LinkedIn provides a social media connection platform for businesses as well as professionals similar to what Facebook and Google has been able to do for consumer orientated socializers. So if you’re looking to connect or find the scoop on any business professional, you should be able to find them on LinkedIn’s site.
Without a doubt, business owners of all shapes and sizes are able to gain a great deal of traction and notability by simply having a LinkedIn profile as part of their social networking strategy.
There are as you know numerous other methods of utilizing social media, and some with perhaps better rewards, but there are now over 120 Million business orientated professionals on LinkedIn and they want you on board.
So listed are some excellent ideas on how professionals as well as business owners in any field, practice or industry can maximize the usage of the LinkedIn platform.
Make Sure That You Provide Your Entire Story
When creating a business page on LinkedIn, most will not bother to include information about their previous business or employment history, or their previous educational track.
So leaving those areas blank appears like you just decided tho start your current business one day, on a whim, without any previous work or educational experience whatsoever.
Regardless of whatever business or profession you’re in, you’re a legitimate business owner because of your past experience, so you’ll want to have as much relevant experience of any kind listed for reference.
Your educational background should be listed in complete detail as well. This will only boost your credibility and credentials while helping you develop new connections with potentially new business or professional partners and vendors.
The more detailed personal professional information that you can provide helps you to connect with other like minded individuals. They as well as you are wanting to do business with something which you have a lot in common with. So including as much detail as possible is recommended.
Listing all of your skills are important as well. This particularly if you’re wanting to help new and existing clients and customers find you on LinkedIn via search.
So it’s well worth it to list your talents even if they’re not directly useful or relevant to your current business. Listing those skills will help in legitimizing you.
LinkedIn now also has a brand new feature which allows you to list your volunteer activities as well, which creates another way for you as a professional to differentiate and highlight yourself.
If you’re part of a cause which someone else similar comes across on your profile, and they are involved in as well, chances are good that they would want to connect with you or your business over others.
Make Sure Your LinkedIn URL Is Extended
Once you build your business or professional profile on LinkedIn, that will automatically generate and assign you with an URL which leads directly to your new profile. One excellent tool that many aren’t aware of allows you to customize that LinkedIn URL to make it a lot more user and search friendly.
It’s a straight forward “step-by-step” process which you can follow to creating your custom URL. Just go to the right side of your LinkedIn profile page where you’re able to create your new address such as “http://www.linkedin.com/in/enteryourbusinessnamehere.” This would obviously make you a lot more easier to find.
Immerse Yourself In The LinkedIn Conversations
The majority who are on LinkedIn just view it as a static page where you just post your professional profile. But it goes far beyond that and it may also be worthwhile for you to get involved in the various discussions as well as groups on LinkedIn.
The site features active discussions on virtually any topic which you may be interested in. It doesn’t always have to be about business 24/7, as any topic is available.
Involving yourself this way can potentially pay off in ways which you may not expect. If you’re able to provide or get good advice on any subject, totally unrelated, that may just be the trigger to connect with someone.
So if you or someone else is willing and dedicated enough to offer advice or information into the group discussion, that may spark some interest in what you do professionally.
A recommended strategy is to join around 15 to 25 different groups which are relevant to your profession or business, or just because of personal interest. And then just track their progress when you have time.
This shouldn’t be that time consuming since the “key” conversations won’t occur on a daily basis. You can also link your Twitter account to your profile of your LinkedIn page so that any tweets that you make will automatically be posted.
What you want to do is be part of the conversation which is relevant to your business or industry. You’ll want to contribute as much as possible while having a solid authoritative voice. Then you should be able to create as well as be known as a knowledgeable expert in your chosen field while getting on everyone’s radar.
Tracking Your Profession, Business Or Industry
You’re also able to sign up and join to receive industry or business specific updates on LinkedIn. Say that you’re in the Internet Marketing or Social Media Marketing sector, you can sign up for all of the updates surrounding those topics.
You’re able to see as well as follow specific companies or individuals which you’d like to directly work with. You can track and read their press releases or track what their employees or products are doing.
Make It As Friendly And Personal As Possible
Just because this is an online process and not in person in an office setting, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t behave the same way that you do in the real world.
So what this refers to is that you should be as professional and courteous as possible. Always use spell check, check your grammar and cut down on those “smilies” when sending any personal notes. You should be focusing on quality of contacts on LinkedIn and not quantity.
So your goal should be to collect as many relevant business and professional contacts and connections on LinkedIn as possible. That could be anywhere between 50 to a 100 solid contacts. You’ll then soon begin to realize that you’re firmly connected to a group of outstanding influential people within your industry. That’s when you’ll eventually want to extend your services by using those new connections.
Create A Professional Community
Other prominent social networks such as Google+ Plus or Facebook are quickly moving towards business and professional orientated profiles by they catering to all of their business users by introducing features such as online storefronts. Savvy business owners are also beginning to consider all of these options seriously as well.
What LinkedIn does however is they focus themselves strictly on business and professional networking services. So if you’re looking to expand in that category, then that’s where you should be directing your social networking efforts.
LinkedIn is able to help you in keeping in contact with your industry or profession as well as forging new personal connections with clients, customers, vendors and partners.
Using the “recommendations” feature, you’re able to spread your good word, complete with testimonials from clients or customers without the need to advertise.