Tips for Promoting Your Business on LinkedIn

By Laura Birch

LinkedIn is a social networking tool, first and foremost and, more recently, a site that is used to increase company exposure and customer interactions. Businesses use Linkedin to appeal to potential customers and partners by producing compelling content and participating in industry discussions on LinkedIn. Business owners frequently use LinkedIn to expand their email marketing list and to provide their clients and communities with a steady flow of content and product and services updates.

 

The marketing and business promotion potential of Linkedin is larger than many people fully understand. With that in mind, below are some important tips for promoting your business on the platform. 

 

Take Your Writing Seriously 

 

Treat your LinkedIn material the same way you would your company's website or blog. You should focus on optimizing any text you add to your company summary area, news updates, and your own personal profile. Two critical aspects to remember here are to use keywords that emphasize your area of expertise and to write concise, well-thought-out and researched press releases and general content that demonstrate you're an authoritative source in your field. How you write your Linkedin profile is a major part of its success. 

 

Build a Page for Your Company

 

LinkedIn company pages, unlike personal profiles, are designed to better reflect a firm or brand. Even if you own a small business, creating a company page and linking it to your personal profile is a smart step. It allows you to submit updates and add information that a brand name conveys far better than an individual's. For example, it looks much more natural when a business announces promotions or updates to products and services to its customers than when the owner and CEO does. Even if you're a small business, using a company page as your main PR platform is a good idea. 

 

Make Your Business a Focal Point in Your Personal Profile

 

While you should certainly have and maintain a personal profile on Linkedin (and sync it with your business' profile), you need to make sure your profile includes information about your company's operations as well. This would include links to all relevant pages, such as your company's website, professional Twitter account, and so on. You, as the business owner, are Linked to the company and everything it does (and vice versa). You want people to associate you with the brand and the brand with you. 

 

Update Your Profile Regularly 

 

You should be using your company page to upload news and keep your professional network up to date on your company's latest achievements and announcements. If you get a mention in a prestigious industry journal or other noteworthy media source, share it with your network on Linkedin.

 

Recently completed projects, new collaborations, creative advice, new features or products, and anything else that shows your company is active and serious should all be considered relevant updates. Linkedin is also a great cross-posting tool that you can use to drive traffic to your other social channels and website when you have new content or information to share. 

 

Start a Niche-related Group

 

The option to create a group around a certain topic or niche is one of the best promotional tools on LinkedIn. You can start a group or a discussion surrounding your business or industry or start a related group or conversation and make sure members are aware of your business. 

 

You need to stay active in the groups you create, actively moderate and steward discussions and make sure that you always have your business and its reputation in mind at all times. a

 

Stay Active in Other Groups

 

In addition to creating your own groups to promote your business and drive discussion, part of a good promotion on Linkedin involves participating in existing communities and communicating with other users. The goal here isn't to spam groups with postings promoting your brand but to engage in a genuine conversation that leads to genuine connections. Ultimately, what you are after is to build your network and position yourself as an expert or authority to build trust and brand recognition. 

 

Do SEO for Linkedin 

 

Linkedin, like all social media platforms, is subject to the rules of search engine optimization, and it is important to have that in mind when building and adding to your profiles. To begin, make sure that your job title includes the term that customers would most likely use while searching for your services. If you're an expert in digital marketing, for example, make sure your job title includes the phrase "digital marketing."

 

It is also important to make sure you are engaging in SEO-friendly external linking practices. Begin by including a link to your profile and business page on your personal blog. When you guest post on other people's blogs, search for opportunities to connect back to your personal and business Linked page. Because most guest blog entries contain a brief biography of the author, this is often quite straightforward. Simply link back to your LinkedIn profile from your author bio.

 

Conclusion 

 

LinkedIn can help you promote your business in a lot of ways, from building connections and forming new partnerships to generating leads and increasing brand awareness; it's a fantastic addition to your digital marketing plan. Keep the above promotional strategies in mind and make sure you are getting the most out of this necessary and incredibly powerful social media tool. 

 

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