Monday, September 22, 2014

Connecting Your Profile To LinkedIn

How to Use LinkedIn for Business

from wikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can Edit
LinkedIn is a social media site that links professionals. You can find jobs, connect with friends or colleagues and create an interactive resume. However, LinkedIn is also a powerful tool to promote a business, whether you are a consultant or part of a corporation. Find out how to use LinkedIn for business.

Steps

Create a Professional Profile
  1. Treat LinkedIn as your online resume. Even if you intend to mainly promote your business, you can show your authority by becoming a LinkedIn professional and expert.
  2. Create a new account by clicking the "Join Today" link on LinkedIn.com.
  3. Follow LinkedIn "Profile Organizer" to expand your profile. This will include adding past and present jobs, a summary, hobbies, skills, education and more.
    • Make your profile public to ensure that you are being connected to your business on search engines. Use your name instead of "I" or "My" to improve your search engine results.
  4. Go to the contacts tab. Add connections in a number of ways.
    • Request LinkedIn connections through your email account. If you type in your email, LinkedIn will suggest email contacts who are active on LinkedIn. This is the fastest way to grow your connections. The more connections you have, the more information you will be able to share about your business.
    • Look through the "Suggested Connections" in the "Contacts" tab. LinkedIn will also suggest "People You May Know" on the right hand column of your screen.
  5. Complete your profile as thoroughly as possible. Add a photo that is clear and professional.
  6. Begin asking for recommendations. Email people to ask for recommendations on your profile. Complete endorsements for other people to strengthen your connections.
    • Complete your skill section, so that you can be eligible for endorsements. Colleagues and friends can attest to the skills you have without writing a recommendation.
  7. Update your profile regularly. Every time you add a new duty, job, organization or other aspect to your profile, LinkedIn will update your friends. This increases your job and professional visibility.
Create a Company Profile
  1. Go to the "Companies" tab. To the right of the search bar, you will find "Add a Company."
  2. Ensure that you are the official representative of the company. If you are not, appoint someone at the company to create the company profile and update it.
    • Use your company email to prove you are the official representative for the company.
  3. Fill out the 5 company sections. You can adjust your marketing info for a professional and creative social media environment.
    • You will need to fill out the Overview, Careers, Product Pages, Employees and Statistics sections. Make sure you have this information before you begin a company profile.
  4. Include a "Connect on LinkedIn" or "Recommend us on LinkedIn" button on your email signature, email newsletters and website. Try to connect all your social media and database channels, if possible.
  5. Send alerts to ask current employees to list the company profile on their profile. The listing will link to the company profile page.
  6. Add "Special Offers" to your "Products and Services" page. This will deliver special announcements or discounts to people who recommend or view your page.
  7. Return to the company page to view insights. These analytics will tell you who is viewing your page. You can experiment with targeting posts and messages to different groups of people.
LinkedIn Status Updates
  1. Post an update about your business to your personal account each week. Make sure it is relevant information or expert advice, rather than spam.
  2. Post links to your company website in your personal updates. Backlinks improve the search engine optimization (SEO) of your website. You are likely to generate leads from this practice.
  3. Become a blogger on your company website. An expert blog posted to your LinkedIn status update and linked to your Twitter and Facebook accounts will improve your connections, authority and web traffic.
  4. Post regular updates to your company page. You should include info about press releases, new promotions, new products and industry information. You may even choose to include info about new hires or excellent employees who have connected with the page via their own LinkedIn profiles.
  5. Post events to your company page. Invite people from your contacts and company connections to attend.
  6. Send email newsletters and messages to your professional contacts. Target certain people, like clients or former employees, with especially pertinent news from a blog or site. Go to the "Compose Message" section.
Start/Join a LinkedIn Group
  1. Search for several professional groups that you can join from your personal LinkedIn page. Every time you post to a forum, people will see you and your job/company title.
  2. Start your own expert group. Creating an expert group allows you to network and communicate with people who may be ideal customers.
  3. Increase your expertise through your LinkedIn group. These groups should serve to increase industry knowledge and communication, not directly promote a product or business. The more quality content and discussion you have, the larger your group will get and the more people will see your business online.
  4. Send announcements to group members. In the "Manage" options of your group, choose "Send an Announcement" up to every 7 days. Make sure your announcements are valuable, posting industry training sessions, events and more, instead of simply promoting your business.

Things You'll Need

  • LinkedIn professional profile
  • Profile picture
  • Company profile
  • Company email
  • Email contacts
  • Blogs
  • Links
  • LinkedIn groups
  • Recommendations
  • Endorsements
  • Status updates
  • Special promotions

Sources and Citations

Article provided by wikiHow, a wiki how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Use LinkedIn for Business. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

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