LinkedIn is one of
the niche social media channels and it is designed as a professional networking
tool as opposed to the personal and more informal platforms such as Facebook,
Pinterest and even Twitter. Small to mid range companies in particular find it
extremely effective in creating a solid network and business relationships that
will increase their share of the market.
But how does a
platform geared towards making business connections work in terms of promoting
your business? We’re going to look at six strategies that will ensure
your LinkedIn presence truly pays off.
1. Make Valuable
Connections
Like any social
networking site, the ultimate goal of LinkedIn is to connect people. Giving you
access to new leads or new business associates will help bring about potential
opportunities you may have not had access to. Get started by searching for friends
and associates based on your email contacts but by no means stop there. You
want to get to know people you don’t already know. Start looking at LinkedIn
Groups and connect to people in your industry or your location. You can
also use the Advanced Search option to target a specific market and find
people, companies and industries of interest by keyword. You can also
search for specific companies and job titles should you aim to market your
products or services to a very specific audience.
Grab our free Social Media checklist and free training here
Grab our free Social Media checklist and free training here
Get your name out
there by answering simple questions to generate brand awareness and get insight
into the mind of your potential customers.
Posting regular
quality articles on online channels is a fairly good way to establish your
authority and get a following. But the importance of interaction is paramount.
Entering a dialogue with members of your groups or your network is extremely
important. Seek our questions relevant to your business and get involved with
meaningful and useful answers. People’s interest will be piqued.
As best practice,
avoid just talking offering your opinion and instead blend personal experience
with examples from reputable sources. Try to leave your answers open-ended to
keep the conversation going and perhaps make a few more connections along the
way.
3. Get Endorsements
on LinkedIn
A recent study from
Dimen-sional Research shows that positive endorsements from sites like Yelp,
Angie’s List & Amazon influence a buying decision almost 90% of the time.
Endorsements make
it easy for LinkedIn connections to vouch for each other. It’s quick and
a lot easier than writing a full recommendation.
These endorsements
are like reviews for your small business. You can use them to build up
your business reputation and they can lead to recommendations which we’ll cover
below.
4. Get Recommended
and Build Authority
The age old saying
that you should “let someone else say it” rather than saying it yourself proves
to be true in online marketing.
People are more
persuaded by word of mouth, by the seemingly objective endorsement of other
people.
This shows your
audience that your service or product is worthy of other people’s
recommendations. Recommendations are like referrals, and referrals are gold in
business. Best of all, LinkedIn recommendations appear straight on your page so
the more you have, the greater your authority.
5. Use Sponsored
Updates
If you are afraid of
coming across as aggressive or “spammy” then using LinkedIn’s Sponsored Updates
to reach targeted users can help and generate greater lead generation than many
other social media paid strategies or services. Recently, HubSpot worked with
LinkedIn and reported a 400% lead increase with their targeted audience.
6. Reach Out and
Make the Personal Connection
The biggest
mistake people make using LinkedIn and other social pages is to lie back and
wait for the traffic to come to them.
As a professional
platform and quite the opposite of informal Facebook, the etiquette is to
refrain from adding contacts without explanation. It is however extremely
beneficial to be proactive and send a short, personal message to accompany your
invites to connect. This enables you to get a little bit of your personality
across or even mention things you may have in common. You can establish that
emotional connection that so many B2B relationships are missing. Always
remember that B2B is still human to human.
The best practice
with these messages is to identify common areas of interest and mention why you
are reaching out. Writing an honest and meaningful message introducing yourself
can be a powerful thing and an incredibly effective ice breaker. HP
recently used LinkedIn for greater emotional engagement with its social media
audience and reported 300,000 new followers in just two months. They also
measured increased attrition, engagement rate and even a 2.5 increase in
customers who refer the company’s products to friends, family and
acquaintances.
Using the Who’s
Viewed You tool is great for identifying warm leads. If someone was searching
for you, they are unlikely to dismiss a personal message. The Who’s Viewed Your
Profile option was voted the best feature of LinkedIn.
As you can see,
using LinkedIn has a number of benefits but only if you are willing to use its
variety of tools and features consistently…Just creating a profile and
forgetting about it will not do! Make the most of your efforts by spreading out
the time you spend on LinkedIn, try to check in daily or at least a few times a
week. This way you can keep your actions consistent, your name up there and
your brand visible.
Need more reasons to
start using LinkedIn? .
LinkedIn Quick Start
Cheat Sheet
- Set Up Your Profile
- Work experience
- Education
- Areas of specialization
- Your websites
- Interests and hobbies
- Awards
- Location
- Profile photo
- Check for keyword optimization
- Create a vanity url with your name
- Build Your Network
- Send invitations via email addresses
- Search for people you want to connect
with
- Ask for introductions via your
connections
- Join LinkedIn Groups that are relevant
and send updates to your email
- Invite people who are in your groups to
connect
- Search for LIONs who you want to connect
with
- Add your LinkedIn profile link to your
blog, websites, email signatures, etc.
- Save your most relevant searches
- Sign up for a premium membership to use
InMail
- Get Recommendations
- Identify people who can give you
specific recommendations
- Call or send a personalized request
- Give them guidelines on what to include
in their recommendation
- After completing a project for someone,
ask for a recommendation
- Explore Additional Features
- Build a LinkedIn Company Page
- Create RSS feeds for things like
keyword-related questions
- Start your own LinkedIn Group
- Upgrade your membership for additional
information
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