makes the LinkedIn gods roll their eyes? Let's dive into the hall of infamy, shall we? 1. The Grammar Police - Yes, we know it's "you're" not "your," but when you correct a connection's post publicly, you might just be risking your (or should we say "you're" 🤪) next client! 2. The Trolls - Always lurking, always negative. If you can't say something nice... well, trolls wouldn't know because they never tried. 3. The Random Pitchers - "Dear [Insert Name], I've got a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for you!" Sounds familiar? Check your LinkedIn inbox, it's probably there right now. 4. The Copy-Paste Recruiters - "Hi [First Name], I'm really impressed with your background in [Job Title]..." Even if you're a chef and they're recruiting for astronauts. 5. The Know-It-All Trainers - They've got more advice than followers, preaching LinkedIn laws that even LinkedIn hasn't heard about. Now, let's flip the script! Here are 5 Tips to Truly Shine on LinkedIn: 1. Be Authentic - People connect with humans, not profiles. Let your personality come through in every interaction. 2. Add Value Before You Ask - Share insights, offer help, and engage genuinely. Your network will be more receptive when you do pitch something. 3. Customize Your Messages - Whether you're a recruiter or making a new connection, a personalized message goes a long way. Yes, that means no more "Dear [Insert Name]". 4. Positive Vibes Only - Be the member who uplifts, supports, and encourages. Positivity is contagious, and it builds more meaningful connections. 5. Educate, Don't Dictate - Share your knowledge and experiences on LinkedIn to help others grow. But remember, it's a conversation, not a lecture. What's the funniest or most irritating LinkedIn faux pas you've encountered? Drop a comment below! PS: I have every right to talk about least favourite LinkedIn™ Users as I tick 3 out of 5 boxes, and no I don't consider myself a troll nor a grammar officer

Newsletter #24 Creating Content without Landing Clients? Read the article to find out about: 1) why reach and engagement is down for 96% of all creators 2) why your content is not landing new clients and how to overcome this challenge 3) my blueprint of a successful Engagement strategy 4) introduction of a spectacular tool to save you up to 80% time on your engagement PS: Have you seen the upcoming changes to Pages? LinkedIn™ is introducing Premium Pages with lots of amazing benefits.

HOT OFF THE PRESS: LinkedIn™ Launches "Premium Company Pages" with - at least for now - 6 additional features!  Attention marketers, maybe it's time to shake up your strategy with some game-changing tools! LinkedIn™'s Premium Page comes with: - 💸 Subscription-based, charged per page. - 🚀 Totally independent of your personal account setup. - 🛠️ Packed with exclusive features every admin dreams of (or not) Here's the scoop on the six killer features designed to catapult your page into the spotlight. Pay attention to no. 2 and 5, real game-changers: 1. Custom Call-to-Action Button: More than just a button—think of it as your page's personal billboard. Whether it's "Visit Website" or "Contact Us", make your page impossible to ignore in search results and page posts.     2. Visitor List: Curious about who's been checking out your page? Now you can see—and connect with—visitors who let their guard down. Ideal for sales and HR hustlers!     3. Custom Testimonial: Showcase a glowing endorsement right at the top. Nothing beats praise when it's the first thing visitors see.     4. AI-Powered Post Assistance: Leverage AI smarts to craft posts that resonate. It's like having a digital copywriter at your beck and call.     5. Auto-Invites: This feature alone might justify the subscription. Automatically nudge interactors to follow your page. Think of the reach! 6. LinkedIn Premium Logo: Brand your page with the premium badge and stand out—even in crowded search results. And not confirmed, but probably definitely going to be true: 7. Higher organic reach / visibility for Premium Pages as well (!?) UPDATE thanks to Xandrina Allday "the pricing structure: $99.99/month per Page or $839.88/annual per Page (30% discount, $360 savings when you buy annual) plus tax" Considering the hefty tag on paid campaigns and their hit-or-miss results, isn't it time to test drive these new features? Auto-invites alone could revolutionize how you grow your following. Premium Pages are here and currently in roll-out stage. Will you be upgrading? If you qualify, look out for the "Try Premium for $0" or "Upgrade to Premium" options. When do you think is the right time to dive into a Premium Company Page? And why would you—or wouldn't you—take the plunge? Thanks to Ritchie Pettauer for pointing me to this. Give the guy a follow!

