Quick Tips for Success

While LinkedIn doesn’t have all the unnecessary games and apps that Facebook has (and that can be quite distracting,) LinkedIn is still so much more than just setting up a profile and joining groups. To make sure you get the most out of using LinkedIn to market your small business, here are some quick tips for success.

1. Take polls! Customers love polls – they love taking them and they love reading them. That’s the benefit to them, and the benefit to you is that you’ll be able to gain great insights for marketing research.
2. Use the Questions and Answers section of LinkedIn. Use the questions area to find out what customers are thinking and how they think you can improve on your product. Give answers that help customers and potential customers and while showing knowledge in the industry. Remember, never use the Answers section to sell a product – you are there strictly to help.
3. Put your LinkedIn URL on every piece of marketing material you distribute, right in front of your Twitter and Facebook URLs. You want people to be able to contact you in any way possible and in such a digital age, LinkedIn is becoming one of the most popular ways to connect.
4. Join groups. This time though, be specific. Join groups of organizations and associations that govern your industry or are related to it. It will show that you’re interested in staying on top of industry news and trends and will help grow your network.
5. Occasionally, update your status with samples of recent work. If your photography studio has a blog, you could post a “Favourite Picture of the Week” every week and then use the widget to import the blog post into LinkedIn. Then, use the actual picture as your status update.
6. Always upload your LinkedIn statuses to your Facebook and Twitter accounts (and any other social networking sites you belong to.) It’s a great way to get the word out to everyone all at once.
7. Don’t just join groups, start one! Start a group under the name of your company, your website, or your LinkedIn brand. Invite people to join and try to make it as active as possible by taking polls, asking questions to generate interest and generally interact with clients. And when speaking on groups that belong to others, always invite them to join yours.
8. Be active in the groups you do join – this can’t be stressed enough; it’s the entire reason you joined the group in the first place. Talk to people as much as possible, answer questions, research for answers and send links (a mix of your website and others.) Be as active as you can, and people will remember you for it.
9. Don’t do a lot of time directly selling or pushing your product. People come to you for help and because they think you have something of value to them – not because they want to look at advertisements all the time. Spend time helping those people, and they’ll be the same ones that are soon your customers.
10. Stuck on what to post as your status? Press releases, recommendations, links to helpful blog posts, quick tips, quotes, and links to YouTube videos are just a few ideas to help get you started! LinkedIn marketing of your brand can be very beneficial to your business.
11. Update your status once a week.

Remember to keep your LinkedIn profile up to date. What you enter the day you join may not be the information you’d enter two years after joining. Every couple of months go back into your profile settings and see if there’s anything you’d like to add or change.