5 Ways to use LinkedIn.com Locally

You've heard of social media such as the Facebook and Twitter and you probably use it to promote your business. You may even own a LinkedIn.com account, but chances are you're not using it to its full potential, to promote yourself as a local business expert. Think of the other social media networks as casual Friday, and LinkedIn.com as Monday meeting, and all business. LinkedIn.com is simple to use, and a much better channel for promoting your business.

Believe it or not, you can use the same tried and true SEO methods that you use for articles and blog posts. Using the same keyword research that you've already completed to fill out your profile, create an effective headline, and a winning the summary will go far in helping you establish yourself as a local business expert.

Search Engine Optimization

Your profile

The most important aspect of your LinkedIn.com account is probably your profile. Using the tips above, ensure that your profile has a really good header, any relevant summary, and as many job descriptions as possible. It's completely free to have a profile; in fact, I highly encourage you to stick with a free account until you learn everything LinkedIn has to offer.

Relevant sections

A relatively new feature, at the time of this writing, is the ability to add, as well as rearrange, sections on your LinkedIn.com profile. You can add sections such as overview, certifications, courses, honors and awards, organizations, projects, test scores, volunteer experience and more. Additionally you can add different applications such as blog links, Box.net files, a creative portfolio display, your E-bookshelf, events, presentations, polls, and much, much more.

Answer questions

A great feature of LinkedIn.com is the ability to both ask and answer business oriented questions. If you answer questions in an intelligent manner, without the addition of spam, people will start seeing you as an expert in your niche. In fact, LinkedIn.com will reward you by establishing the expert designation on your profile, and thus featuring you on the answers page.

Join groups

It is very important that you join relevant groups in your local area that have been established on LinkedIn.com. If you want to join groups of people doing exactly what you're doing, choose just one. What you really want to do is join groups consisting of your target audience. If you sell widgets hanging out with other widgets sellers, while useful probably won't help you get new clients.

Also, limit the number of groups you join to the number that you have time in which to be active. Just being there isn’t going to garner more business. You must be an active participant.

Finally, as with any business activity that you do in your lifetime, act with the utmost integrity. Don't spam, avoid too much automation, and most importantly be yourself. There's no point in hiding behind a fake name, a fake picture, and posting fake information. Instead, remember that golden rule of marketing: People buy from those whom they know, like, and trust. Be that person.

END