3 Ways You’re Not Using LinkedIn But Should
LinkedIn is more than a social media network; it’s a powerful tool, especially for small businesses. Practically every professional in North America has a profile making it a good place to store your personal business contacts. But, if that is all you’re using LinkedIn for, you’re leaving a lot of value on the table. So let’s look at three ways you should be using LinkedIn to drive value to your small business.
Training and Development
Training and development are vital for many small businesses looking for talent in a highly competitive market. If you can’t afford to hunt for top talent, grow it in-house with LinkedIn Learning. By partnering with video e-learning provider, Lynda: Online courses, Class, Training, and Tutorials, LinkedIn Learning can help you build training roadmaps based on key skills needed for specific professions. So while you may not be an expert on web design, for example, you can still guide your graphic designers and developers on which courses will make them experts for you.
The service isn’t free like other resources but the learning modules are created by industry experts and available on demand so it might be a nice complement to what you’re already using.
Smarter Prospecting
If you are in sales, you use LinkedIn. But you may not be using it as well as you could be to identify and connect with potential new customers. Whether you’re paying for the premium subscription or not, you should be using LinkedIn for smarter prospecting. Here’s how.
You probably already have an ideal customer profile so use that information in LinkedIn’s advanced search feature to find 2nd and 3rd degree connections that fit that profile. You can narrow down the search by using “AND”, “OR”, and “NOT” in the keyword search.
When you have optimized your search and are getting the type of people you’re looking for, use LinkedIn’s Save Search option at the bottom of the search results page and LinkedIn will send you new leads every day that meet that search criteria.
Once you have a list, look at their profiles and specifically the groups that come up frequently. If you’re not a member of those groups, you should be, because you can send other members up to 15 free InMails every month, per group.
LinkedIn for Blogging
I’ve written at length here about why small businesses should be blogging and how to create the perfect blog post. But nothing is stopping you from republishing your content on LinkedIn Publisher. While you won’t get direct site traffic, you will get content that is discoverable with a simple LinkedIn search. And, if your post gets viewed enough, LinkedIn will feature it in their Pulse newsletter, which will boost your reach even more. So be sure to include a smart CTA that links back to your website.
With more than 400 million LinkedIn users, this social media community is more than a poor man’s CRM. It’s a valuable tool to get top tier talent, better leads, and more visibility.
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