Tips and Insights for Using LinkedIn For Business

8 New LinkedIn Features Worth Exploring:^

Recently LinkedIn added lot’s of new functionality that impacts marketers and business owners. This article will tell you what you need to know.

But first, were you aware that LinkedIn has a company page (similar to Facebook)? With 85 million business members, who wouldn’t want a business page there? Normally the profile pages that you set up on LinkedIn are for your own personal use. It’s against LinkedIn’s terms and conditions to set up a personal profile page as a business. But LinkedIn has seen that by capturing and promoting more business information in this community, it could make way for a lot more engagement and knowledge-sharing. If you haven’t yet created your LinkedIn company page, simply click on COMPANIES on the top navigation and then ADD COMPANY. Here’s some new features worth examination:

#1: Banner images link through to your website.

How cool is that? Your own free banner advertising that’s linked back to wherever you want it to! Why not create an image with “Become a fan of our Facebook page” and link it back to Facebook if you want to cross-pollinate a little, or link one to your service pages and the other to your about us page?

#2: Support for video.

There’s now space to add video on your product or service “home page” as well as on each individual service page. You do have a company video, don’t you? With more companies waking up to the power of video blogging, technical videos and video training, this may be an area for you to develop if you haven’t already. Check out these articles for a comprehensive guide to video blogging and get 16 tips for successful online video marketing.

#3: Get recommendations and display them on your page.

Recommendations are your silent salespeople and will help sell your products and services far better than anything you can say personally. We all know the power of word-of-mouth marketing, so use it to your advantage.

These recommendations are user-aware, which means that LinkedIn will show you recommendations by people within your network if they’re available. How cool to see someone you’re connected to who has recommended a service that you may be thinking about purchasing!

#4: “Follow us on LinkedIn” button.

You may need to copy their code and pass it on to your web builder to insert if you don’t have access into the coded area of your website. If you are able to add it in yourself, simply cut and paste the code into the place where you want the button to appear.

#5: Feeds blog posts and tweets to overview page.

Let your followers find out more about your company via your company blog posts. Each time you write a new post, it will filter onto the overview page automatically. If you write in a more relaxed style on your blog than your website, that gives another dimension to the company voice.

Your blog posts and tweets will feed into the "overview" of your company page. There are even analytics. You can now see your page views and a whole lot more—such as visitors to your services, clicks on any images with links you’ve added, which industries are interested in your company and even which companies have been looking at your page. It’s moving so fast you need to tune in daily to see what else is new.

A sample of some of your analytics information you can access.Take a look at Dell’s page. Here they’ve really used just about everything they can on their company page and it looks great.

#6: Client recommendations without visiting LinkedIn.

How about the ability for a client to click on a “Recommend” button on your own website that populates back to your LinkedIn business page where prospects are able to read those product or service recommendations? As soon as you add your services to your business page, LinkedIn will contact you with the HTML coding to set it up. Very neat.

Make sure you display your buttons on your website.

#7: New group functions.

If you run a group, there are also some great new features for group administrators. Even though spam seems to have quieted down with members simply not tolerating it, there are a couple of extra settings that have recently been introduced for group moderators to tighten things up even more.

A group moderator can now introduce a trial period for new group members. This means that new members will have their discussions parked until the moderator has had a chance to authorize them. Once the trial period is over, the new member will be able to post freely. There are several permissions and restrictions to choose from, so you may allow a new member to answer posts but not post their own content for a period of time set by the moderator.

The new group member can view posts awaiting moderation by going to the “Activity” page from the “More” dropdown in the group’s navigation bar.

While we’re on the subject of groups, if you’re running your own group, are you making good use of all of the tools available to you?

You have a choice of: Deciding whether you’ll allow automatic entry or approve people as they ask to join. Some groups do this to ensure that there are no competitors in their group or that the person who wishes to join fits the group criteria; i.e., is a director in a directors-only group. Sending a welcome message filled with interesting information and links about what your group or company group has to offer and resources available. Sending a group announcement weekly to all group members that’s also populated as a discussion within the group. While I think weekly is far too often, I like to send an announcement every couple of months. This is not the place to spam your members, but to ask questions and gain feedback in the form of an email so everyone gets it. Completing the group “rules” page so that members have a clear understanding of what they can and can’t do within the group.

#8: LinkedIn Share button./p>

The Share button is also a new feature and does exactly the same thing as a Facebook Share button. An exception is it updates your LinkedIn network connections. Here’s the link to get your very own piece of coding. By reading the tutorial here you can even add it to your WordPress blog.

These are only a few of the latest bells and whistles that have recently become available. There really is so much the site can do for your business!

