Did you know that 64% of all visits from social media to corporate websites happen on LinkedIn AND 62% of companies using LinkedIn for marketing have acquired a customer from it?
LinkedIn is a great tool for job searching, but it’s also one of the most valuable tools available today for growing your business with social media! Even spending as little as 10-15 minutes every day on the site is enough to help grow your business. So how do you use LinkedIn for business? By making your company a great source of information for your target market and others in your industry, you will become an industry leader, gaining more connections and more opportunities for business!
Use these seven tricks for building your business on LinkedIn to become a BOSS on the social site!
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Optimize Your Profile
With over 300 MILLION LinkedIn users, it's important to make your business stand out. To do this, be sure your profile is optimized for search. Keep these tips in mind to improve your LinkedIn profile:
- Upload a professional photo.
- Clearly state your current position.
- Include keywords related to your business everywhere you can.
- Fill out most (or better yet, ALL) of the sections in your profle to make it as complete as possible.
- Ask your customers to write recommendations for your profile.
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Make QUALITY Connections
Don’t just login to LinkedIn and invite anyone and everyone to connect with you. Be smart about whom you choose to connect with! Check out their profiles and make sure they’ve got:
- A professional photo
- At least 150 connections
- A solid career-history summary
If a person on LinkedIn does not have these three things, they probably aren’t active on LinkedIn, and it’s not worth your time to connect with them.
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Use Advanced Search
If you want to generate sales for you business, you need know how to find your customers. This is where LinkedIn’s advanced search feature comes in. This tool filters search results by industry, company size, demographic, position, and more! The advanced search is a much more time efficient way to find your customers than manually typing a prospect’s name or looking through countless matches.
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Connect, then REACH OUT!
Don’t wait for a new connection to send you a message after they accept your invitation to connect. If you’ve actively sent an invitation to someone who you think could be a potential customer, then YOU need to be the one to take the initiative and make the next move. After someone accepts your invitation, send a message and ask if they would be interested in having a conversation about the product or service you offer that could help them.
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Be Helpful
You should be using LinkedIn to make meaningful connections that are going to help your career AND allow you to offer help to others! You won’t be successful on LinkedIn if you continually post solely about your product or service. You must share quality content with your network and groups that they will appreciate. You will become seen as an industry leader on LinkedIn, and you may become the go-to person for someone looking for help in your industry!
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Be Personal
If you REALLY want to make a good impression on a potential customer, never send them a generic message to connect. Consider that the person you’re reaching out to may not even care who you are or why you’ve sent them an invitation. If you write a personal message, however, letting the recipient know that you have an interest in their business and are not just selling to everyone, they’re more likely to visit your profile and see what your business is all about.
LinkedIn will truly allow you to build trust and rapport with leads and never have to cold call again! If you use the social site to actively engage with the people in your target market, offering them helpful insight, you will stand out in their minds when it comes time for them to make a purchasing decision!
For more information on LinkedIn, be sure to check out our free eBook, and contact us if you want to learn more about using social media to grow your business!
