People often ask me, how much time should I be spending on LinkedIn every week, Celina? And I'm going to answer that question here in this episode. But before I answer that, I want to talk about the unspoken subtext of that question. When people say, how much time do I need to spend on LinkedIn? They're usually thinking to themselves, please say 15 minutes a week.
Please, just, how about I spend 30 minutes a week, because, you know, I get it, you're a consultant, you're a service provider, and you're busy. You're serving your clients, you're doing those proposals, you're maybe training a team, you're doing your finances, you've got a lot on your plate already. I mean, that doesn't even include the fact that you want to spend time with your family and friends.
So when people ask me that question, I know what they're looking for. For is the smallest bit of time possible and then beyond that it's not even so much about how much time you spend on LinkedIn, but is the time spent on LinkedIn delivering tangible results. It's not that fun to spend time on things that we don't feel are delivering results Your time is very valuable and I would know that you want to spend as little time as possible with the biggest result. So that's what I'm going to cover today.
I'm going to talk about three specific goals you might have for using LinkedIn in your business and you can decide which of these three goals is yours and as a result decide how much time you should be spending on LinkedIn. Let's get started.
INTRO
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Welcome to the Sales by You podcast, where I talk about all things sales, mindset, LinkedIn, and how to build a lead to client sales process that works for you.
I'm your host, Celina Guerrero, sales and LinkedIn coach. I help consultants and service providers attract high quality leads that become their best clients. Okay,
PODCAST START
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So when people ask me how much time should I be spending on LinkedIn, the first thing we need to talk about is what is Why are you on LinkedIn in the first place? And the reason this is important is because not all businesses are the same, right? And in the same way, let's say you wanted to run a 5k,
That's a 5k race, a turkey trot. You are going to have a very specific plan of time and workouts in order to be able to hit that 5k Turkey track to be able to finish your 5k. Okay. Now if your plan is to run a marathon, which is, I don't know, six times the length of the 5K, you are going to need a different plan to get there, right?
You're going to have a longer time frame to train. You're probably going to have different workouts. So the way that you get to the goal is going to be different, okay? So what I'm going to do now is I'm going to articulate three specific goals for your business. And I'd like you to just kind of listen in and think, which is.
This is your goal. And for each goal I'm going to tell you basically more or less how to think about the amount of time you should spend on LinkedIn, all right?
GOAL 1
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So goal one, Let's say in your business, your goal is to get word of mouth referrals and you know, you're getting the type of work you like, you know?
Let's say a really good example is like you're an accountant, right? And you have 10 retainer based clients that you work with month after month and your time is full, okay? You may not need a lot of leads and new clients coming into your business because pretty much you've got 10 retainer based clients and you don't really need any more.
When one of them leaves you, you kind of have a network and you're going to be able to fill that spot, right? So, if you feel like you're getting enough business and you're thinking, okay, what should I do? Do I need to use LinkedIn? My advice for you is to spend time on LinkedIn, making sure that your LinkedIn profile looks sharp.
So when somebody refers you and says, Hey, Jane is a really good accountant and she works with. just like you. They're going to probably Google you and then you want your LinkedIn profile to come up and they're going to learn a little bit about you. They're going to learn about your past experience.
They're going to learn a little bit about, your approach to accounting and so on. And this is where you really want to invest your time. So I would Spend some time getting your profile looking really sharp and then looking at it at a quarterly basis,
And don't just set it and forget it I know that's the easiest thing to do. people are always looking at your profile when you're not around and you want it to reflect The current state and services of your business and make sure that it's up to date Okay So, if you're pretty much have all the clients you need but you know You're getting referrals So make sure that that profile is looking great, just like you would your website.
You don't want your website out of date. You don't want your LinkedIn profile out of date. All right..
GOAL 2
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Let's talk about goal two. Okay. Let's say in your business, your goal is to not only get those referrals, like in goal one, but you also want to stay top of mind for your existing network.
let's say, for example, You have local networks, you have business groups, you have partnerships, clients, you go to conferences, and you're kind of getting enough clients from that network, You're not, you are actively networking, but maybe not in.
And so for you, what you're going to really want to spend your time on is number one, getting that profile looking sharp. Okay.
The second thing you want to spend your time on is to connect regularly with everybody that you meet.
Okay? This is just a no brainer for anyone who's in business. Your network is your net worth as they say. And so a lot of people just miss a simple opportunity to connect on LinkedIn. when you become a first connection with someone on LinkedIn, that gives you two primary benefits, okay?
One is that you can then direct message each other and you can also see each other's content. And that's a way of continuing the relationship both through the content and the DMs, So you definitely want to spend some time connecting with those people. And also commenting. So commenting is just great.
think of it as an experience. of that one to one meeting that you had with them, You can, comment on what they're doing. It's a way of continuing that relationship. Because we all know what it's like to meet somebody nice, somebody cool at a networking event, and then you never see them again.
And for that, in terms of how much time should you spend on LinkedIn, I advise just at least checking in a couple times a week, okay? And the good news for someone like you is that there is a really excellent LinkedIn mobile app. And that mobile app you can Carry around with you everywhere you go. So when you're meeting people in person, you just immediately connect with them.
You don't even have to worry about it. when you're waiting in line to pick up food at the store, you can scroll through it and like and comment some things of people that are in your network. Okay? And the idea is that we want to continue to nurture those relationships so that they're primed when we need something and we also always want to give.
So commenting and staying apprised of what people are doing is a natural human thing that you're going to do with other people that will benefit you both, personally and professionally. So if your goal two, you're going to nurture and maintain visibility with your existing network.
