Tim and I met up with a colleague at Skyline Coffee Co. this afternoon to discuss partnering up on some upcoming projects. At some point we started talking about the economy and new ways to reach out and help the people that have recently lost their jobs and need help with bills, food, etc. As she sifted through her thoughts of how her church could help, she decided to post something on LinkedIn to see if she could get some fresh ideas. She was blown away with the quality and quantity of the responses! People from around the world gave her some really fantastic ideas, and here’s the kicker… it didn’t cost her a thing!
LinkedIn is more than just a social networking site where you add connections. If you give it a little bit of time and attention, you can use it as a tool to promote you and your business. With that said, here are a few quick tips to help you get started.
1. Ask for advice
If you have any business-related questions, use LinkedIn Answers to broadcast them to your network. Whether you are looking for someone to recommend a good IP attorney or how to patent a product, by using LinkedIn Answers, you increase the probability that you’ll receive quality responses rather than just posting the question in an open, anonymous forum.
2. Increase your visibility and search ranking
Business cards, websites, brochures… yeah, we all have those. I hope so, anyway! LinkedIn gives you options to have your profile indexed by search engines and if your website isn’t search-engine optimized (ack!), LinkedIn may be your saving grace in getting found via search since profiles receive a fairly high PageRank with Google.
3. Make it easy for people to connect to you
You want to find people you want to connect with, but don’t forget that you want people to find you too! Don’t just put your current company in there, either. Fill out your profile so that past colleagues, clients, or college classmates can find you. Add your LinkedIn URL to your email signature so that colleagues, clients or potential clients can check you out and learn more about you and your business.
4. Drive traffic to your website
I mentioned above that by making your profile visible you can increase your search engine results, but don’t forget about your website! Your profile allows you to publicize up to three websites, so in addition to your name, you can also promote your website or blog to search engines. In my profile, I used our company site, our blog, and our Facebook Page, but you can add whatever you want whether it is a corporate site, a portfolio or an RSS feed.
5. Check out your competition
If one of your competitor’s employees is using LinkedIn, well, chances are that several of them are. Check out their backgrounds and what type of industry experience they have. View their clients. Don’t forget to view their recommendations so that you can get a glimpse of what your competitor is doing that their clients like. All of this information is readily available whereas it wouldn’t be otherwise.
There are other ways LinkedIn can help your organization, too. Conducting market research by using their Q&A feature, facilitating introductions, searching for job candidates, searching for a job, joining groups, etc. However, I prefer to keep my entries on the shorter side so that you can read through quickly, so if you have any questions or comments, or even want to share methods on how you use LinkedIn, feel free to leave a note below and let’s talk about it!
