LinkedIn is a very popular professional social network and has more than 400 million users worldwide. It is a very effective online network to engage with your target market and find people who might be requiring your product and services. LinkedIn can prove to be extremely powerful as a marketing tool for your business and especially in a situation when you are aware about all those little-known features which don’t really get the attention they actually deserve.

LinkedIn unlike other social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter is different as these have direct access to consumers and prospect clients. Since LinkedIn is mostly focused on building business to business connections, it should be a part of your social media marketing strategy. In order to take your business to the next level, here are some recommendations for using it as a marketing tool.

Updating your LinkedIn Profile Regularly

An interesting piece of information you can share with your connections is to update your status. These updates consist of information which your connections will find useful. These can include links to content posted on your website or even other third party websites. These could even be simply a significant event happening in your organization or simply a local event.

Updating your profile with useful information consistently can gradually catapult you and position your company as an industry leader within your niche. Continue producing quality content on a regular basis or sharing a useful article with the LinkedIn Community. The objective ultimately is to create trust and reliability while establishing your business. Showcasing your past work and company achievements is an effective way to get people’s attention as quality work is appreciated universally.

LinkedIn Events

In case you are speaking either at an event or a seminar or are playing the role of the coordinator for a training session, you can post a LinkedIn Event in order to arouse interest and create a buzz for that event. Once you post something new on your company blog, it can be automatically updated on LinkedIn with the new post. In fact, LinkedIn status updates can be integrated with Twitter so that you keep all your connections informed.

Requesting and getting Recommendations

You have a provision to request recommendations from your connections, customers, prospects and followers. A bunch of positive recommendations which highlight your expertise will certainly enhance your profile for people who would want to work with you as a business in future.

Participating in various Groups and Communities

LinkedIn offers a great source known as LinkedIn Groups for professionals which enables them to exchange information, post content, answer queries and establishing them as an expert within their industry niche. LinkedIn has a group directory featuring more than a million groups. Start actively participating and engaging yourself with fellow members and other community members within the group. In fact, you can start a new LinkedIn group of your own and act as a moderator for that group.

Besides this, LinkedIn offers a variety of community features which can let you communicate and exchange ideas with other groups. By joining various groups and initiating a variety of topics of discussions for exchanging valuable information related to your niche is a creative way of increasing your circle of influence. If your presence in various groups adds value to the discussion, you can position your company as a significant contributor.

Company Pages

Company Pages actually represent the details of any organization and lists all the values it stands for. Create Company Showcase Pages and optimize them. Don’t underestimate the significance of creating a high-quality banner image; it can give your company a personalized persona. On the other hand, you can go into details regarding any company profile and find out if they are someone with whom you would want to work in the future or do business.

You can also publish your company’s description, images, mailing address, website address and even a listing of all the team members. Adding more detailed features including the services or products you offer and other unique aspects of your business about your brand will further add value to the organization’s pages.

Increasing your Connections

Make all your efforts to continue increasing the number of your connections. If you know their email address, you can send them a customized invitation which will increase the likelihood of it getting accepted by that person.
LinkedIn also has a feature known as “Advanced People Search”. You will have to set certain criteria for locating people. You will be shown two lists. In the second list, there will be a list of people at your target company as well as some shared connections. You will have to ask few shared connections to introduce you to the prominent and significant people of your target company to get the ball rolling.

LinkedIn Answers

This is quite a creative way to share knowledge related to your business or niche and connect with other people who think alike professionally. In fact, answering questions related to your skills and profession is a way to showcase your knowledge and interests. Your expertise will establish your presence in various groups. On the other hand, you can also ask questions to other members of groups or communities and get accurate results in a short span of time.

Finding Talented Employees

Thriving businesses are usually always on the lookout for finding valuable employees so that they can continue being successful with productive and skilled people who are highly talented. Posting jobs also create awareness about your business among people seeking employment and within the LinkedIn Community. In fact, you can also easily post a job on LinkedIn for finding capable and talented employees as per your company’s requirements.

Using LinkedIn Ads

Along with all your organic LinkedIn marketing efforts, if you want to complement it, LinkedIn Ads are a smart choice. LinkedIn advertising targets specific industries, locations and certain job titles. This will increase the likelihood of people who want to use your products and services.