LinkedIn has over 380 million registered users in over 200 countries, more
than four million companies have LinkedIn Company Pages. Professionals
are signing up at a rate of more than two new members per second.

For a business wanting to grow through networking, referrals, and mentorship,
It’s easy to see why LinkedIn is the place to be. Like other forms of internet
marketing, marketing a business on LinkedIn is inexpensive (setting up a
profile is free) and effective.

If your LinkedIn business presence is currently a personal page with a simple
resume that could be out of date then it’s time to up your LinkedIn marketing
game. You need a good company presence to gain access to the full range of
benefits LinkedIn can offer.

Getting Started with LinkedIn Marketing

To get started on LinkedIn you need to:

  • Learn how LinkedIn works.
  • Create a LinkedIn login (if you’re not already a member).
  • Create a great LinkedIn profile that focuses on how your business can
    help other members of LinkedIn. You should create a profile that
    attracts people to you.
  • Unless you’re a freelancer, consider creating a LinkedIn company page
    for your business. You’ll have the opportunity to do 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.

Passive and Proactive LinkedIn Marketing Methods

There are two main ways to dive into LinkedIn business promotion – using a
passive approach or taking proactive action. The more time and effort you
put into your LinkedIn marketing efforts, the bigger the rewards.

Passive LinkedIn Marketing Proactive LinkedIn Marketing
By simply just having a LinkedIn profile, building
your connections, and keeping your account
updated, can get the attention of potential clients.		 Like most business tactics, the more actively
involved you are, the more effective and quicker
the results. This can benefit you more in some cases.

Searching – LinkedIn’s search features allow
others who are looking for what you offer to
find you. When someone is searching for a
product that you sell, your company will come
up with a recommendation for the product. For
example, if you are looking for a computer Computer Troubleshooters, Computer Task Group,  Computer Forensics Lab etc.

Exclusiveness – Your LinkedIn business
connections can give you an in with people
and businesses you might not otherwise
be able to reach. LinkedIn is all about
connecting to people who are in your field,
place of work, or like minded individuals.
You have the opportunity to link with
people who you might not have connected
with beforehand.

Endorsements – Displays your
recommendations from others on LinkedIn.
Recommendations are  word-of-mouth
testimonials to you and your business.
They provide credibility that encourages
people to do business with you.

 Post regular status updates – It’s good to talk
about what you’re working on and who you’re
working for. Including updates that will interest
your target customers and clients. Posting interesting
content will help you gain reliability and connections.Groups – Joining groups related to your business
and your interests will help your interactivity on
LinkedIn. Discussion and participation can help
establish you as an expert in your field.Send messages and invitations – Don’t spam
or be a pest. Your goal is to create professional
connections that are mutually beneficial to you
and the other person. Make sure you are asking
the right people to connect to LinkedLinkedIn Advertising – Paid to advertise on
LinkedIn is still a relative bargain and can get
your business in front of your market quickly.

Upgrading membership – LinkedIn offers
Career, Business, Sales, and Hiring upgrade
options. Often, LinkedIn offers a free trial so
you can test out the additional features from a
paid membership before committing to it.

9 ways to use LinkedIn for Business

  1. LinkedIn Company Page

In addition to maintaining a personal page, you need a LinkedIn company
page to increase your brand to distributors, association members and
customers etc. A LinkedIn company page lets you highlight your services,
leadership and your employees can help to build your external credibility
and community. A LinkedIn company page is free to use if you have a
personal profile.

  1. A PPC or SEO Campaign

If your business marketing strategy does not include a search engine
optimisation component, then it should. This ensures you are available to
be seen when your customers are Googling you. There are over 1 billion
annual searches on LinkedIn and 87% of them start with a search engine.
By running your LinkedIn company page and personal profile as a
pay-per-click (PPC) campaign, you can increase your company’s and
content ‘findability.’ You should include keywords in your headline,
summary, anchored text, job descriptions and endorsements to be found
on Google and LinkedIn searches.

  1. LinkedIn Group with Local Ties

LinkedIn reports the average user joins 7 LinkedIn Groups, so your
customers, influencers and competitors are using this LinkedIn community.
Over 70% of customers use groups to research, network and assess buying
decisions. If you join all 50 of your potential LinkedIn groups and make
sure they are as accessible as possible by other group members. You
should regularly participate, in a non-promotional way, in 3-5 groups to
network with other business owners, distributors and press.

  1. Blog on LinkedIn

Technorati reports that 31% of customers are influenced by blog posts.
Every business should post articles on their blog, website and on LinkedIn
to reach and connect with their audience. It can even be the same content
on each platform because you will be connecting with different audiences

on each site. Blogging is a new content networking tool and can help you
build your credibility and increase your business’ message’s reach when
others share it to their network.

  1. Connect your employees with your business

Dell reports that only 8% of their owned channel followers overlap with
their employees’ followers. Train and leverage your business employees as
brand ambassadors to build your business brand; telling your company
story and accessing their developing network.

  1. Secure LinkedIn endorsements and recommendations

Dimensional Research reports that positive endorsements, like those on
Yelp and Amazon, influence a purchase decision 88% of the time.
LinkedIn endorsements are the reviews for your business and you
and your employees can use these personal endorsements to build your
business’ reputation. With over 1 billion annual recommendations, you
and your business needs to be a part of this ‘word of mouth’ marketing
strategy, since these recommendations are like referrals, you need to get
as many as possible to make a difference with customers.

  1. Showcase Your Work In Video, Slides, Interview, etc.

Only 22% of B2C companies have secured a lead through LinkedIn, while
53% of B2B businesses have. The real impact LinkedIn has is its ability to
share work examples, leadership, research and a POV to help influence the
purchase or relationship. For example, an easy and ‘built-in’ way to share
this type of content is to research and connect with distributors is using
SlideShare.

  1. Daily Status Updates.

LinkedIn is not the place to be posting coupons for your business. The social
contract to which you should subscribe is to use LinkedIn to develop your
positioning. Send at least 6 daily messages spread across 6 AM to 12 AM to
increase your company’s exposure to your followers and your 2nd’ and
3rd-level connections (i.e., the followers of your followers and their
followers).

  1. Shine up your LinkedIn

49.5% of LinkedIn profiles are not completed, which means they will not
show up in a LinkedIn search. Just like selling a home, you cannot sell your
business’ credibility and products and services unless you work on its social
l media appeal. Audit and tune-up your profile to see immediate and
measurable results.

Adding LinkedIn to your marketing strategy can help you create a
professional image for you and your business. However, if you are still not sure
about LinkedIn for your business, it’s worth a look around to check out how
others in your field are maximising what LinkedIn has to offer. As a
networking resource, LinkedIn can give you connections that can lead to
publicity, more work, and other great business growing advantages.