Author Interiview with Chris Muccio: 3 LinkedIn Tips in 3 Minutes

[Former Member]

  

Chris Muccio is the author of the (fully revised) bestseller 42Rules for 24-Hour Success on LinkedIn and I had the chance to interview him about the book and some hands-on LinkedIn tips for you last week.

Accolades:

1. Amazon Best Seller

2. Named to multiple Top 100 Social Media Book Lists

3. Achieved #1 on Amazon’s Job Hunting & Careers list

Here is a YouTube clip where Chris gives 3 LinkedIn tips in 3 minutes:

The video covers:

1. One tip that can help you improve your LinkedIn profile right away
2. Why "42 Rules for 24-Hour Success on LinkedIn" is different from other LI marketing books
3. Where you can learn more

Off-camera, I got to ask Chris a few more questions that include valuable tips on improving your LinkedIn presence quickly and effectively:

1. Why do you think LinkedIn matters more than other social media platforms?

It all comes back to using the best platform to find your target audience.

LinkedIn is a massive network of millions of people focused on some aspect of business.  People aren't going on there to share photos, they are going on it to use it as an asset for their business or career.  Our professional success is predicated on us engaging with our target audience, and LinkedIn offers us the ability to find them, meet them and relationship build with them.

So, if your business or career growth is dependent on these elements, then you should absolutely be effectively participating on LinkedIn.

2. Can you demonstrate ROI for LinkedIn users?

For most of us in the business world, the ROI that we seek on LinkedIn is increased engagement with our target audience.  However, that is somewhat an intangible item.

I would suggest the following four potential ways to measure an ROI most tangibly within LinkedIn:

1. Profile and company page traffic: Make it a weekly measurement and look for growth trends.
2. Growth in connections: Easy to quantify but focus on growing "connections of value".
3. Credibility components: Expect an increase in the number of "authoritative elements" in your "profile"- on LinkedIn, this could include recommendations, endorsements, InMails received, and LinkedIn mentions.
4. Lead growth via your website: This assumes you use LinkedIn to create awareness to your site. Look at "total" growth as well as observe the growth trend from month to month. Expect increasing amounts of opt-ins, the longer you continue using effective tactics.

3. What is your favorite feature of LinkedIn?

LinkedIn Groups.  The power they offer is immense if you use them effectively to share value and engage your

target audience.

1. First, you have the opportunity to plug directly into your target audience.
2. Second, it opens a whole new world of awareness for us with that target audience.  We can post, comment, like and message within a group.  As long as we perpetually share items the group values vs trying to sell or pitch, it will enable you to increase your visibility with your desired audience.
3. Finally, we also have the ability to start and build our own group.

4. How do you feel about LinkedIn's plan to allow 13-year-olds to set up accounts?

I can see how they want to expand their user base, but considering the average age of a user is in their early forties, the value to a 13-year-old is going to be very limited.  As of right now (and this can change over time), the site's "value" is greatest to someone focused on business. Clearly, that is not something most 13-year-olds have much exposure to or are interested in.

5. What are 3 things a person can do today to improve their LinkedIn profile?

There are a lot of details per se to focus on, but let's keep this high level.

1. First, ensure you are ranked as an "all-star" profile by LinkedIn.  Follow their instructions on what your profile may be missing.  This will help your ranking in their search algorithm.
2. Second, make sure your profile effectively reflects your expertise or your brand.
3. Third, generate awareness to your profile in acceptable ways.

6. What are 3 things you'd tell businesses to do on LinkedIn?

Start with a plan.

• Have a clear goal that you are pursuing.
• Remember, activity is not achievement.
• Generate positive awareness. There are numerous ways to do this both online and offline.
• Be strategic and think about how to most effectively leverage them.  Some are super simple like add your LinkedIn URL to your email signature.
• Conversely, others are more complex like starting a LinkedIn group for your target audience.

The bottom line is, if people don't know you exist, how can they do business with you?

• Engage, engage and engage some more! If there was a "secret sauce", this might be it.
• Why? We are looking to build relationships with our target audience.  As relationships build, trust grows.
• Who do we tend to do business with?  Typically, we prefer to do business with those we trust.

7. Anything you'd like to add or share that stands out for you?

For those of us that want to generate results on LinkedIn, we need to view it for what it is, a business communication platform.  When it comes to integrating other business platforms in our business (e.g. accounting systems, hr systems, etc.), we have a strategy, dedicated resources, a budget, all focused toward making it a successful tool for our business.  We don't expect immediate results and when nothing happens, discard it. 

If we are serious about generating results from LinkedIn, we will leverage a methodology that helps us "integrate" this business platform into our daily business existence and support it with the appropriate sustained, effort.

We share our methodology in the book 42 Rules for 24-Hour Success on LinkedIn.

Thanks to Chris for his time and insights. You can check out and buy his book here.