LinkedIn Marketing

People using LinkedIn use it as an all-in-one professional networking tool. Think of it as a business card holder, networking event, and water cooler all mixed into one easy to use social media platform. Users build out their profiles to display their professional resumes and backgrounds. They are able to connect with co-workers, people they have worked with, people they went school with, their company, and more. These users can leave each other recommendations, endorse each other for skills, and even introduce people to new connections.

LinkedIn can also be a go-to when people are on the hunt for a new job. They can view companies in specific industries and see which ones have job openings. It's a great tool to use to get their foot in the door, by having one of their connections make an introduction, or recommend them for a specific position. Likewise, it serves as a great tool for companies and recruiters to find qualified candidates for open jobs. People on LinkedIn, if doing it correctly, have built a professional showcase with past work experience, recommendations, and more to show that they are qualified--a great first step in finding great employees.

LinkedIn is not just a great place to do employee recruiting, it offers a wide variety of social benefits for your business. LinkedIn is a great channel for generating business leads, with nearly three times the conversion rate of Twitter or Facebook. Your success may vary, but this definitely points out that LinkedIn offers amazing opportunities to grow your business. Some techniques to develop your business on LinkedIn include, keeping your brand/company page up to date, use the showcase pages, and request professional recommendations of your products and services.

Establishing yourself as an industry go-to for knowledge will help develop the authority of your brand, as well as gain trust in your customer-base. LinkedIn gives you a great opportunity to keep your customers and peers up to date with relevant content and industry news. It will be important not to over-indulge in self-promotion. Customers will be more likely to spread your brand through positive, and humanized engagement. If you interact with your customers and develop strong relationships with them, they will be more lily to like your brand. LinkedIn makes it very easy to learn a lot about your following base, learn about the individuals that are following your brand. Since you understand their personal interests, LinkedIn makes for a great opportunity to share company updates, news, and relevant information. Use this to drive traffic to your website.

Complete your company page and make sure that it is ALWAYS up to date. If you change the structure of your company or have company news to share, be sure you're updating your company page on LinkedIn. Your updates will be available in your followers' news feeds.

Be sure to respond to your posts, reviews, and questions. If a user leaves a product review, thank them. If they have a complaint, address it. Answer questions and offer advice or assistance--be sure to do so in a timely manner (especially when addressing customer complaints.)

LinkedIn can be an great source of competitive intelligence for your company. Follow your competition and review their updates, news, and employee turnover. Certain exits and job openings can provide insight into their strategic direction.