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Social media lay people may regard LinkedIn as, primarily, a venue for networking and for career advancement—but smart business owners know better. They know that LinkedIn is nothing less than a critical tool for brand enhancement and lead generation. Indeed, when used properly, LinkedIn can actually be used to drive traffic to a company website and ultimately to garner higher sales. The trick, of course, is having the right LinkedIn marketing strategy. Six basic pointers are offered below....
While LinkedIn only drives 14 percent of social media traffic compared to Facebook's 54 percent, the professional social network has a higher conversion rate and is more effective for B2B conversions. With over 28 million unique monthly visitors, LinkedIn is the most business-focused social media platform for professionals. The LinkedIn statistics are incredible: LinkedIn has the highest user engagement. Did you know that only 1 percent of LinkedIn users drive 26 percent of the site's traffic? This means that the active community on LinkedIn is extremely involved and open to networking with professionals like you! LinkedIn users want your solicitation. In real life, we hate the idea of cold calls and solicitors. However, LinkedIn users overwhelmingly state that they welcome business proposals online. Your profile is viewed by people you don't know. On social networking sites like Facebook, your friends and family are your main audience. On LinkedIn, however, coworkers only account for 25 percent of views. The other 75 percent is comprised of other professionals in the industry, recruiters, networkers, and much more! Since LinkedIn fosters an atmosphere conducive for networking, professionals and brands should optimize their profiles for business-to-business conversions....
When it comes to social media activity in your personal life, breaches of etiquette can easily be dismissed by your friends and family. However, on LinkedIn, the dominant social network for business, mistakes can affect your career and the way your peers and colleagues view you. A friend might tell you nicely when you're being annoying, but you won't get the same patience in a business setting—and you might not get a second chance. Be careful how you conduct yourself. Otherwise, you risk soiling your professional reputation and being "that guy." Are you a LinkedIn misfit? The following are annoying LinkedIn behaviors that you might want to review to ensure that you are not sending out the wrong message to your peers. In the interest of full transparency, I admit I have been guilty of a few of these, and I plan to revisit some of my own LinkedIn practices....
In order to make Linkedin work for your brand, you’ll need to incorporate certain practices into your strategy. There are various social networks that can be incorporated into any online marketing strategy. Through these networks, we can meet, network, and improve our visibility to various audience groups. Amongst the most valuable to anyone working on personal branding is Linkedin. Designed and organized with the concept of brand networking, this site proves incredibly valuable to any brand and their online marketing strategy. Like other social networks, Linkedin has its own audience and application. In order to make Linkedin work for your brand, you’ll need to incorporate certain practices into your strategy. First of all, you must consider the purpose of your profile. It might be improving visibility, making new connections, or even expressing your expertise. But for most brands, it is a combination of various purposes, designed specifically for their brand. The goal here is to determine exactly what you want out of your Linkedin profile so that you can work towards getting the results you want....
... Today, most people have a LinkedIn presence, but very few people actually take the time to build an active presence. The reality is that when used correctly, especially in the B-to-B space, LinkedIn can generate tremendous results. Staying active on LinkedIn is easier than you think – for only 15 minutes a few times a week you can participate on LinkedIn and get results....
...now the new Endorsements feature makes it easier for you to give recognition to your professional connections for their skills and expertise. Leveraged properly, Endorsements also has marketing applications for your small business by promoting your products and services.
LinkedIn users should already be familiar with the feature that allows them to write a formal recommendation for a friend or co-worker (and vice versa). The Endorsement tool is similar except you need only click on the “Endorse” button on a connection’s page to recognize them for a particular skill (think of it like the “like” button on Facebook). You still have the option of writing a longer, more descriptive recommendation, but Endorsements is the way to go for more casual recommendations....
