Most of us think of LinkedIn as an innocuous networking tool, on which we list our contacts and network with others who use it. Did you know that you can leverage LinkedIn as a powerful marketing tool? This new world was recently opened up to me at a seminar by Chris Muccio, who gave some great tips on using this social networking tool that I’ll share with you here.
LinkedIn, which you can view at LinkedIn.com, has 43 million users in 170 industries. It is projected to grow to 70 million users within the next couple of years. These users are usually savvy business people and networkers, and many are senior level executives. LinkedIn is a great tool for reaching these decision-makers without needing to pester them on the telephone. Use of LinkedIn also shows that you are a tech-savvy professional, something that you want to underscore if you are selling a technical or a marketing service. Every Fortune 500 company is represented on LinkedIn in some capacity, most listing the primary decision-makers that you want to reach. Now, instead of scrolling through a website or calling a company to get a name, you can just use LinkedIn. It lists titles, areas of responsibilities, even personal interests.
LinkedIn can seem deceptively open to a new user. Some people don’t mind if you just add them to your network, but some do. To avoid such gaffes, use the invitation tool to get an introduction to someone that you don’t know. Before beginning the invitation process, make sure that you have a completely filled-out portfolio with at least one or two recommendations.
A recommendation is like a testimonial for a product, only it is a testimonial for your professional services. If someone receives an invitation to connect with you and you don’t have any recommendations, they are much less likely to allow you into their network. It is also important to insert a link to your website. LinkedIn is a very controlled environment and your potential clients can only find out so much about you through it. Think of LinkedIn as the handshake, and your website as the closer.
Along the same lines, don’t include a personal blog or anything else that may make you look less than professional. Friendly, yes. Chugging beers at a frat party or off-color jokes, no. Remember that even comments written on your blog may reflect on you to a less-than tech savvy person who may not know the difference between your site and the comments being posted.
When doing anything on LinkedIn, remember to speak to your demographic. They are generally middle-aged adults, both men and women, 54% of whom make over $100,000 a year. This is why invitations and introductions matter on LinkedIn; this is how someone in this demographic is used to doing business in the real world, and they would prefer their online world to be just as organized.
If you are serious about using LinkedIn as a marketing tool, you should also research the keywords that you would expect people would use for your industry and enter them for your profile. Just like your website, people do search on LinkedIn and you need to optimize for that. You can contact 1 Stop Marketing Solutions for help in this area if you aren’t too sure what that means. You’ll also want to go for the paid subscription rather than the free listing because of the limitations that the free listing has. Anything worth doing is worth paying for, especially with the potential “big fish” clients that you will find on LinkedIn.
