The most successful business and social network on the internet is LinkedIn. It is important for you as a company to have a profile. After all, it is not only used as your own online business card, but also to join groups in your field and make connections. I have listed some practical tips here for using LinkedIn.
1. The P of promotion
Ensure that your personal profile looks impeccable at all times. It can be visited by others and serves as your business card. As an entrepreneur, you would do well to link a company profile to this. This company will then become visible on your personal profile. If someone is interested in the products or services you provide, they will likely click on you. Once that happens, you will be taken to the company profile, where a lot of information about the company can be found, such as: a company summary, referrals, a blog, and so on.
2. Finding and being found
When you frequently include the words you want to be found for in your company profile, you increase the likelihood of ranking higher in Google search results. Research has shown that people often only click on the first four search results, and 97% of Dutch people use Google. Therefore, the higher you rank, the greater the chance that people will find your LinkedIn profile via Google. For example, if you are a lawyer: Lawyer | divorce | Gelderland | immigration law | inheritance law.
3. How do I send a tweet to LinkedIn?
Twitter has been able to be linked to LinkedIn for several years now. This is particularly useful for business, so don't post all your private tweets to your LinkedIn profile. Business contacts aren't interested in the fact that you ate kale and sausage for dinner 😉 You can choose to use the hashtag #IN, and your tweets will appear on your LinkedIn profile. The reverse is also possible; next to the Share button on LinkedIn, there is a Twitter box. If you click this, whatever you want to send will appear on your Twitter profile.
4. Provide recommendations
If you receive positive written feedback from multiple clients, it is advisable to add this to your LinkedIn references. On the right side of the page, you can see the percentage of your profile complete; the more additions, the better! Only then will your profile be 100% complete.
5. Who viewed my profile?
People never just stumble upon your profile; they are interested in you as a person or in the company. This means that if they are interested in your company, there is a chance they will contact you soon. To the right of the page, you can click on “who viewed my profile” to see exactly who has visited your profile in the past few days. It is also possible to see how often your name appeared in a LinkedIn search result and which search terms were associated with it. However, this last feature is a paid one.
6. The bigger your network, the better
Individuals or companies with many contacts are easier to find on the internet. When searching for people, those with the most contacts will appear at the top of the search results. Therefore, the chance of being found increases when you have more contacts. Another important advantage is that everyone may have someone in their circle who could be of interest to your business network.
7. Show interest in other companies/people by following them on LinkedIn
It has only been possible to follow companies and individuals on LinkedIn for a short time. The best part about this is that you continuously receive updates, so you can stay informed about what they are currently working on. It is interesting for you to know if you are interested in a particular company or person. But it is also nice to follow clients, so that when you speak to them again, you can join the conversation about the company. The client will be pleasantly surprised!
8. Groups within your business network
People always want to belong somewhere. When you create a group and people find your organization interesting enough, they will join. Discussions can arise here regarding one or more topics on which everyone can express their opinion. As a company, it is important that you are also a member of certain groups. Interesting business networks could well emerge from such discussions. It is also possible to create your own event. This lists when and where specific activities are taking place, and people can then indicate that they will be attending. Their contacts can see this as well, creating the chance that more people will become interested in the event or even want to attend.
9. Creating surveys
The main purpose of a survey is often to inform the provider how customers feel about certain matters. In this way, people also feel more involved with the organization because they feel that their opinion counts! This could immediately be a good reference to add to your LinkedIn profile.
10. Advertise
The Dutch are the most active users on LinkedIn in all of Europe. With a network of 35 million people, it is the largest business network in the world. This means that when you place an advertisement here, a large number of people will read it. You can select the advertisements you place based on age, industry, job title, and so on. This is also a paid service from LinkedIn, where you can pay per click or per 1000 impressions.
I hope you found these LinkedIn tips helpful. Feel free to ask questions anytime.
Good luck with your profile!