Imagine having direct access to over 60 hours of insider LinkedIn™ strategies from some of the most respected names in the business world. What could that do for your professional growth? 🚀 We're talking real game-changing insights from experts like Ash Rathod on storytelling, Chase Dimond on building a massive email list, Richard Moore on mastering social selling and Jasmin Alic on copywriting. And that’s just the beginning! 𝗝𝗼𝗶𝗻 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗧𝗥𝗜𝗕𝗘 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗧𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆! For just €90, you gain entry into an exclusive community where learning and networking collide to create unparalleled opportunities. Dive into sessions like: - The Hidden Gems in LinkedIn Advertising - 7 Random Acts of Kindness to Grow your Business - Ignite your Client Growth & Attract More Buyers What’s more? You get: - One online network event per month. - Three fresh masterclasses monthly, including one led by me. - An engaging Slack channel and a vibrant LinkedIn group to connect and share ideas. And if you opt for an annual membership at €990, it includes a personal 45-minute consultation with me to supercharge your LinkedIn strategy! Discover why some members are already with us since the beginning: 💬 “A no-brainer, it completely revamped my LinkedIn strategy” - Laura Barker, JD, Next Live Session: "LinkedIn Advertising" on April 17th at 4:00 PM CEST will be provided by Jan Willem Alphenaar a renowned LinkedIn expert. And don’t worry if you can’t make it live — all sessions are recorded and available within 24 hours. Intrigued? Join us for a month, immerse yourself in the resources, and see the impact for yourself. Ready to transform your LinkedIn presence and accelerate your business growth? See it for yourself here: https://lnkd.in/dRRmUtP9 PS: Want to know how your company can profit from a white label LinkedIn™ community? Drop me a message.  

I must admit, I can be pretty stubborn sometimes. "Try it", said Tom, "I am 100% sure you will love it". And now I finally must admit, it's a game changer for an effective engagement strategy... Read down here how I cut down my LinkedIn™ time from almost 2 hours a day to 45 minutes and increased conversion: Post writing ↳ write drafts based on good performing content and relevant topics Analytics ↳ Keep an eye on the numbers ↳ Views are vanity, incoming invites and DM's the real metrics Engagement Follow Up ↳ Respond to all received comments with a comment OR ↳ Respond with a DM to "forgotten connections who engaged" Reciprocity ↳ Make sure to comment on my Peers, my Clients and Ambassadors ↳ 20 - 30 comments a day Tom is Tom Jacquesson. He founded Taplio, which I never tried because of not wanting to be involved in automation. It's not: Taplio now helps me to: 1. comment effectively on all received comments 2. create lists of people I want to engage with (bye bye LinkedIn Bookmarks) 3. dive direct into DM's to spark conversations and leads 4. provides me with inspiration and analytics And everything above is done completely manually, no automation involved. It saves me over 1 hour a day now, and that's only with engagement. Have you tried it yet? PS: Have an amazing week!

Saturday Infographic Day! Share this with your designer, marketing friends or just use it yourself to create optimal images for visual content. I'm off to my favourite ecological breakfast place in Valencia, for an avocado toast with eggs and turkey! With a lovely cappuccino on the side ☕️ PS: What did you have for breakfast today?

Spring is here! Time to change your tactics maybe? Ingredients to grow the most beautiful flowers: 1. Lot's of Love 2. Consistent Content 3. Client Centric Profile 4. Engagement Strategy 5. Build Trust & Credibility 6. Offer Low Commitment Offers 7. Pro-Active Conversion Strategy (DM's) What's your best tactic to attract clients? PS: Join +9,500 subscribers to my email newsletter (biweekly), no spam, no BS, 100% value and insights guaranteed. https://lnkd.in/dunTi4KC

Get as much likes, comments and reposts and you will reach maximum growth, right? Well, not completely. As we discovered 9 Performance Drivers that impact the distribution of your post on LinkedIn™ 1. Network Size & Activity    👉 Size matters (!), as well as the activity of your core Followers (those who recently started to follow you, or often engage)     2. Follower Metrics (*)    👉 High Follower / Connection ratio is picked up by the LinkedIn™. Mine currently is around 6.1 (182k / 30k)     3.  Consistency in Posting    👉 Train the algorithm and your human audience by sticking with a specific frequency and time slot. Better to publish 3 posts for 4 weeks, then do a rhythm of 1, 4, 0 and 7 posts a week     4. Post Topic & Trends    👉 An easy one! Include AI / Chat GPT, Career Advice or Life / Work Balance, and you get an additional push in the back. Trending topics bring +20 - 30% reach     5. Feed Activity    👉 The more people active the moment you publish your Post, the more potential for early growth. Don't believe me? Set your alarm at 3.00am and publish!     6. Intrinsic Quality    👉 Human algorithm (behaviour and engagement) always outperforms the algorithm. Focus on Quality and Relevant Insights     7. Social Selling Index    👉 Newsflash! It's actually not the Social Selling Index that supports your reach. It's LinkedIn seeing that you add value and spend time on the platform, which also reflects on your S.S.I. score     8. Language Impact    👉 Publishing in English means increasing your potential audience. Don't believe me? Try to publish something in Swahili and see what happens.     9. Influencer Engagement    👉 A comment from someone with 200k followers will bring more additional reach, compared to a comment from someone with 5k followers. Based on our research we think (yes, we don't know exactly) that Performance Drivers count for between 30 and 40% of growth. Which means the traditional Engagement Buttons still make up for 60 - 70%. (*) No, I don't think it's wise to delete connections just for the sake of the Follower / Connection ratio. PS: What's the Performance Driver that you really master?

