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Growing Your Business Using LinkedIn – Interest and Participation

Guest post by: Liam McCauley

Article Overview: Many people use social networking sites for personal communication and interaction. What they may not realize is that these sites have great professional potential as well. Growing your business using LinkedIn may be something you haven’t considered but it can be very effective when used correctly. LinkedIn is for professionals and if you do not look the part online, you will not be taken seriously.

Growing Your Business Using LinkedIn – Interest and Participation

Many people use social networking sites for personal communication and interaction. What they may not realize is that these sites have great professional potential as well. Growing your business using LinkedIn may be something you haven't considered but it can be very effective when used correctly. One of the best ways to get started is to create your profile page. This can be your personal page, or a page set up specifically for your business. Make sure the information is correct and that there are no typos. LinkedIn is for professionals and if you do not look the part online, you will not be taken seriously. The next step to growing your business using LinkedIn is to do a search for the decision makers in key industries and invite them into your network. Not everyone has an email address attached to their profile, so you may need to do a bit more searching, using other methods. This has the advantage of allowing you to learn more about them and their company than what is in their profile. Learning about their company will give you something to talk about to begin building the relationship. Show interest in them and what they do.

Ask about what other networks they are members of. Find out what publications they read or where they find the most beneficial online information. This creates a tightly focused target group. When they join your network, they also make connections with each other. This helps them expand their networks and increase connections as well. When growing your business using LinkedIn, these connections can build to become valuable relationships. If you have a webinar or online discussion group that you lead, invite your network members with an open invitation for them to invite people in their own networks. Send out a tip sheet periodically that showcases your specialty.

Provide updates on what you have been working on and the results. This will increase your reputation as an expert in your field and lead people to use you as a resource and share with others in their networks. As your reputation spreads, your network will grow and you will find that growing your business using LinkedIn was not as complicated as you once thought. It is also important to join and participate in groups, those that specifically interest you as well as those that are complementary. Each of these groups may have a different perspective on the same topic. Exploring these differences can increase your awareness and help you learn new methods to grow your business.

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Article Tags: linkedin, networking sites, social marketing, social media, social networking
Referred by: http://jaykubassek.com



Related Forum Posts
Re: On Which Social Media Sites Are You Most Active? - I'd be curious to hear how you guys use LinkedIn. I have close to 3,000 connections and never use it. I've been told the secret is to use groups (which I don't) so I'd love to hear how you guys are benefiting from LinkedIn.
Re: Twiiter an sales - [quote="soldlab":1ycb8vnm]I guess though LinkedIn is better for actual leag generation and personal contacts. What do you think?[/quote:1ycb8vnm] I've had a lot more success (thus far) with Twitter than LinkedIn or Facebook.
My entry - 1. The Best Business Books Ever: The 100 Most Influential Business Books You'll Never Have Time to Read - this is a fascinating book about the history of Business theory, and I'd recommend it to anybody. 2. The Big Book of Small Business: You Don't Have to Run Your Business by the Seat of Your Pants, by Tom Gegax. Ditto. 3. PADI: The Business of Diving Book Okay, so this book won't be of use to anyone who doesn't want to start a scuba store, but I did, and this book was of course invaluable to me in reaching that goal.
Re: What's 1 word to describe what your business will be in 2012 - Growing. MichelleJ
Re: Social Media Effectively? - Personally, I use social media to build my company brand in order to get awareness of the various franchises I work with. I am active on LinkedIn and Twitter (@DougSchadle), always posting information about the franchise opportunities I work with. I have started discussions and basically just try to get the word out there. Also, I turned one of my clients to social media as well. I work with Doctors Express, the first national urgent care franchise, expanding their franchise base. They are quickly spreading throughout the country and I told the founder to jump on to Twitter and LinkedIn as well. He just started a few weeks ago (Twitter handle @Doctors_Express) and tells me he is loving it. He is posting different medical issues he sees and is tweeting about Doctors Express. He is joining medical groups on LinkedIn and trying to connect to other doctors. So in short, I do think franchises can be very successful with social media, they just have to put in the time to do it.


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