SPONSORED BY
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This episode is sponsored by the Connect membership. The mission of Connect is to give solo consultants and service providers a place to build their sales skills and sales process in community.
If you're a consultant or service provider and you use LinkedIn as your primary social platform, Connect provides knowledge, community, and accountability so you can sign more clients. Sales should not be done alone. For more information, go to joinconnect. co. That's joinconnect. co.
GOAL 3
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now let's talk about if you are goal three, So in your case, you probably have a nice network, you're engaging with them, but it's not enough. You want more clients or you might really be looking to change up your market that you serve and you're going to need different leads, more leads that become clients, So, whereas in scenario one and two, it's a little bit more warm, connections, we're talking here about a little colder, as they say, right? A little farther out from your close inner network. And so in this case, if you're in a position where you're nurturing your network, but you also want to have new leads, here's how you are LinkedIn.
Number one, great profile, gotta make that sharp, that's always a must have. You're also gonna nurture and maintain visibility with your existing networks, right, it's just what we talked about, connecting, commenting, conversations in the DMs, making intros, making referrals, getting them and so on, keeping up to date with what everyone's doing and keeping your network up to date with what you're doing.
In addition, you're going to need to spend more time on LinkedIn because you've got to now reach more audiences. You've got to be known to more people. You have to let more people know you exist and create that awareness beyond your existing network. And in order to do that, it's going to require a little more time.
Okay. Now. let's say in goal two, you're spending two hours a week on LinkedIn. At minimum, I suggest you spend an hour a day, Monday through Friday ish, Everybody works a little bit different. About an hour a day. Being on that platform and using that search field, which I can't get too into right now that's a whole other conversation, but, you know, get introductions, finding the search, looking for those people on LinkedIn that fit your ideal client, and then reaching out to them, connecting with them, and you know, reaching out to them
expanding your visibility in your network with new eyeballs, new audiences, new people. Okay. And like I said, that's going to take time. So maybe if your goal one, you're going to spend, you know, an hour every quarter. Maybe if you're in goal two, you're going to spend a couple hours a week on LinkedIn.
And if you're in goal three, you're probably going to need to spend a minimum of five hours a week is what I suggest. It's just a nice clean number. It's, you know, five days a week. It's one hour a day. And if you're working a 40 hour work week, which as an entrepreneur it's often more, but think about five hours is only 12 percent of your total time spent on your business.
And the fact is you need to get new clients. I actually recommend around 30 percent of your time spent on that. I mean, there's so much variability around that answer, but I'm just saying people think a whole hour a day, that's a lot, but not in context. Not if you're trying to, you know, get more business in, you got to break into a new market and so on.
Okay. So, um, if you're goal three, then you need to spend an hour a day. Okay. Okay.
RECAP 1
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Now. Let's just zoom out for one second. The point in all of this is that there is no one answer. You know that. How much time should I spend on LinkedIn? It depends. Um, but just like that 5K run versus that marathon run, which I think is what, 26.
2 miles I'm not sure if that's correct. You're gonna have different goals. you're gonna have different plans Okay, so just keep that in mind. Nothing is set in stone, but Realistically, you gotta show up if you're gonna make stuff happen.
All right
CTA 1
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*Now let's take some action here*.
RECAP 2PITCH / CTA
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Number one, you're going to choose your goal. You're going to block time for that goal. So if your goal one, what are you going to do? You're going to block a hour every quarter, uh, maybe the last Friday of every third month. . And then you're gonna make a plan for how are you going to spend that hour, right?
It's going to be check my banner, check my headline, check my about section, check my featured. Is that up to date? have I asked for a recommendation recently? Okay. You don't want to look checklist for what you're going to do there. And then you're actually going to do it. We need to hold, ourselves accountable to doing what we say we're going to do.
Okay. So don't just block the time, make sure that you have a list ready to go. You can literally put that into a room. recurring calendar event and inside that calendar event, you could have five things that you want to check off and every time that appointment comes up for yourself, you look at the five things you want to do on your LinkedIn profile and you execute.
It's all about follow through. If your goal is number two, you want to make sure you're spending time regularly on LinkedIn. A couple of ways of making that happen are number one, open up linkedin. com on your browser and Um, look at it a couple times a day, right? Second way is that mobile app, carry it around with you, use it as your networking, get on it when you're waiting for, uh, you know, to check out at the grocery line.
That is a way to continue to nurture and stay apprised of your network, okay? if you have goal number three, make sure you block that time. I suggest in the morning for one hour, hold yourself accountable to that, and know what you need to do. We do, in Connect membership have a power hour, and it gives you a very specific 20 minute breakout three separate things you want to do when you're on LinkedIn for an hour And I can't get into that right now But I will just say if you're interested in learning more about how to use LinkedIn effectively I have a couple suggestions for you.
CTA 2
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Number one, sign up for the Connect newsletter. I send tips and advice every single week. Number two, you can go on to LinkedIn and send me a DM if you have a question. Like ask me direct, I will answer. or you can look into the Connect membership and that, can be found at joinconnect. co. That's joinconnect.
co. C. O. Uh, you can find a little information about that.
But again, if you start signing up the newsletter, You can learn more about how to use LinkedIn. Connect with me on LinkedIn. Follow me so you can get my content. And you can get better and more effective, at using LinkedIn when you really committed to that platform on that hour a day.
So I hope this has been helpful for you. hopefully by now you know how much time you should spend on LinkedIn. Use what I've shared as your guidelines and go after it.
Thank you for listening to this episode of the Sales By You podcast. If you heard something in this episode that made you think someone you know would really find that helpful, send them a link to this podcast episode. If you want to learn another aspect of improving your sales, subscribe to this podcast.
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