Tips for using LinkedIn for your business
LinkedIn can help connect your business and your brand with over 500 million users. By tapping into existing connections, LinkedIn can help you grow your brand by building awareness and through word of mouth. LinkedIn is also one of the top social networks to help generate leads.
For a business wanting to grow through networking, referrals, and mentorship, it’s easy to see why LinkedIn is the place to be.
What is LinkedIn?
LinkedIn is a networking site designed for professionals to interact with each other. Similar in concept to Facebook with a clear emphasis on professional networking and idea sharing. LinkedIn offers a database of prospects, suppliers, strategic alliances and referrers. LinkedIn when harnessed effectively, can be used as an effective strategic business tool.
Why use LinkedIn?
• Position yourself and your business professionally
• Promote you and your business
• Find prospective referrers, and new employees
• Build strategic alliances
• Research
• Raising personal and business profile
Tips for using LinkedIn for your business:
1. Set up a personal and business profile page
Create a personal profile for yourself and you will have the opportunity to also set up a business page as you complete the resume section of your LinkedIn profile. Your company page will be automatically linked from the resume in your profile. Add a profile image for both personal and company profile pages as you will then be six times more likely to get traffic to your page than companies without a profile photo.
2. Keep it up to date
Be factual and up to date and complete all sections of the profile page using relevant and useful information for potential connections to view.
3. Have your employees connect with your company’s LinkedIn Page
According to LinkedIn, your employees have 10x more first-degree connections than your company does followers. Employees are your biggest advocates, and by making sure they are following you, you are also tapping into their vast network of potential connections.
4. Be patient
It takes time to build up and harness opportunities, take small steps and make weekly progress. Treat your profile like a mini website and schedule regular time to continually work on it.
5. Link to your Company Page
Link to your company page from your website, blog, social media posts, or email newsletters. This step is crucial to boosting your ranking in search and driving traffic to your LinkedIn page.
6. Include good imagery
Use a professional headshot for your personal profile and use a professional banner for your company profile.
7. Publish posts
Post regular status updates. Talk about what you're working on and who you're working for. Include updates that would be of interest to your target customers and clients. Make it visually appealing by adding a suitable image. One of the most effective ways to improve your rankings is to share relevant content regularly. The more frequently you share content, the higher your company page will appear in search results.
8. Join and participate in groups
Joining and following relevant groups and providing responses when questions arise that establish authority in the industry is a good way of increasing your profile and building future connections.
9. Connect with and grow your following
Give prospective connections a reason to connect with you and personalise their messaging. The best way to grow your followers and to keep them interested is to publish content the audience finds interesting and on a regular basis. Your content needs to answer questions, help your audience perform their jobs better, or help address their pain points
10. Monitor activity
Remember to check LinkedIn and interact suitably with anyone connecting. Also regularly monitor your LinkedIn analytics to help you make informed decisions that lead to better results. This will lead to maximizing the effectiveness of this important business social network. You can understand your follower demographics, track traffic and activity on your company page.
Give it a go!
LinkedIn is a powerful platform, for individuals and companies. If you are a small business and do not have a LinkedIn company page, take note of these LinkedIn tips and tricks because now is a great time to get started! LinkedIn will allow your business to build credibility, create a meaningful network, and share industry related expertise from other thought leaders in your industry.
If you need any assistance with marketing strategy and implementation, please contact Leonie at Reality Marketing by email leonie@realitymarketing.com.au or call 0423 361 093.
