How to use LinkedIn to boost your business

Beyond merely creating a presence for a business profile, there’s great value to putting more emphasis on your business’ activity on the professional network.

Be honest, when last did you check your own LinkedIn account? Is it even up to date? If you thought LinkedIn was used to upload your CV or look for talent for your company, let’s catch you up! It may have been used to create a digital CV back when LinkedIn started in 2003, but the network has evolved to become a formidable connector, industry trends disseminator and lead generator for businesses. Here’s what to do to make LinkedIn the ultimate tool for your business.

Provide all your business profile information. As a starting point, it helps to ensure all your business’ information has been filled in on your Company Page. LinkedIn will give you the state of completion of your profile as a percentage at the top and tell you what’s missing as you go along. Demonstrate what your company does with a powerfully worded bio and don’t leave the profile and cover images blank, otherwise your business won’t look legitimate. Be sure to add any presentations, videos or published work that showcases what your business does and use the keywords related to what you do in the profile in order for your page to appear in search listings.

Maximise your connections to establish ‘warm leads’. Import your email address book and select people you’d like to send connection requests to your business page. On the same page you’ll also see “people you may know” column, add people within a similar field to your business. Check out the “similar people” column on the right which shows you the people in a similar field or industry. Connect with them with a professionally worded message that succinctly explains your business. Connecting with people in a similar field increases your chances of sparking a business relationship with a ‘warm’ lead instead of a cold call.

Encourage endorsements and recommendations. Recommendations and endorsements are like public testimonials of your business’ work. The best to get these is to give them out yourself. Endorse other people and businesses you respect and leave detailed recommendations about your experience with them. Soon clients and business partners will start to return the favour.

Share thought leadership content. Position your business as an authority in what you do by producing quality, fact-based content on your business page. It’s much more likely to be seen by the right people as opposed to posting business content on Facebook. According to LinkedIn, a status update on their platform typically reaches 20 percent of your audience. On Facebook, whose algorithm favours content from individuals rather than businesses, that figure is roughly six percent. You can choose to either share relevant content consistently, but it’s much more impactful to be producing that content yourself. A content marketing agency is a great partner to help achieve this by producing SEO optimised content for you.

Use LinkedIn apps. If you’d really like to take it up a notch, there are many app extensions and plug-ins you can use to give you a one-up when searching for leads. LinkedIn Sales Navigator is a Chrome browser extension that connects with your Gmail. Whenever someone emails you, their LinkedIn profile pops up on the side of the screen for quick access to their professional information. elink Pro is another Chrome plug-in that visits up to 800 profiles of your target buyers. Your profile will pop up in their “Who’s viewed your profile” section, enabling them to add you or message to find out more about your services.

If you need quality thought-leadership content, get in touch with us.