How can LinkedIn help your business?...

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 If your LinkedIn business presence is currently a personal page with a simple resume that could be out of date then it’s time to up your LinkedIn marketing game.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. 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.

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.

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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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).

9. 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.