When business owners think about using social media to promote marketing content and build professional connections, LinkedIn tends to be overlooked. For whatever reason, most pros will first consider Facebook, Twitter, or even Instagram to launch their marketing campaigns and try out new tactics. However, leveraging some of LinkedIn’s unique features can help entrepreneurs grow their businesses in a significant way. To that end, today we’ll explain how you can use LinkedIn for business development:
Maintenance & Strategy
The first step toward success on LinkedIn is a simple one: clean up and update your profile! Though around half a billion people use LinkedIn, nearly 50% of those profiles are “incomplete.” What’s more, those who do complete their profile are 40 times more likely to garner relevant business opportunities. Remember also to edit your business/professional profile as well as your personal page. Lastly, think about what your goals are with your new LinkedIn strategy. Write them down and keep them handy as you progress through these steps.
Join (or Start) a Group
One of the great things about LinkedIn (vs other social-media sites) is the ability to surround yourself (digitally) with those who run in similar circles. With that in mind, we recommend finding a few pertinent groups and joining them. This will help you get a lay of the land (so to speak) and will also provide opportunities to contribute to conversations relevant to your business or industry without seeming intrusive or pushy. Of course, if you’re having trouble finding a group once you get started, you can always create one as well!
Follow Up
There are few things as gratifying in business as successfully establishing a connection with another professional through in-person networking. When you meet someone at a conference, though, make sure to follow up with them online. LinkedIn is a tremendous way to keep in touch with a contact over a long period of time without hounding them. Engage them with a message or two and always be quick to respond to their notifications. You don’t want to appear asleep at the wheel on LinkedIn!
Create & Share Content
All content marketers should (ideally) tailor their work to a specific audience. The problem, then, with promoting blog posts or web pages is that it can be difficult to identify who exactly your audience is. What’s nice about LinkedIn, by comparison, is that you can easily access who is seeing your content and monitor its effectiveness. (Simply using Google Analytics can help you determine referrals coming from other sites, which includes but is not limited to, LinkedIn.) With that in mind, your team can craft in-depth content for highly qualified leads on LinkedIn. Answer tough questions in your articles, post regularly, and make sure to keep both your personal and business profile active and vibrant. Small businesses rely on gaining clients through personal connections, and ignoring your own page will weaken your company’s brand as a whole.
Final Thoughts
LinkedIn can be an amazing tool your business can use to generate leads and gain new customers. You just have to know how to use it first. At Agile & Co., we’re adept at handling all forms of social media marketing, and we’ll help you set up your profiles, maintain them, and flourish as a result. Contact us here to get started today. Also, for more information on how you can use inbound marketing to generate leads online, check out our free eBook here
