linkedin

LinkedIn is a powerful marketing tool that many people forget about.
It’s got even MORE power for entrepreneurs. Here is some advice for harnessing the power of LinkedIn to help you market your business ideas.

1. Get Started.
If you don’t have a linkedin profile, set it up – and get your resume online.
Start connecting with your contacts.
Start endorsing your contacts.
Upload a professional looking profile picture – NOT a company logo – as there is a DIFFERENT place for those.

This will help you gain some connections, so that the rest of your marketing efforts will get noticed.

2. Discussion Groups
There are groups centered around your areas of expertise. Join them, and interact with other people on them. When you post a new blog post on your website – SHARE IT in the relevant group. When you TITLE the group post, ask a QUESTION to get people to engage!

3.  Leverage your employees.
You may or may not have employees or team members yet – but if you do – send them an email and ask them to share your blog post on their LinkedIn profile. It helps THEM prove their connection to your company, and helps YOU get your name  in front of THEIR connections!

Many employees might feel uncomfortable sharing your posts on their private twitter or facebook accounts (they also might not. It doesn’t hurt to ask – just let it be their choice – and don’t penalize them either way.) The advantage with linkedin – is that the professional nature of the site makes them a little more prone to share…. Unless they HATE their job  – in which case… you might not want them working for you ANYWAY… but that’s another blog post for another day.

4. Pages – not profiles.
You need to have your own PERSONAL LinkedIn profile – and then after that – you can create a COMPANY page. This will help you get your business content out there, and highlight customer recommendations and highlight your products and services.

Company pages also has a reasonable tracking system, so you can see what kind of engagement those posts are getting.

5. Connect.
I know we covered connecting with your contacts in the Get started section… but it’s a good idea to frequently run through your contact list, to see if you have anyone you can connect with! Keep it fresh, and don’t be afraid to send messages!

6. Status

You know how you update your facebook status? You can do the same on linkedin! Take some time to PLAN OUT and schedule a list of status updates to post to linkedin.

If you use HOOTSUITE – you can plan your posts out and schedule them in advance.

Just another way to keep getting your BRAND NAME and your OWN name in front of people that you want to do business with.