How to Use LinkedIn as a Digital Marketing Tool?

LinkedIn is the most professional of the social media networking websites. It is used by over 135 million professionals worldwide, and is a great tool for making business to business connections. Unfortunately, many companies underestimate its digital marketing power; but because of its wide use in the professional world, LinkedIn should be a big part of any marketing strategy.

The following three steps to learn how to use LinkedIn to your advantage

1. Update  LinkedIn profile to get more followers

In order to use LinkedIn as an effective marketing tool, your profile must be relevant and up to date, you must be following relevant people, and you need to know all the tools to use on LinkedIn.

• Update your status to keep your LinkedIn profile up to date. This simple tasks keeps connections informed and helps them view you as a relevant resource in the industry.
• Add blog posts: Do you run a blog? LinkedIn lets you incorporate a blog into your profile page so that new posts will automatically be posted on your profile. This will help drive more traffic to your new content.
• Share presentations: Share materials with connections! If you have recently created a presentation or directed a training at work, share these on LinkedIn to get feedback, extra love, and to once again help others view you as a relevant resource in the industry.
• Post events: Promote events you are scheduled to speak at. Help the surrounding community by posting about community news. Share these posts on social media to help them gain traction, and collect more connections on LinkedIn.
• Tweet more: LinkedIn integrates Tweets from your professional twitter platform into your LinkedIn profile. Don’t waste time posting on several social media platforms, simply integrate them and have each tweet work double time for you.
• Upload portfolio: Post your portfolio to LinkedIn to showcase accomplishments; LinkedIn is a great place to keep a master portfolio and resume.

 

Whatever you decide to do to get your profile up to par, don’t forget keywords, pay attention to copy, and share relevant concepts that will drive traffic to your company site.

Don’t sound like a pushy salesman; be honest and genuine when talking about yourself and your company; people will respond positively.

2.Utilize community features to increase visibility

LinkedIn has a number of community features that allow people to interact with specific connections. These can lead to interactions, which are valuable in creating new connections and building relationships. By participating in these community features, you build yourself as an industry expert and give your brand more visibility.

Here are some of the community features that are great options to take advantage of.

• Groups – Create groups related to your interests, or join other groups in your area of expertise. This makes it easy to find people that are interested in your brand and services, plus it is a great place to learn even more about your niche.
• Answers – Share your business knowledge; ask questions to get feedback, answer other people’s questions, or initiate interaction with others in your niche. Connections will appreciate the help.
• Company Pages – Find insight on competitors, see what works and doesn’t work for them. Discover companies in your field, or look for companies that you might want to hire someone like you. This is a great tool for posting new jobs, publishing a company profile, and adding information about products and services.

By participating in the LinkedIn community you will gain more followers and establish yourself as an expert in the industry. Be sure to engage in conversation rather than simply try to sell a product. People want and respond to interaction, not salesmen; connections will remember your honest interactions and buy when they are ready.

3.Use LinkedIn to market a business

Now that your profile is perfect and you are involved in the LinkedIn community, start using LinkedIn as a tool to market your business.

• Reach out to prospective clients. With a network of connections, reaching out to prospective clients is much easier. If you don’t have connections with these prospects, see if they have any connections in common. LinkedIn has an introduction feature which means that one of your connections can introduce you to one of their connections.
• Find employees. LinkedIn is an easy way to find talented individuals that fit what you are looking for. Plus, they should already have a resume or portfolio posted to their own LinkedIn that you can take a look at before interacting with them.
• Run advertisements. LinkedIn also has paid advertisements. If your company has the resources to spend on advertising, these can be an effective way to reach your target market.
• Analyze analytics. Linkedin has its own analytics capabilities that show the impact of your content. Check how you rank against competitors, and optimize content accordingly. Quickly identify your target market, and write better target-specific content in the future.

 

Don’t let LinkedIn be an underutilized resource at your company. Use it as a digital marketing tool to establish your company as an industry expert and gain more followers. By following these steps, you will increase traffic to your company’s site.