By: Linda Cole 01/31/2011

6 Steps to Expanding Your Network with LinkedIn Company Search^

If you’ve spent some time on LinkedIn, you may realize that the network allows for companies to build dynamic profiles on the site. Did you know that you can discover important information conducting company searches?

According to LinkedIn, your professional network isn’t just about the people you know, it’s also about the companies in your network and how you’re connected to them. LinkedIn’s new Company Search provides an opportunity to discover connections in your network and filter them by the companies they work for.

Why is this important? Not only can you search for companies by attributes such as location, industry and size, but also by how you’re connected! Ultimately, LinkedIn Company Search can help you expand your professional network in ways that you may not have thought about.

How to Expand Your Professional Network Using LinkedIn Company Search

#1: Set your Company Search parameters

Navigate to Company Search, located underneath the “Companies” tab. Next, refine your search in the left-hand column using the following parameters for the most relevant results:

• Location (focus on your city)
• Industry (target a single industry initially)
• Relationship (choose second-degree connections)

Hint: Your current number of first-degree connections will directly impact the number of second- and third-degree connections that you have. If you don’t have many first-degree connections at this point, you’ll want to focus on building meaningful connections as quickly as you can!

Filter search results for location, industry and second-degree connections.

#2: When viewing these search results, look for the number of people in your network for each company listed

Each company that shows up in your search results will showcase a link to the number of people who are in your network. These “people” will all be your second-degree connections, given that you filtered for this parameter. The search results may also show you job postings by the company if you choose to view that parameter.

Identify the number of people who are in your network for each search result.

#3: Click the link to “View all X people.”

To expand the list of second-degree connections from each company who are in your network, you’ll need to click the “View all X people” link (see image below). Once you click this link, you’ll see a list of all of your second-degree connections who are associated with this particular company, along with the number of shared connections that you have with each person.

Click to view all of the second-degree connections who are in your network from this company.

Note that when these results are shown, in order to see those individuals who work in your specific geographical area, you’ll have to reset that search parameter in the LinkedIn Company Search filter on the left-hand side of the results page. (Just as you did in step #1, refine your search results by location once again.)

Now you’ll see the list of second-degree connections who are in your network and work for this particular company, as well as the number of shared connections that exist between you and this individual. LinkedIn will also show you any groups that you have in common with this list of second-degree connections, which could open up the opportunity to make a direct connection. (LinkedIn will allow you to send invitations to connect with mutual group members.)

View the list of individuals with whom you have a shared connection.

#4: Click to view your “shared connection(s)”

The most exciting part of this search is being able to see exactly how you’re connected to this new list of people! Your shared connections in many cases will be key in providing you with an introduction to a new second-degree connection and can also share with you what they know about the person.

Make a connection and if someone else is connected to that person as well you have a shared connection!

#5: View the second-degree connection’s profile and connect!

I suggest that prior to asking for an introduction from your shared connection that you spend some time learning more about the person. For example, view the profile of the second-degree connection and look for common experiences, interests or additional places on the web where you can connect.

Does the person have a blog you can subscribe to? Do they have a Twitter account that is visible on their LinkedIn profile? Are there groups that they are a member of that would make sense for you to join as well? Do you share common personal interests or past work experiences with this individual? You might also Google the person to gather additional intelligence.

This research prior to asking for an introduction to connect or sending any type of direct invitation to connect helps you have a more meaningful dialogue once you’ve become connected on LinkedIn.

#6: Promote, refer and engage your new connections.

If you want to build influence on LinkedIn, always remember to focus on promoting, referring and engaging your connections. You can “like,” “share” or “comment” on their status updates, invite them to join interesting groups or attend local events, and suggest or refer any of your existing connections with whom they can benefit from knowing.

In addition, you should consider sending relevant news and resources to your new connections that can help or benefit them in their business and networking efforts.

Don’t forget to be consistently updating your LinkedIn status on a daily basis if possible. This will also expand your visibility and increase your opportunity to be seen as value-added to your new connections.

As you can see, leveraging LinkedIn Company Search is not only a powerful way to manually build a qualified list of prospects by location and industry, but you also have a connection pathway to meet these individuals through an introduction or by sending a direct invitation, depending on your account level. Keep in mind, however, that the best new business relationships often come by way of referral or introduction!

Spend some time doing these kinds of searches for your business. If you have a Premium LinkedIn account, you can actually create folders and save the profiles of all of your new and prospective connections.

April 2011 – Stephanie Sammons

Can LinkedIn Help Businesses Grow?^

This is a webinar that highlights some simple steps you can take to optimize your LinkedIn profile.

