When it comes to social media, so many businesses want to discuss Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest, but often don’t consider LinkedIn. It seems people are intimidated by the professional aspects of LinkedIn and thus don’t embrace it.

Adopting LinkedIn as part of your social network provides great opportunities to access new channels and resources. This is because one in every three professionals have LinkedIn profiles – that’s more than 259 million users. A survey of LinkedIn members found it’s the number one social network for driving traffic to corporate websites. This year, 65% of companies reported that they had acquired a B2B customer through LinkedIn. This figure is up from 45% in 2010.

The key to establishing an effective online presence lies in your directors, managers, consultants and executives. Company pages often have little impact or following, yet influential and active individuals can have a really positive impact on your social media strategy. Therefore, by empowering and actively encouraging influential individuals to use LinkedIn in the correct manner, you can further your business relations, awareness and growth. Having a key member of staff with a status on LinkedIn highlights the specialist skills that your business has to offer.

The seven wonders of LinkedIn

1. Access to market – Groups provide a great method of developing relationships and authority with similar professionals, as well as with your marketplace.

2. In-depth profiles – A completed profile is your gateway to showing off your expertise, experience, recommendations and much more.

3. Develop thought leadership – Sharing quality information and providing expert opinion on content will demonstrate your authority on a subject or area.

4. Encourage/gain recommendations and endorsements – A strong profile will get you noticed and help you establish yourself in your industry.

5. Increase brand awareness and services – With employees, company showcase pages and advertising, you can raise awareness of your business through a new channel.

6. Gain leads for your business – Authority, referrals and thought leadership will naturally bring in enquiries about your products or services.

7. Market research – With other professionals and customers within your circles, presenting questions and research in a social setting encourages honest responses.

 

By Dan Murphy, Digital Marketing Executive at Bluestorm. 

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