BLOG NEWS

Growing your business with LinkedIn

Growing your business with LinkedIn

With all the controversy surrounding Facebook recently, the one thing it has highlighted for many businesses, is not to put all of your marketing budgets and resources in just one platform. In this article we’ll look at 5 ways you can use LinkedIn to grow your business.

As at February 2018, there are approximately 4.2 million Australians using LinkedIn, so the opportunity to meet new people and do business are significant. However, not everyone uses the platform properly and there is some bad behaviour that has popped up. If, like me, you’ve accepted a connection request, then immediately been bombarded with sales messages in your Inbox and email, then you’ll know what I’m talking about.

Let’s look at 4 ways you can use LinkedIn that is going to add value to your brand (and not annoy people along the way!)

Staying connected with your existing connections

Before you go off and find new people to connect with, have you looked at your current list of connections? When was the last time you engaged with their content, or reached out to them privately?

Start small – commit to 5 to 10 minutes a day where you like and comment on content, and even send a InMail or two sharing information that is of value. What I also like to do is use InMails to invite someone out for a coffee to catch up (or even a quick phone call) and see how I can help them.

How can you help your existing connections and be of service to them?

Stay connected after a networking event

So, you go to a networking event and meet some great people. What do you do next?

What you don’t want to do is add them to your email database straight away (unless you actually asked the if you could, then you have consent) and start blasting them with sales messages. Not only will you do some serious damage to your reputation and your brand, you’re likely to get reported for spam which has serious impacts on your online reputation with email marketing providers.

Instead, consider sending a connection request (personalised of course!) thanking them for their time at the networking event, and you look forward to connecting with them. At this time, do not send or push any sales messages, or even

Remember, this is not a race. Building solid business relationships takes time.

Use your LinkedIn company page to educate your audience

Your LinkedIn company page is a great channel to educate your audience about what you do and how you help. Share interesting content that helps your followers from a variety of sources (similar to how you would for your Facebook page). And use video to really help engage and connect with potential new audiences.

Sponsored posts can be used to amplify your own created content, to reach a greater audience. Make sure you are using this tool to drive traffic to your website, either to a blog article (just like this one!) or to a lead capture page).

Post interesting content from your personal profile

Just like you share content on your company page, it’s a great idea to share interesting and engaging content through your personal profile. This is an opportunity to showcase your expertise and demonstrate thought leadership in your industry.

Some tips on creating content:

  • Understand your audience and talk to them appropriately
  • Don’t be afraid to express an opinion
  • Use video natively as it will play automatically in the newsfeed
  • Test different lengths of content
  • Use the ‘Write an article too’ for long form content

Over to you

How do you use LinkedIn in your business?