If you’re a business owner or manager of a small firm, you need to be on LinkedIn. Why? Because 1 in 3 business people across the world are on the site, according to LinkedIn’s figures.
In fact, it’s adding 2 new users every second.
But it’s not just a matter of signing up. Once you’ve got your company profile sorted there are so many reasons to keep it updated.
Better for B2B
While Facebook and Twitter are good for sharing casual announcements, engaging with customers and being a bit more laidback, LinkedIn is all about the business.
So much so that 94% of all LinkedIn users share B2B content through their pages.
Why are they so active? Because it gets results. On LinkedIn you’re more than 3 times as likely to convert a lead into a sale than through Facebook or Twitter.
Great exposure
LinkedIn company pages are used by Google in its search rankings so making sure they are SEO-friendly is important.
When someone Google’s your company, your LinkedIn page will appear in the results along with a 150-word preview. Make sure you’ve got this description perfect, full of keywords and vital information.
Use everything you’re given on LinkedIn to your benefit from company title, profile page and link descriptions. These can all be edited and optimised to include keywords to push you up the search rankings on both Google and LinkedIn.
Hiring the right person
One of the key reasons people go to LinkedIn is for jobs. Whether they are hiring, browsing or just advertising themselves in case something comes up.
In fact, 9 in 10 recruiters now use LinkedIn to find the right person for the job.
While there are costs associated with placing a job advert, there are other ways to find people. A LinkedIn profile is essentially a CV, so a search using job title and location could find people working in your area that might not know they want to change jobs.
Ideas and insight
LinkedIn recently launched its own blog portal called The Pulse. This is a great resource for finding out what is happening in your industry, who the key voices are and any alternative views and insights on big stories.
You can search by industry and LinkedIn will even provide you with a tailored feed based on your searches.
A good tip is to find regular contributors and ‘Influencers’ who get a lot of responses and start a conversation with them.
It can also be used as a way for you to get your opinion across, show others in the industry that you’re an expert and become a respected voice in your sector.
Cheaper than a website
The great thing is a lot of LinkedIn’s features are free. Apart from advertising costs for job adverts, you can upload videos, share content, write blogs and even create product showcase pages for free.
If you want to go further, you can sign up to the premium services, but even they can be cheaper than the cost of designing and running a website.
Posted by The Secret Businessman