You Are on LinkedIn NOW WHAT

You’re On LinkedIn, Now What?

LinkedIn allows you to create a business profile which will be the public face of your company on LinkedIn. Obviously this is the first step to using LinkedIn effectively. Create a profile and fill it out completely. Put relevant information about your company on there so people who visit your profile have a good sense of where your company is, and where it wants to go. After creating your profile, there are a few things you can do to increase your LinkedIn visibility and possibly even generate business.

1.      Q&A On LinkedIn

Being actively involved in the Q&A section on LinkedIn will increase your presence in the community. Go to this section and ask any question you have, you might be surprised by the quality of answers you get. But in addition to asking questions you should answer questions. Answering questions is more important than asking them because it accomplishes two things. First, it shows the LinkedIn community that you make a positive contribution to the social network and they will therefore think favorably about your company. Second, provided that you answer questions in your area of expertise and do a good job, it will make others view you as an expert in your field. Because they view you as an expert they will be far more likely to use your company if they ever need something in your industry. They will also be far more likely to recommend you to friends or other business contacts.

2.      Ask for Recommendations

Recommendations are crucial on LinkedIn. If you have a satisfied customer, ask for a recommendation, and get as many recommendations as you can. The reason you want to get so many recommendations is because the more you have the more likely it will be that a prospective customer will recognize someone that has recommended you. If a prospective customer sees someone they know has written a recommendation for you, they will be far more likely to do business with you.

3.      Link Your Blog and Twitter to LinkedIn

Linking your blog and website information on your LinkedIn profile is a simply way to give interested customers for information, and because it is so simply and will only take a few minutes to implement, there is no reason not to do it. You can also integrate your Twitter account with your LinkedIn profile. If someone asks a question on Twitter, answer it in detail on LinkedIn, and then provide a link to it on Twitter. This will allow you to answer questions in more detail and also expose whoever asked the question to your LinkedIn profile where they can read more about your company.

If you want to learn more, here are some websites with additional information on how to effectively use LinkedIn:

http://blog.linkedin.com/2010/04/12/linkedin-small-business-tips/

http://gigaom.com/collaboration/33-ways-to-use-linkedin-for-business/

http://linkedintelligence.com/smart-ways-to-use-linkedin/