Boost your Sales with this proven LinkedIn™ Engagement Strategy. 6 Steps that bring me between 10 and 15 qualified leads each week (!) First, get the basics right, your own content strategy. 1. I publish my own posts always between 8.00 and 9.00am, training the algorithm and my audience.     2. I will leave a PS, CTT or CTF to spark comments from my network. Make them think, write easy to comment on questions.     3. 15 minutes prior to my own post I start engaging on posts of my "inner circle" creators This will send a notification to them, increasing the chances my post will show up in their feed.     4. I respond to all comments in the first 45 minutes as much as I can     5. After 6 hours I write a few additional comments or I repost my own post to make it visible to another time zone (only for global audience) Have this in place and then implement the Engagement Strategy below! 1. 𝗣𝗶𝗻𝗽𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗜𝗱𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗖𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗳𝗶𝗹𝗲𝘀 (𝗜𝗖𝗣) 𝗼𝗻 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗲𝗱𝗜𝗻™:    - Dive deep into understanding who your ICPs are. This clarity will steer all your LinkedIn activities towards meaningful interactions and genuine connections. 2. 𝗢𝗿𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘇𝗲 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘀:    - You can use LinkedIn™ Bookmarks, or Sales Navigator. But a few months ago I started using Aware, where I can create as many lists as I want for easy engagement 3. 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗶𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗗𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗘𝗻𝗴𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁:    - Allocate time each day to interact with posts from your lists, aiming for 30-50 meaningful comments. 4. 𝗙𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀:    - Keep an eye out for positive interactions with your comments. Use these as opportunities to connect with new professionals, especially those not already in your network. 5. 𝗜𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗣𝘂𝗿𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗲:    - For those you connect with, employ the Y-C-M-S framework to kickstart engaging conversations. This approach helps in establishing a strong rapport from the get-go. 6. 𝗣𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗮 𝗡𝗼-𝗥𝗶𝘀𝗸 𝗢𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿:    - Once trust is established, introduce a low-commitment offer. This could be a free consultancy call, newsletter sign-up, or an introductory product. It's an excellent way to transition online interactions into tangible value for both parties. I use Aware to increase the efficiency of the process above. It allows me to: -Pull accounts from LinkedIn and add them to my list. -I add accounts from Peers, Prospects, Clients and Colleagues -Aware then collates all comments from my list as one cohesive live updated feed. -I comment 30-50 times (no more than 3 lines) in less than 45 minutes Try out my Engagement Strategy for yourself to boost your sales P.S. Grab a free trial for Aware here and turbo charge your Sales via LinkedIn: https://lnkd.in/ehWVGJGx. The good thing, they have pricing parity as well.

Do you know the skill of "Purturing"? It's a combination of publishing and nurturing your content on LinkedIn™ to triple your reach. How? Watch this new episode of Couch Talk with Richard (#CTR) 5 Easy to implement tactics to nurture your post. 1. Don't Post & Ghost    👉 before and directly after you publish, stick around to leave comments on your peer, client and prospect network's content 2. Respond to all Comments in the first 60 minutes    👉 stimulate early interaction and boost the algorithm by responding to all received comments and questions 3. Trigger comments by leaving 2 to 4 additional insights in the comments    👉 save some insights and publish them in the comments yourself, starting indirect comments (comment on comment) favoured by the algorithm 4. Repost your own post after 6 to 8 hours    👉 international network, reposting your post can easily lead to +30% reach making it visible to the other part of the world 5. Add a PS to your post    👉 Ask an easy to answer questions, sparking engagement on your post. Don't be too commercial, make them think or feel! What's your additional tactic to guide your post to new heights? PS: What should be the next topic of #CTR ?