Unlocking the Potential of LinkedIn

LinkedIn is much more than a list of names and contact information of your business associates. The potential of LinkedIn and how it can benefit your business is astronomical.

Numerous businesses use LinkedIn when they want to gather information on an individual with whom they intend to forge a business relationship of any kind. LinkedIn commonly appears as one of the top results when searching for an individual on Google.

With that in mind, it is essential that you have your LinkedIn profile up to date and complete. There are several ways in which to get noticed through LinkedIn.

• Customize your URL: If you customize your URL, people who are trying to find you will be able to go directly to your LinkedIn profile instead of landing on the general LinkedIn site.
• What’s in it for you (WIIFM): Instead of merely putting your job title below your name, you can put a descriptive statement about what you can do for someone who is clicking on your profile.
• Use the links function: You have three different spots where you can add links to your profile. You should use the first slot for your website URL, the second slot for your Twitter account and the third slot for your Facebook account.

If you don’t have Twitter and Facebook accounts, you can use the other two slots for two different pages on your website. It is, of course, recommended that you create Twitter and Facebook accounts and start to use them right away.

·         Encourage people to click through: In the same spot that you put your links, click on “other.” You can then type in a phrase like “Let’s connect on Facebook” or “Read more about me,” which will encourage people to click on your links more often.

·         Syndicating your content: On your LinkedIn page, you have an option to syndicate your content. If you have a blog, you definitely should make use of it. This is a wonderful way to continually supply your audience with fresh content with minimal effort on your part beyond the initial set up.

·         Linking to Twitter: If you have a Twitter account, you should add your tweets to your LinkedIn account. You can automate this or you can arrange it to include only your tweets with the #in hashtag.

·         Request recommendations: If you have several recommendations (testimonials) on LinkedIn, you will impress your business associates in a very positive way. You should never feel uncomfortable about asking for recommendations. You can offer to return the favor by writing a recommendation for those of whom you have made the request.

·         Make sure that your LinkedIn profile looks professional: You should model your profile after your resume when it comes to the appearance of professionalism. Numerous people will be searching for you online and you want your profile to appear professional at all times. You never know who might be searching for you. Remember to review everything on your profile several times for spelling errors and grammar and punctuation errors and inconsistencies.

·         Join as many groups as you can: You can join up to 50 groups on LinkedIn. You should search for groups in your niche and industry. There are plenty from which to choose. Once you have joined the various groups in which you have an interest, you should start to have discussions and ask questions of the other members in your group. If you are in a niche or have an interest in a group that doesn’t exist yet, you can start a group yourself and invite others to join.

·         Personalize your messages: Personalizing your messages is not necessary but it is highly recommended. Personalized messages make you appear very interesting and people will want to connect with you more readily.

·         Have patience: Building your professional relationships on LinkedIn takes time, a great deal of effort, and a lot of patience. Nothing worthwhile is easy. Try to devote 20 minutes to half an hour to LinkedIn, if possible. Use that time to expand your contact list.

Ultimately, we, as business people, are all after the same thing: more business. In order to get referrals, we need to build relationships with potential clients and referral sources. The tips that have been discussed here essentially make up your LinkedIn strategy. You will use this strategy to build a stronger online presence and reputation with others so that they want to connect with you.

If leveraged properly, LinkedIn provides wonderful opportunities for business people with very little time to become educated enough about others to be able to make the decision to form a business relationship with them.

If you use the tips that have been discussed here, you will see that LinkedIn is one of your most effective social media channels. It is an amazing tool that will help you to connect with your business associates and keep you connected, with a minimum amount of effort on your part. Strengthening your business is all about building trust, credibility and relationships that last for a very long time and LinkedIn is one of the best ways to accomplish that.

We are pleased to provide you with the insightful comments contained herein. Please contact us at CompuKol Communications for further discussion on how we might be able to assist you and your team.