[Really good advice from Tamar Weinberg for maximizing your ROI from linkedIn ~ Jeff]
Why Starting a LinkedIn Group Will Change Your Business Forever http://t.co/3iBKw9mg... I might be the first person to have made this bold statement: Starting your own LinkedIn group is the single greatest marketing tactic that you have at your disposal. And I do not mean to say greatest tactic within LinkedIn. I’m referring to the entire spectrum of possible marketing activities.... [Selection of Linkedln strategies for business that are worth exploring. ~ Jeff]
Via Baochi
It started about a month ago. I would see emails that told me certain individuals endorsed some skill or other that I had listed in my LinkedIn profile. ...LinkedIn has been more and more aggressive lately when I visit, prompting me to add skills or other personal information, check out people I may know, etc. Sometimes it takes me a while to get to the reason I actually logged in -- to communicate with someone connected to me about something I need to deal with right away. And then this morning, a trusted marketing colleague of mine sent me an email about this new LinkedIn feature with these questions... Kristin Burnham had some good recommendations for IT professionals in CIO Magazine to take advantage of these endorsements and make sure the right ones are being endorsed. That's one way to look at this new option and make the most of it. David Wolinsky's post on NBC Chicago's online site had a similar left-handed compliment about LinkedIn's endorsements with a great title for his posting -- "Why LinkedIn's endorsements are awful, but you should use them anyway." ... [Useful tips on how to handle the new LinkedIn recommendations and endorsements ~ Jeff]
If you haven't yet considered LinkedIn as a lead generation and sales development tool, these 12 tips will quickly change your mind! LinkedIn isn’t just a powerful professional networking tool—when used correctly, it can help you exponentially increase your ability to generate business leads. After all, with more than 175 million users (over 50 percent of which are business owners, managers, senior management and C-level executives), LinkedIn delivers a ready-made professional audience that you can tap into to further your business development. A quick note? Before we dive in to how you can generate leads from LinkedIn, keep in mind that, as with other social networking platforms, one of the keys to LinkedIn success is to use the site often. I’ll talk about this more later, especially when it comes to your profile, but you’ll want to get yourself in the mindset to check in on and engage with LinkedIn on a daily basis, if not more often. Sure, it may be tough to find the time, but in my experience, diligent use of the site can pay off in a big way, an incentive that likely makes up for the investment of your time and resources. Without further ado, let’s dive in to the 12 most effective ways to generate leads on LinkedIn....
With the introduction of endorsements happening recently, LinkedIn has made a vast number of changes to its product over the past year. Sites are constantly evolving and the mantra of innovate or die is more apparent for social media sites that want to stay relevant. In case users get bored, changes are made to either improve the experience, or just to freshen things up. Its most recent change is the introduction of the ‘Endorsement’ button, which hopes to change the way we use the site.
Despite not being entirely reliant on page visits, instead it focuses on data and that generates more than enough for the company, LinkedIn has made a vast number of changes to its site, some were practical while others are cosmetic. Either way, the company has been very busy in fine-tuning the site to meet user demand and prepare itself for the challenges ahead. With that in mind, here is a roundup of the many changes it has introduced this year....
[Interesting overview - JD]
Last week I was reading one of my industry news sources and an article caught my attention. I wanted to let my friends know about the piece so, as usual, I went to tweet about it. And that’s when I noticed this: There were more people posting the article to LinkedIn than there were people tweeting about it. And that’s when the sledgehammer hit me. Twitter has a huge new competitor with the potential to swamp them, particularly in one critical area. And, it is all of their own making. Back in July Twitter announced that it was no longer going to allow users to post tweets automatically to LinkedIn. Twitter gave us the usual gumpf about wanting to “provide the core Twitter user experience through a consistent set of products and tools”. What Twitter really meant to say was, “We don’t want anyone reading tweets where we can’t put ads”.... [Valuable insight for social media managers - JD]
With 93% of recruiters using LinkedIn to discover new talent and 89% saying they have hired an applicant through LinkedIn, you cannot afford having a profile that does not deliver results. A few changes can mean the difference between being “in the stack” of profiles searched and at the “top of the pile.” Your LinkedIn profile Summary is just the place to start. Human Psychology Demands a Digestible Summary: What Do You Do?
The first thing most people ask you at a party is “what do you do?”
They are not looking for your elevator pitch, executive summary and certainly not your life story. Rather they are submitting to a basic psychological need to process and understand information as a whole before delving into it’s detailed parts.
