Social media has predominantly been a tool used for personal and entertainment purposes, with business and marketing efforts being shoe-horned to fit the model. However, one of the few instances of a social media platform targeting the business world is LinkedIn—and it does its job splendidly. From connecting like-minded businesses and entrepreneurs, to helping you land new clients, jobs and sales, LinkedIn has allowed the business world to truly capitalise on social media.
If you are not fully clued up on how to make the most out of this incredibly versatile and useful platform for your business, then this post is just for you. We will look at some of the best ways to make LinkedIn work for your online business, and hopefully show you how important a tool it can be.
Like all other social media platforms, LinkedIn lets you create a profile for yourself, or in some instances, your business. Your profile is what people will search for to find you on search engines as well as LinkedIn, so it is important to create a complete profile with useful information about your brand or message.
The pool of business contacts that you can find on LinkedIn is remarkable. Entrepreneurs and businesses from every corner of the corporate world have made their way onto this social medium. So your first step is making connections with all of the businesses, individuals and groups that are relevant to your business. From there, expand into groups and people that you feel could benefit from knowing your company.
This was discussed previously, but making use of LinkedIn’s groups is an important part of making connections. It is important to not only join the groups within your niche, but you should also contribute to them and be visible. Become an authority figure within these groups, and if you want to expand even further you can create your own groups. All of this helps towards growing your trust and brand visibility on LinkedIn.
There is a plethora of ways to make LinkedIn work well for your business, but to truly stand out you need to bring something unique to the table. Putting the time in and making the right connections on LinkedIn helps build your brand, but ultimately your online persona is what will make or break your success. So be creative, captivate and draw in your new audience.