Business Starts with LinkedIn

Being in business means sharing a little about yourself on a daily basis. You share information with colleagues, clients, and the public at large. You are in the engagement business; there is a public that you want to engage — think about how to target them through LinkedIn.

LinkedIn is a powerful social network for professionals, by professionals. With over 187 million users, there are segments for all businesses and groups that interact regularly. And that’s the key — interaction.

I have an account, what’s next?

When it comes to LinkedIn, we have shared some key steps to completing your profile. You’ve done it, but you have aspirations of becoming a “thought leader.” In order to reach that goal, you need to first start thinking of yourself as a trusted resource.

Many people and companies set up a LinkedIn profile with the thought, “If I set up the account and select a wide number of groups, my audience and network will grow.” The truth is that it will grow to a point. You may receive or make a couple of introductions that lead to a connection, but let’s target that approach.

Ask yourself the following:

• Do I know my area of expertise related to my role?
• Do I know my target audience?
• Do I have the commitment to engage daily?

If you answer “no” or you’re not sure to any of these questions, you have to be honest and ask yourself why. Anything worth doing takes solid commitment in building that foundation.

There are no shortcuts. If you set the expectation that just having a profile will garner results then you are setting the stage for disappointment.

It’s your company, make an update

Let’s apply some of that same scrutiny to your LinkedIn company profile and its key components:

Home

Your company’s LinkedIn homepage has the most impact and links to the other areas of your LinkedIn profile. Your profile offers a high-level description of your business.

Included here are your Recent Updates, or articles that your company has shared. These articles can be content you’ve created or sourced from industry publications.

The bottom of the homepage is where you can place brief stats and facts about who you are, what you do, and how you do it.

Careers

The Careers tab is a great place to showcase hiring opportunities, but it’s so much more! It shows the People of your company, the culture of your company, and what employees are saying in the form of testimonials.

Services

This tab is where your company and its products and services shine. List what you offer and include a focused description. You can also use this section to engage clients to recommend your company to others, and where they can share the value of your services.

Insights

The final tab allows you to share what employees have new roles, who has left the company, what other companies are visited, and tidbits like where employees came from, top skills and expertise, and who has the most recommendations.

Learn more about how to create and complete a LinkedIn company page.

Be your company’s V2.0

So now that you have some more information, it’s time to put that into action. If you have the need to make updates to both your personal and company profile, there is no time like the present.

Tie-in your updates and postings to your business goals, and then engage with your audience on a daily basis. Doing so builds the foundation on your journey to thought leadership, and just maybe the path to thought enlightenment.

[Image: Jeff Lamboy]