By Rebecca Ralphy
SEO Marketing & Business Development
In Part I, we explored why it’s important to participate in Linkedin, and how to create a successful and complete profile.
Now, let’s dig deeper about making those Linkedin connections and promoting your business.
Making Connections
First, you need to start connecting with people you know; those you work with, and/or those you’ve done business with. You can easily find these connections by using the Linkedin Search tool.
Once you have started connecting with people, you’ll be able to view their connections, if their privacy settings allow it. This can be very beneficial.
For example, let’s say you’re connected with Susie. You used to work with Susie and you’ve maintained a friendly relationship with her. While viewing Susie’s profile, you see she is connected with George, who you’ve been trying to connect with but he won’t take your sales calls. Since Linkedin allows you to see this connection, you can ask Susie if she’s willing to introduce you to George.
Event Sharing
Although connecting with other professionals is the primary function of Linkedin, there are many other things that you can do, such as sharing events.
This is similar to the Events application in Facebook. Sharing events can be beneficial in a couple ways.
First, it’s opportunity for more people to read and possibly attend your event, so you’re getting some free public relations. Second, if you or one of your employees is participating in a local charity event, you can use Linkedin to promote the event. This not only gives some free PR to the charity, but also to you and your business as well.
Article Sharing
Similar to Facebook and Twitter, Linkedin gives you the ability to share articles.
While sharing articles is a “must” in Linkedin, you’ll first want to make sure the article is relevant to everyone. Avoid posting industry specific articles to all your connections. Instead, focus on issues that are applicable to all business professionals.
Typically, you should try to post something one to two times a day. If you have some really important news, go ahead and post a third time, but only do this on special occasions. Just like your other social media sites, you need to be posting something at least once a day.
Groups
One of the most important things you need to do is join groups.
There are a wide variety of groups on Linkedin, ranging from industry specific groups to groups of professionals living in the same city.
For example, Purple Trout belongs to the group “Linked Cincinnati” and “Digital Marketing” as both are relevant to our company.
Participate in your groups, but posting articles, comments and discussions about topics in your industry. Check out “Promotions.” This section allows you to give a direct sales pitch to the members of the group. It’s ok to do this maybe once or twice a month, but not every day.
Building Credibility
Last, but not least, you’ll want to build your credibility.
One way you can do this is by answering questions people ask in your group discussions. Establishing yourself as an expert is very important.
We’ve covered a lot of information about Linkedin, but don’t let yourself get overwhelmed. You don’t need to spend hours on end on Linkedin (after all, you have to do work at some point, right?). I would recommend spending about as much as you do on your other social media sites if you want to see some real results.