Stefan Smulders, How to Automate and Personalise Your LinkedIn Outreach – InnovaBuzz 441
Stefan Smulders, Expandi
In this episode, I’m really excited to have as my guest, Stefan Smulders, SaaS Entrepreneur, co-founder of Expandi, the world’s safest software for LinkedIn Automation. Expandi is an organisation he bootstrapped to $6M ARR in just 17 months Their software is a cloud platform designed to make automated outreach safe by using random delays, message frequencies, message limits (and much more) to make sure it works perfectly within Linkedin guidelines.
In our discussion, Stefan talked to me about:
- Key approaches to effectively connecting with the right people on LinkedIn
- How to do smart searches on LinkedIn
- The importance of good customer onboarding and support
Listen to the podcast to find out more.
Listen to the Podcast
Define your target audience. There's a lot of opportunities in LinkedIn to define and refine your target audience in more depth. @SmuldersStefan on #InnovaBuzz podcast Click To TweetShow Notes from this episode with Stefan Smulders of Expandi
Key points and takeaways from this episode include:
- Expandi is a cloud-based software to manage your LinkedIn account and automate your outreach in a safe way so that it doesn’t get flagged by LinkedIn.
- Expandi includes all features that will allow you to build the best strategies to connect and engage with people on LinkedIn.
- Automation is no longer a numbers game. You have to adapt new strategies to bring better results.
- The best way to start is to make sure that your LinkedIn profile is more attractive than any average profile.
- Define your target audience. There’s a lot of opportunities on LinkedIn to define and refine your target audience in more depth.
- Do a search on your timeline using hashtags or keywords that match your business profile. Notice the people who are commenting and engaging on these topics to identify your target audience.
- Find interesting events that match your business using the basic search function of LinkedIn. Events are also a good way to identify your target audience and engage in a conversation with them.
- Because Expandi is a cloud-based platform, you can set up a lot of activities and execute strategies that run 24/7 or on specific times.
- Expandi’s Hyperise integration gives users the ability to add personalised images to their LinkedIn outreach to double its effectiveness.
- Expandi’s Smart LinkedIn Inbox allows users to sync and manage all their LinkedIn messages in one place, including multiple accounts. Users can manage incoming replies, assign texts, as well as use reply templates to better manage their inbox.
- Having systems in place when onboarding new people is extremely important in business. Make sure that you have systems and processes in place for every department and that they are aligned with each other.
- Data-driven decision making is key.
- It’s important to understand user behaviour in your platform. Knowing which areas they are using more and which areas they don’t will help you identify the areas you need to improve or educate your users more about.
- Keeping your LinkedIn profile healthy is key.
- Engage people instead of approaching them straight away. If you first visit someone’s profile and you want to follow that person, first, like or comment on their specific posts, and mention that in your connection request.
- It is all about education, sharing content, and providing value.
The Buzz – Our Innovation Round
Here are Stefan’s answers to the questions of our innovation round. Listen to the conversation to get the full scoop.
- #1 thing to be more innovative – Listen to your customers and create a community around your product or service. Engage with people as much as you can.
- Best thing for new ideas – Solving problems, finding a solution.
- Favourite tool for innovation – Zapier
- Keep project/client on track – Having a good ticketing and communication system within departments.
- Differentiate – Give your services a more human touch. Outcare and outlove your competition. Put the human element in everything that you do.
To Be a Leader
Don’t wait too long to execute your ideas. It doesn’t have to be perfect. Validate it with a real audience and bring it to the market as fast as you can. It’s not bad to make mistakes. Mistakes help you grow, and the people who are engaging with you, in the beginning, are the same ones that will become your real ambassadors. At the end of the day, it is all about you – the person behind that software, the energy you put in, and your ability to engage and try to solve the problem.
Reach Out
You can reach out and thank Stefan through their website.
Suggested Guest
Stefan suggested we have a conversation with Serial Entrepreneur, Ian Naylor. So Ian, keep an eye on your inbox for an invitation from us to the InnovaBuzz Podcast, courtesy of Stefan Smulders.