Business First Family Business, Accounting, Finance, Investing, Marketing And Management
When many small business owners decide to use social media to grow their companies, they typically turn to sites like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. However, there is one additional social media platform that is commonly overlooked. That platform is LinkedIn.
With more than 500 million active members, LinkedIn has the ability to connect you with a huge number of people who are not only looking for your products and services, but also those who can help take your business to the next level. How can you use it to do both?
Create A Company Page
If you already have your own profile on LinkedIn, that’s great. However, your business needs one too. Preferably a profile that entices others to want to follow the company. But the very first step is to make that profile easy to find.
According to LinkedIn Marketing Solutions (LMS), this begins by inserting keywords in your profile that others would typically use to search for you. This increases the odds that your company will show up in their search results, giving you greater visibility with those most interested in your business, products, or services.
Once your page is created with this LinkedIn strategy, the next step is to get others to follow your company. To achieve this goal, LMS suggests that you first ask your employees, then ask your partners, vendors, and customers to do the same. You can make this even easier by adding a “Follow” button right on your website.
Write And Post Articles Regularly
Anyone can create a LinkedIn business page that says what their company does and how great it is, but one way to “put your money where your mouth is” and really show people that you know what you’re talking about is to regularly post articles which establish you as an expert in your field.
For instance, if you look at the LinkedIn profile of T. Harv, CEO of Harv Eker International and author of “Secrets of the Millionaire Mind,” you’ll see that he has published a number of articles establishing his expertise in living a life that enables you to do what you love and achieve your professional goals at the same time. Many also contain information intended to help others in areas they may be struggling.
This shows that you need to have your customer’s best interest at heart. Together, this make your profile worth connecting with. Do the same and, instead of you spending hours at a time lead tracking for your products and services, they’ll likely find you instead.
Find Your Next Top Employees
As a business, you are only as good as the people you employ, and one way to find top-level talent is to hire a recruiter. Though this is a move which can easily cost thousands of dollars, LinkedIn Talent Solutions offers this capability right on its site.
It’s called LinkedIn Recruiter and this program enables business owners to proactively connect with the right candidates. Candidates who are likely looking for the particular job you have posted.
Even if you don’t want to take this type of step—maybe because it isn’t a management level job that’s available or you’re just not ready to take the recruiter route—you can still post your opening on LinkedIn and, when people apply, instantly see their resume online. It’s a great way to see all of their qualifications, even ones that may have occurred so long ago, they didn’t think to include them on their application.
