Using LinkedIn to Grow Your Business

LinkedIn can be a powerful social media tool to promote your business. A recent study revealed that LinkedIn is 277% more effective at generating leads than Twitter and Facebook. B2B companies in particular benefit from using LinkedIn. A recent survey revealed that 77% of B2B companies sampled acquired a customer through LinkedIn.

Here are some helpful tips in using LinkedIn to promote your business.

1. Quality over quantity: When acquiring contacts and building your network over LinkedIn, consider quality over quantity. Simply piling up contacts is not a sufficient strategy. Connect with relevant people and companies that can serve as potential strategic partners and prospective clients. LinkedIn allows access to the premiere professionals of their respective fields. Take advantage of this and connect/ follow people from whom you can learn or that may serve as mentors.

2. Post updates: LinkedIn gives you the ability to share information through status updates. This is a great way to keep your connections informed about your business or share useful information. You can also post projects that you have developed or are currently working on. This gives you the opportunity to showcase your skills and unique aptitudes. 

3. Recommend and endorse others: This feature is important to use. Endorsing and recommending others who you have worked with often encourages them to do the same for you. You are not only helping them gain more credibility and clout, but developing your own as well. 

4. Create a company page: Not only can you post as yourself but similarly to Facebook, you can create a company page through LinkedIn. You can post updates and share information as your company and recruit followers to your company page. There are nearly 3 million unique company pages on LinkedIn. To stand out and increase your exposure, consider using sponsored updates. Typically, only followers can see your company updates. However, with a sponsored update, people outside your company's following can also see your update. LinkedIn allows you to create targeted campaigns within a specified budget. It is a great way to extend the reach of your posts.