5 top tips on making LinkedIn work for your business

When it comes to social media campaigns, LinkedIn isn’t always at the top of people’s minds.

Using LinkedIn for business is quite different to all the other popular social media channels such as Twitter, Facebook, and Google+. It is, however, worthwhile. The professional social network boasts more than 150-million members and it gains two new members every second.

Unlike most of the social media marketing channels available, LinkedIn can help you achieve your business objectives and goals quite effectively in a professional environment that really doesn’t require a dedicated content strategy for getting noticed online. If LinkedIn can help you with your business marketing and building brand awareness online, why doesn’t everyone use it?

One reason it is overlooked by many digital people is because it is associated with HR and job searches which are two underappreciated groups in today’s economy.

How can you use LinkedIn to get more brand awareness for your business?

LinkedIn brand awareness tips
LinkedIn can be used to enhance your overall digital communication efforts on the social web. Here are a couple of tips.

1. Position your business or brand
If you have a LinkedIn company page or your employees are on LinkedIn, it proves that your business exists. All these references to your business gives life to your business for other people who might be interested in finding out more information on what you do, where you are situated, or connecting with your company.

2. Add credibility
By sharing knowledge in the form of relevant content or status updates on your LinkedIn profile, your employees can position your organization in a specific niche. Answering questions on LinkedIn Answers shows that the members of your team are experts and thought leaders, all while building connections and relationships on this professional social media channel. If you are looking to expand your company’s expertise, you can assign a few of your area specialists and experts to answer relevant questions on LinkedIn on a regular basis.

3. Build your contact list
While most LinkedIn members think of increasing their reach on this network, they usually think in terms of their next job. In doing and thinking this way, they miss out on the real power of LinkedIn. LinkedIn allows your company to broaden and strengthen its network with customers, suppliers, prospects, consultants, distributors, analysts, and funding sources by giving you the opportunity to reach out to others in your network and their contacts. Never underestimate the strength of someone’s network on LinkedIn because they might have people on their contact list you are not able to see.

4. Grow your network
Through the use of LinkedIn Groups, you can extend your business network, meet new people and position yourself and your firm as thought leaders. There are thousands of groups that you can join or you can create your own. The benefit of starting your own group is that you can link it directly to your business.

5. Find new employees
Don’t just leave the finding of new employees to HR. While LinkedIn is a great way to find new employees, it is also a way to stay connected with former employees. Your former employees understand your operation and might even become a source of referrals for business connections or potential employees.

Achieve measurable goals
LinkedIn is a powerful social media channel that can help you achieve measurable goals. It can also be used in an outreach programme that can be distributed across a group of employees at your company. LinkedIn really doesn’t require special content marketing, and related information can be created and shared by a member of your company without major training.