When it comes to social media, companies often forget about LinkedIn. Sure, Facebook and Twitter are definitely more frequented, but LinkedIn was created to do exactly what you’re looking for: networking while promoting yourself, your career, and your company to potential clients, business partners, new hires, etc.
Just like any other website, to get the most out of LinkedIn, you must know how to use its tools effectively.
I’ve compiled a list of the most important and often forgotten ways to expand and engage your network through LinkedIn.
Imagery & Media
People love pictures and graphics. Studies have shown that when searching for information in a search engine, people are more likely to visit and return to a site marked with graphics or photos.
Imagery such as photos, graphics, infographics, etc., makes pages more visually appealing, which is why it has become important to include on every web page. Not only do images attract more visitors to your page, but they also give your page an overall balance between content and design.
For advice and inspiration on design, check out Tony’s blog posts How Clients Can Ruin Good Design and 15 Awesome Sources of Inspiration for Web Designers.
Photos and graphics give you the ability to show the character of your company, whether it be serious, vibrant, fun, etc.
Product Recommendations
Often overlooked by companies and LinkedIn users, this tool is one of the best LinkedIn provides in terms of publicly displaying how many people are happy with your product (without bragging).
LinkedIn showcases product recommendations on company profiles, giving customers the opportunity to give others first-hand reviews of your product. When visitors view your company’s services, they are able to publicly recommend each service simply by clicking the “recommend” link beside each product. Recommendations are automatically displayed directly to your “services” page.
When you know you have clients who are satisfied with your product, ask them to give a quick product recommendation on LinkedIn. Ask through a personal email. Include a short note in your company newsletters. Put together an email for your customers, partners, and vendors simply asking them to participate. Tweet about it. Facebook it.
People who are fully satisfied with your product will always follow through with a positive recommendation. Do not be afraid to ask.
When visitors see recommendations for your company and products, it leaves a positive impression for future customers and employees.
Featured Updates
Although LinkedIn may not seem like the most sociable and interactive network, featured updates make interacting with followers much easier.
It is critical to update all social media sites (Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn) every 1-2 days.
Think of LinkedIn as a more professional mix of Twitter and Facebook. Where it is better to post more tweets on Twitter, it is better to post fewer updates to Facebook. On Facebook, more than one update per day makes your important update much less noticeable. LinkedIn shows all updates instead of picking and choosing, like Facebook. On LinkedIn it isn’t bad to post multiple updates per day, just make sure those updates are important or relevant.
Only share updates that you would enjoy reading and learning about.
Here are a few updates you should share on your LinkedIn page:
- Press releases
- Blog posts
- Interesting articles subject to your line of work
- Events: advertising before, photos during, recap after
- Client pages and updates
Now put your new knowledge to use and expand your network and improve your company’s page.
