With so many social media benefits for business, how can industrial automation professionals not be spending time on LinkedIn attracting customers, getting customer feedback, and building customer loyalty?

Make the Most of YOUR LinkedIn Activity with These 5 Day-to-Day Habits

With an eye to being intentional about your company goals, you can incorporate these five social media habits easily into your daily routine and reap the benefits for your bottom line!

1. Are you making new contacts? Build your network and make your feed work for you! 

Habit​ 1: CONNECT by making 5-10 new connection requests per day

Keep your purpose for participating on social media in mind when creating your list of who to contact. You won’t be allowed to contact everyone in one day, but create your list and systematically work through it to add essential contacts to your group of connections.

a. Begin with key industry contacts, and continue by adding:

• people you know,
• people who do what you do
  • industry,
  • job title,
  • job description,
• people in organizations and corporations you want to target or learn from,
• people with the same interests, and
• people who participate on posts of interest to you,

Start by connecting with second degree contacts and begin the business relationship on a good footing by ALWAYS including a personal message about why you want to connect.

b. Consider following:

• Companies with which you are currently working,
• Competitors,
• Corporations you want as partners,
• Organizations from which you want to learn.

c. Join LinkedIn Groups:

• Apply to join groups that your contacts suggest! (Did you know that AHTD has 2 groups of its own?)
  • Association for High Technology Distribution: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/1813843/
  • AHTD Women in Automation: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/14159552/
• Use that search bar
  • You have used it to find people and companies, but have you used it to follow hashtags? Have you used it to find groups?
• Use keywords to find groups discussing topics that interest you,
• Find groups talking about the products or services in which your company has expertise,
• Share and contribute to discussions happening in the groups you have joined.
• Consider creating a group if you cannot find one!

Apply to join and see what happens to your network!

2. You have reached out to new contacts, so now, are you responding to ALL Direct Messages (dms*) from them?

Habit 2: Check LinkedIn daily and RESPOND to all messages sent directly to you

This should be self-explanatory… RIGHT?! Of course you are… Why connect with people and then ignore them? Please take this reminder to respond to ALL Direct Messages.


3. Are you furthering your online relationships by making a point of commenting on the posts created by your connections?

Habit 3: NURTURE IDEAS by making 5-10 quality comments per day

If you are not already doing so, you might be wondering how it is possible to begin what seems like so many one-sided conversations in a day.

Here are some ideas:

• Attend a LinkedIn live/audio & participate.
• Send a dm* with a link to a post you think your contact would be interested in, or one they may not have seen.
• Tag** a contact in the feed if you see a post asking for services like theirs.
• Send a birthday message/congrats on work anniversary.
• Celebrate a new position.
• Introduce two connections to each other.
• Follow a contact’s Company page.
• Subscribe to a contact’s newsletter.
• Give a shout-out when you are hosting or a guest.
• Use the “give kudos” type of post under Celebrate an Occasion
• Send a voice or video direct message that is personalized.
• Offer to have a virtual coffee catch-up to get to know a new contact.
• Respond to comments on your posts.
• Be an active member of a LinkedIn group supporting others.

Remember your branding, be sure to ALWAYS WRITE WITH YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE IN MIND, and watch for / reply to responses from your contacts AND from others. Keep the conversation going!

4. Have you noticed you see posts from fewer and fewer companies?

Habit 4: REFRESH YOUR FEED – about every 6-12 months (or whenever you notice limitations within your feed)

Over time, your online activity will inform the algorithm regarding what companies and people keep you engaged on social media. Your activity on each platform will tend to be within the relatively narrow band of what interests you, what has inspired a comment, what you have clicked on to read, and what you have felt compelled to share. To again see posts from others outside of your typical online activity, use that search bar to actively look at the LinkedIn pages of those OTHER companies that you are interested in. Letting the algorithm know you still want to see stuff from other companies will help to renew your newsfeed content!

5. Are you demonstrating your appreciation?

Habit 5: DEMONSTRATE GENEROSITY by giving 1 endorsement per week

Everyone appreciates receiving public encouragement, appreciation, and a pat on the back, and doing so on social media increases the kudos’ exposure and creates a permanent record of that appreciation. Help build up your team and connections by giving endorsements to help strengthen both their brand and yours, and to demonstrate your own skill at the same time!

Use these guidelines to more easily make LinkedIn a priority of each day. As the world’s largest online professional network, it is where professional relationships are forged, careers are developed, and business is done. You will not regret your commitment to engaging with contacts both new and familiar in ways to increase your influence and that of your business!

Next month, watch for 7 Ideas to Fill Your Next Content Calendar, where I will be offering suggestions on steps to help your team develop absorbing content that will drive customer engagement.

In the meantime, please remember to connect with us and your AHTD contacts on LinkedIn to stay up to date with everyone #doinghightechbetter, together!

*dms – A short form for direct message. Any message where you are speaking to only one person on social media, NOT communicating out in public where all can see
**tagging – Also called an “@mention”, using the @ with a name of a person or company will notify them that they have been spoken about in a post.