QuickTips on Starting with LINKEDIN

“We MakeSocial Simple”TM

For YourBusiness

LinkedINANDYOUR

BUSINESS

Susan is the media marketing creator of

Spider Web Connections.

Her focus is to simplify social media marketing and involvement for small to midsized businesses. She makes social simple!

Follow her on Twitter @SpiderwebConnec!

AUTHOR:Susan Schauer John

Why do I keep hearing aboutLinkedIN?

We are a local business. We advertise locally.Do we need LinkedIN?

Reasons:

1. You can boost sales and profits by taking advantage of the features LinkedIn has for entrepreneurs.

2. Because LinkedIn is a powerful networking tool, it can help you exponentially increase your sales leads.

3. LinkedIn delivers a ready-made professional audience to tap into.

4. LinkedIn has over 175 million users - 50% of whom are business owners, managers and senior management.

First you will need a personal profile page.

From here you can create a LinkedIn page for your company.

SET UP:

2. You can create a stand-alone company page:

Profile:

Develop a strong personal profile page.

1. Good photo. Friendly, clear.

2. Complete the profile.

(A completed profile gets us to seven times more views than a skimpy one).

The site will prompt you periodically to fill in more information. It does not all need to be done in one sitting.

STOCK :

Next: Create your Company Page.

(Company pages do not have as many features as personal pages.)

There are 4 sections:

1. Overview

2. Employees

3. Product Pages

4. Statistics

Write simply and clearly.

Convey your company message. “We Make Social Simple”

If you have employees, be sure they include your COMPANY INFO on their profile pages.

This will increase exposure for your business through their LinkedIn networks.

STOCK:

Collect recommendations.

Don’t be afraid to ask. And don’t forget to give.

Both your personal and company pages have places for people to make recommendations about doing business with you and share their experiences.

Encourage your customers to tout your company in this way.

Theundercoverrecruiter.com

// Page 12

Join and Participate in LinkedIn Groups

After completing your personal and company profile pages, start looking for LinkedIn Groups where prospective clients might be. Join them.

MAINTAIN:Optimizing LinkedIn for Lead Generation & Promotion

Update Your Status Once a Week

Personal and Company pages have update functions. (Similar to status updates on Facebook.) Us them to post brief company-news updates, musings about your field, recommendations, etc.

Each time you post an update, you appear on the home page of all of your LinkedIn contacts!

Therefore – keep these updates relevant to your business and your company’s focus. Keep it professional and informative.

topnews.in

allthingsd.com

Work Your Contacts.

As you build your personal profile network and attract new followers to your company page, I strongly suggest using LinkedIn’s Advanced People Search to find prospective customers.

Here you can find prospective customers and others who would be valuable to add to your network.

Invite them to become contacts.

technorati.com

• Finally - Correspond

Remember whatLinkedIn is about:

blog.bcmpublicrelations.com

References:

• David Gowel, is one of the leading experts on LinkedIn and it’s place in social media today. He has written: The Power in a Link: Open Doors, Close Deals, and Change the Way You Do Business Using LinkedIn. A terrific book about the new form of marketing for business.

• Jay Baer and Amber Naslund have written a terrific book called: The Now Revolution. It captures completely the new face of marketing for businesses. http://www.convinceandconvert.com/

• Gwen Moran is the author of the article: 6 Ways Small Business Owners Should Use LinkedIn. Available on: http://www.nextavenue.org/blog/

• There are a number of great social media newsletters available for free that I read regularly and highly recommend. Each has contributed to my education and writings. They include:

– http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/

– http://maximizesocialmedia.com/

– http://www.toprankblog.com/

– http://www.bizsugar.com/

– https://www.facebook.com/business/build

They will never be gone!!Call us today:

410-253-9131

www.facebook.com/pages/SpiderWebConnections/

http://pinterest.com/sfschauer/spider-web-connections/

http://www.linkedin.com/in/spiderwebconnections

www. SpiderWebConnections.com