Is LinkedIn the “Angie’s List” of Business Professionals?

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“Generating new business opportunities through LinkedIn” is a discussion topic I recently discovered.  It was a discussion started by Beth Baxter, Co-Founder of Camper Café; I’ll share a few of her tips here below.

The topic really got me to thinking about how LinkedIn has evolved in a relatively short time. LinkedIn originally launched in May of 2003 and was specifically designed for professional networking. As of January of 2013 they report to have 200 million acquired users.

If you are like me, your first perception was LinkedIn was a site to aid in job searches. Employers are able to list their available positions and search through its users for qualified candidates. Conversely, job seekers can upload their resumes and review the posted opportunities that employers are seeking to fill. However, with the launch of Company pages, many businesses (especially small business) are finding they are able to build their company credibility and reputation with their LinkedIn recommendations.  Over 50% of users polled, state they are more likely to do business with a company they follow. That makes LinkedIn a very valuable marketing tool.

As previously mentioned, here are some of the suggested tips to making LinkedIn Company pages work for you and your company:

1) Keywords, Keywords, Keywords!  (You may remember this same topic from one of our previous blogs, “Are you a Successful Blogger?” posted October 25, 2012).  Your profile should be easily searchable, just as with your website. You want people to find you!

2)  Build good quality connections.  Get to know your individual contacts and engage with them regularly.

3) Give referrals.  The more you generously give, the more you will receive in return!

4) Join groups and follow industry leaders.  Consider participating in discussions and add useful content. Other users following or participating in the same groups will take notice.

LinkedIn is a leading method to improve and enhance Google searches for your company name. People will see and be directed to links for your LinkedIn profile when performing research on you, your product, service, or company. Therefore, it only makes sense that a LinkedIn Company page be a part of your digital marketing plan.

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