Whether you are promoting your business or yourself, LinkedIn is an excellent tool to make it happen.
Since 2003, this website has gone from simply being a careers website to being the world’s largest professional website with over 350 million users on over 200 countries. LinkedIn is the perfect medium for bringing awareness to your brand, especially if you use the following tips.
Interact and Engage with Other Professionals
One of the best things about LinkedIn is the fact that it is filled with professionals compared to Facebook. Over a million groups have been created in order to get these businessmen and women to connect with other industry professionals in their field.
Take advantage of all of the groups available to you by commenting on posts, starting your own thread, and communicating with others. This is a great way to let your expertise shine and show your fellow LinkedIn users that you know your stuff.
Image via Hootsuite
Publish Content
The latest feature on the social networking website is the option to publish content on your personal page. It allows you to publish content on your personal page, essentially creating blogs on LinkedIn. The posts you do publish should be original, meaning you didn’t just copy and paste it from other content sources you created.
Search engines, especially Google, love original content and by posting new articles and thoughts on this networking website, you are much more likely to boost your search engine rankings and get a larger audience to read it. It may be tempting to create articles that try to promote and sell your products or services, but don’t.
People want to read informative posts with information and tips they can use, they don’t want to read about all of the reasons they should buy your products.
Post Your Resume
Showcase your experience by thoroughly posting your resume on your personal page. Include your education level, as well as your past 2 or 3 employment positions to show your connections how long you have been in the industry for.
Don’t skimp out on the details when it comes to listing what your responsibilities were for each position. By posting your resume, you could easily show why you are an expert in your industry or other opportunities could end up getting sent your way.
Also, if you want to get even more people looking at your profile, makes sure to have a picture. In fact, your profile is 11 times more likely to get viewed if you have a picture.
Generate Leads Through Groups
LinkedIn allows you to join up to 50 groups in your niche or industry. By joining the right groups for your field, you will be surrounded by other likeminded professionals who would also be interested in what you have to say. It’s very much like going to networking events to meet and greet others in your industry.
Just joining the group isn’t going to be enough to get leads, so now it’s time to start connecting with other members. Once you join a group, go to its member’s page and you will have the option to use a filtered search to specifically find others who would qualify as leads. You can filter them out by using criteria such as their job title, location, or company name.
Look for Referrals
Do you know of someone who would find the services and products valuable of one of your connections? Send them each a message letting them know that you would like to introduce them or think they should talk.
You are probably wondering why this will help you out, so hear me out. If you can refer prospects to some of your connections, they will most likely return the favor and do the same for you. However, instead of just waiting for someone to refer clients your way, don’t be afraid to blatantly ask if they know of anyone who may be interested in your products or services.
LinkedIn is a great way for other business professionals to help one another out, so if you can refer a client, friend, or colleague to another industry expert, you can bet they will return the favor.
Post Presentations or Visuals</h3>
Using infographics or presentations, such as Slideshare, are a nice change from traditional articles and are more likely to get liked and shared. Create a well-designed Power Point presentation or infographic in order to inform your audience in a fun, entertaining way, while also leveraging yourself as an industry expert.
Create an Event
Send out an invitation to professionals in your network in order to get everyone together and get to know them much better, building a stronger relationship with them. Even if your connections aren’t in the same location, you can create an online event using meeting websites like GoToMeeting or can invite these people to meet up on one of your other social media sites, including Hangouts on Google+. Promote these events in your groups, on your company page, and on your personal page to get the word out.
Create a Company Page
If you haven’t done so already, create a company page with updates on your business, article links, and any other information you would want to let your audience know. Make sure you don’t neglect your page, though, because by not constantly posting on it, there’s a good chance your audience will forget all about it.
Set up Your Blog Feed
Increase the number of visitors to your blog by syndicating it through your LinkedIn page. This is especially helpful if you have a new blog and want to get exposure.
Be a Constant Presence on LinkedIn
The average person spends 17 minutes a month on LinkedIn, but you may want to invest a little more time in your to really boost your brand. Set aside time each day to interact and engage in groups, as well as post updates and content on your personal and business pages.
What ideas have helped you build your brand on LinkedIn?