Mike shares how you can use LinkedIn for much more than just job search and how he is using LinkedIn to grow his business. And he gives you tips to integrate LinkedIn marketing tactics to help you grow your business.

Be sure to check out the take aways below after you watch the video.

FREE Webinar

Here are some of the things you’ll learn in this video:

• • How to optimize your LinkedIn profile for search engines
• • How to leverage your profile links for conversion
• • Why you should network on LinkedIn
• • How to use LinkedIn profile summaries to improve your social media marketing and conversion
• • Why LinkedIn is a social media platform businesses cannot ignore

Using LinkedIn To Reach Your market^

LinkedIn, simply put, is the world's largest professional network with over 120 million users and members worldwide. LinkedIn has become the hub for professional networking, ideas, discussion and engagement and is growing every day. LinkedIn prides itself in "giving you the keys to control your online identity". A LinkedIn profile is highly indexed by Google and rises to the top of search results very quickly when optimized correctly. Click the link for our brief video detailing the "Top 3 Steps You can Take to Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile".

Because LinkedIn is highly searchable both internally and externally creating targeted, optimized profile is key to success on LinkedIn. Building your profile around specific keyword and phrases can shoot you to the top of search results and increase your exposure very quickly.

Facebook has received most of the accolade when it comes to social media and social media for business but here are a few stats that show just how effective LinkedIn is and can be for business:

Average Household Income

Facebook User – $61,000

LinkedIn user - $109,000

Percentage of Decision Makers (Per Site)

Facebook – 30%

LinkedIn - 67%

These figures tell us that both the money to make the purchase AND the person who can make the actual buying decision are found on LinkedIn. This tells me, as a business owner, I should be there too!

Connections

LinkedIn connections are the people and business you are connected to on LinkedIn. Connections can play a very important role in developing a strategic plan for marketing on LinkedIn. Many people look to just increase the amount of connections they have while the quality of those connections is very poor or has very little benefit to their business or professional goals. Creating strategic connections that will help you grow your business or cause is what LinkedIn is all about.

Once you have connected with an individual you have the option of sending them a message. This is probably one of the most important elements to strategic connection; Introduction.

After connecting, send your new connect a "welcoming" email extending your expertise and time and let them know a little about you with a link to your website. If you have a free eBook or webinar series this is the time to share it with them.

How do I get "strategic" connections you may ask? Both LinkedIn Groups and LinkedIn Answers are great places to meet and engage with "strategic" connections. (See below)

LinkedIn Groups

LinkedIn groups are individual forums and discussion groups of like-minded individuals, entrepreneurs and business owners. LinkedIn Groups is one of the most effective mediums to create conversation and engagement around your brand, service or products. Creating strategic conversations is what LinkedIn Groups is all about. Because Groups is an open discussion forum engagement is encouraged and expected therefore discussions around products or services should be open-ended and inviting response NOT "Hey, buy my products" but rather "Have you're efforts to grow your opt-in list been effective?" This question invites engagement and opens dialogue for you, the entrepreneur or sales professional, to respond and engage with the person while building a relationship. People will generally be very honest and you can see who may be a prospective lead or who may need more information and you can begin the relationship process here.

LinkedIn Answers

LinkedIn Answers is one of the best places on the web to share business knowledge

• Ask your question and get fast, accurate answers from your network and other experts worldwide
• Showcase your knowledge, expertise, and interests by answering questions
• Stay up on the latest in your industry and functional area

LinkedIn Answers allows you to connect with and meet experts in specific fields and niches while also positioning you to be an expert in your area or field. LinkedIn Answers can be used to conduct specific market research or introduce a new product or special. The overall attitude of Answers is helping and providing quality responses so "Hey we're having a sale today. Interested?" is NOT the way to approach Answers but we could take that same sale announcement and reword in a way that invites engagement and creates conversation around the special like this, "As an entrepreneur or individual, have you considered building a niche landing page around one specific product or service? If so, what was your experience?" The difference here is engagement. The one is strictly closed-ended while the other invites response and creates dialogue.

In summing up effective marketing and online marketing is all about communication and the way we communicate. Consider the following story:

A marketing professional walks out of her Manhattan office building after work to find a homeless man holding a sign that said, "Blind and homeless. Please Help." He was sitting there for days without getting any change. She asked the man for the sign and wrote on the back and walked away. A few minutes later he heard change fall into his cup and then suddenly more and more as the day went on. The next day he heard the women come out of her office for the day and stopped her to ask, "Yesterday you took my sign and wrote on it. What did you say?" she answered, "Same message… just different words." She then read the new sign to him, "It's a beautiful day, and I can't see it."

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