An in-person session on how to ramp up your LinkedIn presence – in order to generate leads and sales – takes place at Fareham Innovation Centre on Wednesday, 5th June.

The LinkedIn workshop, taking place from 10am to 4pm, with lunch provided, is being led by John Espirian, who describes himself as the “relentlessly helpful LinkedIn nerd”.

He’s a LinkedIn consultant with nearly 47,000 followers on the business-to-business platform and runs a popular LinkedIn blog.

John is also the author of Content DNA, the creator of Uplift Live, the UK’s only LinkedIn conference, and runs a popular LinkedIn group called Espresso+.

The complimentary event is initially open to resident occupiers and virtual customers at Fareham Innovation Centre, which provides serviced workspace and meeting rooms to 57 technology-led businesses with 350 people.

Anna Bravington is the local Innovation Director for Oxford Innovation Space, which runs Fareham Innovation Centre on behalf of building owner Fareham Borough Council.

She said: “Some of us in business may find LinkedIn baffling, intimidating or maybe even frustrating, but the platform is a must for business development if you are in the business-to-business sector.

“As part of the centre’s business support for occupiers, we’ve booked John in to deliver a LinkedIn workshop, covering everything you need to know about LinkedIn.

“With laptops required, the workshop covers everything you’ll need to know to be successful on LinkedIn.”

Here’s an outline of what we’ll be learning:

· Profile optimisation – looking at areas such as your headline, visual representation (profile image, banner, featured posts), how to write your ‘about’ section and what to include, what to put in your experience section and using keywords in your content so that you can be found easier.

· Personal vs company profiles – the differences between them and the purpose each has.

· Dashboard analytics – including what the stats mean, how to take a snapshot of the data, how to see how many people have searched for you, tracking your progress, and learn about your SSI (Social Selling Index).

· Free vs Premium – Looking at whether it’s worth paying for Premium, the pros and cons.

· Searching & connecting – most efficient way to search LinkedIn, search limits and using elements of Google search to help you find prospects.

· Connecting – how you find your ideal prospects, how to approach them, what steps to take to connect with them. Plus learning about inbound vs outbound marketing.

· Engaging – making the LinkedIn feed work for you. Posting content and engaging with other people’s content.

· The power of commenting – how algorithm works, what makes a good comment, limits on comments, etc. Learn how comments keep conversation going and help with your visibility.

· Posting – types of posts (image, video, document, etc), and long-form content such as articles and newsletters. Learning about good posts and content structure.

· Direct Message (DM) – strategies, how you DM people, what you want to say, learning about your prospects and how to communicate with them. The types of DMs – text, voice, videos, documents and posts.

· LinkedIn groups – the pros and cons. John runs a successful LinkedIn group and will share his experiences.

Due to limits on numbers, only one person per business initially. To sign up: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/linkedin-workshop-tickets-883958913907

Please keep an eye on our website and social media for announcements. Looking for workspace at Fareham Innovation Centre? https://www.fareham-ic.co.uk/workspace/