This is a guest post from Gillian Burke, Owner of online gift service Ollie & Forbes, who shares some of her thoughts about how best small businesses can use Linkedin in their online marketing.
Linkedin is the “grown up” or “serious” social media outlet; it’s where you “do/talk business” as opposed to telling everyone what you are having for lunch!
So why Linkedin?
Linkedin operates on a request to join/connect with people, therefore it is more controlled and in some ways, exclusive, as if you were joining a private club.
On the other hand, it does allow you to access a much wider network of people, rather than you relying on your own network. Furthermore, there is potentially more direct access to key decision makers as you are able to view more background information, e.g. CV’s; rather than spending time sifting through information on company websites looking for that key contact name.
By joining relevant groups and contributing to the various discussions, not only can you potentially raise your business profile, but you could also increase your search engine visibility and search ranking.
Also, the networking/connection opportunities are limitless and more convenient as you don’t have to spend valuable time attending networking sessions that may not provide the required results.
In short:-
- Join relevant groups
- Don’t be shy to request connections, but ensure the person is relevant and not just to increase your connections, less is more
- Start and contribute to group discussions
- Include relevant links to your website or blog within your discussions
- Keep your profile up to date and current
- Do make full use of all relevant applications and feeds that you can link with your profile
By determining what you want to achieve/require from using Linkedin, this will enable you to focus on how much actual time and effort will be required by you both as a business and as an individual.
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