5 Ways to Use LinkedIn to Grow Your Business in 2017

LinkedIn is mainly the place where people look for job opportunities, references and ways to network. But this doesn’t stop it from being a great platform for you to grow your business as well. According to research, Facebook takes the number one spot as a social network for a great number of marketers, and LinkedIn comes in second.

However, the percentage of people who want to get better acquainted with both platforms is nearly the same, so the future is bright for LinkedIn. In some way, you could see Facebook as the place where you talk with friends, and LinkedIn as the place where you can convene and get the job done.

In this article we are going to discuss 5 ways that you can use LinkedIn to grow your business.

Do the basics right

Before diving into the capabilities that LinkedIn has to offer, you should start with some of the basic steps. The first step is to optimize your profile. Think about the keywords that your customer base uses to describe your business. The essence of a successful LinkedIn profile isn’t as much to tell people what you do, but what you do for others. While it’s a subtle difference, it truly matters.

Keep in mind that LinkedIn is a social network. This means that you should communicate with your prospects via commenting, liking and sharing. This is the way that you earn their trust and build relationships. Finally, combine your website efforts with your LinkedIn profile, and share valuable content on both fronts.

Publish quality content on LinkedIn’s Pulse platform

LinkedIn’s Pulse publishing platform is a great place for you to speak your mind about issues that are relevant to your business. It provides you with a built-in audience and larger exposure than, for example, your blog. Anything that you post on LinkedIn is directly connected to your profile. You can greatly expand your engagement with prospects by incorporating your insights on top of your LinkedIn profile this way. This is especially the case for topical issues. Therefore, use the benefits of the Pulse platform by posting some of your brilliant content, but make sure that it is suitable for the professional LinkedIn audience.

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Hypertarget your content

You should make use of the premium tools that LinkedIn Marketing Solutions suite has to offer for reaching targeted audiences. Some of them are:

• Sponsored Updates, which is a tool for what you can consider as native advertising on LinkedIn
• Sponsored InMail, which sends targeted emails to prospects once they are active on LinkedIn
• LinkedIn Lead Accelerator, which moves your lead nurturing further than email, including site and social advertising targeted at anonymous people who come to your website but have not yet shared their email address

The last one is a great one to engage with your website visitors by presenting them with displayed ads and LinkedIn Sponsored Updates. This works in a way that even after they leave your website, they will get sequenced ads that offer relevant solutions.

Don’t use generic default messages

LinkedIn offers forms that you can use to network with your prospects once you have connected. There’s nothing particularly wrong with “I’d like to connect with you on LinkedIn”, except for the fact that it lacks in showing how much you value the connection and telling anything meaningful about you. You need to make your messages personal, and make sure that the person that you are contacting knows that you have genuine interest in their business, and not just looking to sell to anyone who will hear you out.

LinkedIn now has the option to send custom connection requests using mobile as well. This all means that you should put some effort into what you want to say. Remind the prospect where you met and what you discussed, and implement the proper call to action, such as scheduling a phone call or booking a lunch meeting.

Network with local business owners

You can greatly benefit from networking groups that are based locally. People are eager to engage in business with associates, which means that this should be an essential topic for growing your business and your client network. You should join some local networking groups and pay attention to what they are talking about. You can even start a group of your own.

This is where you get in contact with local business owners, share thoughts and recommendations, and talk about upcoming events. It’s a great way to make connections, as well as to entice new clients simply by participating in the group. Once you build a network, you can build valuable relationships and extend your client base.

Final words

LinkedIn is a great spot for growing your business due to the fact that it offers you professional networking options and tools. It comes with its own platform for publishing content, and enables you to join networking groups where you can engage with potential clients. Make use of the 5 tips in this article in order to reap the benefits of LinkedIn and boost your business efforts.

Originally published at www.techlofy.com on April 20, 2017.