How to Appeal to Multiple Audiences on LinkedIn

One of the secrets behind a successful LinkedIn profile is getting as specific and niche as you possibly can with the services you offer and (more important) the audience you serve.

But what happens when you serve more than one type of audience or buyer? What if you have several different industries or professions represented among your LinkedIn connections and followers? In short, how do you appeal to multiple audiences on LinkedIn using just one personal profile page? It’s a common problem, and thankfully there’s an easy solution.

LinkedIn Tips: Watch and Learn!

In this video I walk you through the exact approach you need to take and how it looks on a variety of different LinkedIn profile types:

The idea is simple: Starting with your LinkedIn profile summary and tagline, you’ll want to (A) Explain what it is your do and (B) Name a few of the key audiences you serve. One of my LinkedIn connections and students, Lisa Anderson, does a brilliant job of this on her profile page:

Here’s Lisa’s LinkedIn title: Strategic Business Adviser for Consulting Firms, Government Contractors & Nonprofits | Virtual COO | Virtual CFO. Notice Lisa names three different audiences – Consulting Firms, Government Contractors and Nonprofits – right away with her LinkedIn profile title and tagline.

LinkedIn Tips: Blend Your Summary Text!

After your name and title, the most viewed part of your LinkedIn profile is your Summary section. Use this opportunity to immediately appeal to your target audiences or buyers! For example, here’s an ideal way to lay out the top half of your LinkedIn profile summary so people know what you’re all about and who you serve: WHAT I DO: I help (ideal audience) achieve (their goals) by providing (product or service). WHO I SERVE:

• Audience 1
  
• Audience 2
  
• Audience 3

So a real-time example might look like this:

WHAT I DO: I help everyone from Small Business Owners to Universities to Fortune 500 companies alleviate IT nightmares by providing proven, practical and cost-efficient IT solutions and consulting services. WHO I SERVE:

• Small Business Owners
  
• Trade Associations
  
• Schools and Universities
  
• IT Directors and Managers at medium-to-large sized companies
  
• Fortune 500 clients including 3M, Honeywell and others.

You would then get into what makes you different or unique and the rest of what I call a client-facing LinkedIn profile, but you get the idea in terms of how to identify your audiences right away.

LinkedIn Tips: Utilize the Experience Section to Highlight Your Different Businesses

Remember, your LinkedIn profile title and summary area are very limited in terms of the number of characters you can use. You can’t possibly dive deep into all of the different types of buyers, audiences and sales offerings you provide in that limited space. You also won’t have much room to identify and explain different types of businesses or companies you run. A solution is to go under the “Experience” section of your LinkedIn profile and add in a new section that appeals to each specific audience you want to address. It doesn’t matter if you don’t have a separate company or job listing for each of these audiences – the key is that you add in separate sections that appeal to each niche audience and use the types of keywords and descriptions those prospective customers would look for when finding someone like you on LinkedIn. For example, with my profile, I spend the majority of my LinkedIn title and summary area talking about my LinkedIn lead generation trainings and strategies. That’s the business I’m focused on right now. But lower in my profile, under the “Experience” section, I have separate “positions” (as LinkedIn calls them) listed for my other businesses: Debt Collection Marketing Consultant, Motivational Speaker and so on. The way LinkedIn’s database and Search functionality work, I can be “found” by different target audiences (Debt Collectors, for example, or perhaps organizations looking for a Motivational Speaker) because I have those extra listings – including keywords and client-facing descriptions – in my profile. This is a great way to flesh out and fully explain your specific service offerings to multiple audiences in multiple niches. Just go under the “Experience” section while editing your LinkedIn profile and click “Add a new position” to make it happen.

So there you have it – no need to feel like you have to be a “one-trick pony” on LinkedIn any longer!

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