How to Use LinkedIn to Market Your Business, Part One

Until recently, social networking websites were viewed as a pastime for teenagers and college students. Now, websites like Facebook and LinkedIn have become valid marketing mediums for companies of all sizes. I too was skeptical of the effectiveness of such sites, but I have since become a believer. Social networking websites enable you to reach a very specific target market without costing you a dime. I have seen my clients achieve great results from marketing on Facebook and more specifically on LinkedIn. Since most advisors and small business owners that I speak with aren’t familiar with the concept of marketing on LinkedIn, I have decided to write a series of articles specifically on that topic. Before I can address the intricacies of using LinkedIn as a marketing tool, you’ll need to understand the basics.

LinkedIn: The Basics
The first thing you need to do when you join LinkedIn is to complete your profile. At first it seems tedious to fill out all of the fields, but the more information you provide about yourself, the more effective you will be at marketing via LinkedIn. Take the time to follow the steps recommended by LinkedIn and complete your profile to the 100% level.

After you profile is complete, import your contacts. LinkedIn is able to scan your email and determine who is already a member and who is not. Send invitations to all of your of your connections who are already on LinkedIn. Going forward, anytime you meet someone new, look to see if they are on LinkedIn and add them to your network. The more connections you have, the more you’ll be able to use LinkedIn to your advantage.

Now that you have mastered the basics of LinkedIn, it’s time to focus on using the website to help grow your business.

Join Groups
You have successfully completed your profile and have started adding connections. The next thing you should do is join groups that include people who are either centers of influence (COI) or fit your target market. When browsing groups to join, consider alumni groups (e.g. UCLA Anderson Alumni Network), Corporate groups (e.g. CISCO), and Professional Groups (e.g. Finance & Accounting Professionals). By joining a group, you are able to directly contact each member in that group, opening up a whole new pool of people you never would have met. This is specifically valuable when trying to reach COIs or gatekeepers for corporations.

Once you have selected a group, become an active member of that group. Add or respond to discussion questions. This will open up a dialogue with group members and makes it easier to continue the conversation offline. Be sure that the discussion is relevant to the group and not just a sales pitch. For example, if you joined a corporate group, add a discussion question like “What are your greatest concerns regarding your company’s defined benefit pension plan?” Take advantage of the opportunity to contact each person directly who responds to the discussion question.

New and active discussion questions are emailed to the entire group on a daily or weekly basis depending on each member’s preference settings. This is a great feature because it means your name is getting in front of every member of the group, even if they haven’t visited the group page. The more active your involvement in the group, the more often group members see you name. As I always say, consistency is the key to marketing success, and this a fantastic way to achieve this goal.

Groups are a great way to become introduced to new people from the comfort of your office. This strategy is generally more effective for centers of influence than for clients, but can work for either group. Just remember two things when utilizing LinkedIn groups: 1) Strategically choose which groups you want to join based on your defined target market and the COIs with whom you wish to form relationships; and 2) Actively participate in each group’s discussion forum (minimum once a week). If you follow these two rules, you will see your network rapidly expand and your business reap the benefit.

Visit my blog next week as I will be discussing Part 2 of How to Use LinkedIn to Build Your Business.

 

Kristen Luke is the Principal of Wealth Management Marketing, a consulting firm specializing in marketing solutions for independent financial advisors. Visit www.WealthManagementMarketing.net for more information.