[Good read for job hunters and business developers - JD]
Via Anita Windisman
Follow these tips for transforming your LinkedIn profile into a lead generating machine. Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Google+ and Pinterest. These are the platforms many social media experts claim can be the linchpin in developing your online presence. While all of them can be useful marketing tools, there's another social network that can be more effective in generating leads and sales: LinkedIn. While your competitors are busy spinning their wheels getting "likes" on Facebook and sending a barrage of tweets on Twitter, you can use different tactics on LinkedIn to build an online presence and generate profitable prospects. Here are three steps to help transform your LinkedIn profile into a lead generating machine...
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LinkedIn, now at 225 million users, continues to introduce more features to its site to keep people returning to the it and staying there for longer. Today it’s the turn of LinkedIn Today, its social news page, which is getting a new feature called Channels. The feature is rolling out starting today to English-speaking users. LinkedIn says that it plans to announce the service formally on Wednesday. Channels bring together curated content around general subjects like technology, marketing strategies, retail and healthcare — 20 in all, with more getting added soon — with each one combining popular posts from news sources with those from selected influencers in the given topic. Channels will be replacing “industries,” a feature that has been around since LinkedIn first launched LinkedIn Today in 2011. Industries were both more specific in terms of what they covered, and also more geared at news that was trending on the site, and specifically among your contacts. Channels, on the other hand, attempts to be more interdisciplinary, making use of the idea that there will be people interested in “social media” who are not social media professionals. It also gives some more mileage to the list of 250+ influencers that LinkedIn introduced in October 2012, with their posts also getting rolled into the news mix. It looks like over time, this could also include added multimedia such as presentations using SlideShare and more....
LinkedIn may not be the most exciting or fun social network out there, but it’s an amazing tool for businesses – if you master it and make full use of its features you can really help your business in the long run. I personally use LinkedIn quite often for business reasons (what else, after all?) and I found it has lots of amazing benefits. LinkedIn is great for: - Networking - Lead generation - Promotional purposes (paid and un-paid) The trick with LinkedIn is to know all the little secrets so you can make full use of the popular social network. It has lots of interesting features that not everybody knows about and they launch new ones at a very rapid rate, probably due to their perpetually increasing number of users, so it can be very hard to keep up and know which features to use to get the most out of LinkedIn. This has been bugging me lately so I decided to make a to-the-point list with LinkedIn’s most relevant features for businesses....
Critical content marketing strategy.... Do you have a Company Page on LinkedIn for your brand and business? If not, stop reading and use this guide to take care of that first. Back already? Ok. Now that you have a LinkedIn Company Page, that means you have a home for your business on LinkedIn. One of benefits of having a Company Page is that you can share Status Updates. Just like your personal LinkedIn account, and any other social network, status updates can include something about you or your business, an article you've written, or an article someone else has written that you want to share. On LinkedIn, those status updates can even include files and video and SlideShare presentations. After you've been sharing updates for a while and have attracted some followers to your Company Page, you're going to want to start paying attention to the analytics that LinkedIn provides. These are called Insights, just like on Facebook Pages. LinkedIn actually provides three sets of statistics: Per Post, Follower and Page....
Are you wondering how you can use LinkedIn to generate quality leads? To learn how to use LinkedIn to attract leads and build networking relationships, I interview Stephanie Sammons for this episode of the Social Media Marketing podcast. Stephanie Sammons blogs at Build Online Influence and is the CEO of Wired Advisor—a firm that helps those in the financial industry. She also writes exclusively about LinkedIn for Social Media Examiner.Stephanie shares her LinkedIn knowledge, tips and experiences when it comes to social networking...
What do I mean by stirring things up? I don't mean going into LinkedIn and asking for a sale. Nor do I mean setting high expectations that if I contact 100 people on LinkedIn I'll close 10 sales.
Instead, I go in, shake the branches, have some fun, and then sit back and let the apples fall where they may.
By releasing myself of any big expectations, I'm usually pleasantly surprised when something good happens....
To advance your business, you need to stay current on trends and continue to innovate. A powerful and effective way to amplify your marketing mix and generate new LinkedIn_inbound_marketing business is social network marketing. Establishing a ... ...social media presence for your business is important. Effective social network marketing involves creating and sharing information-rich content. Social networks can be effective channels to make connections, share content, create a following and market your business. LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network with over 175 million users, who spend an average of 7 minutes a day on the site. LinkedIn has a visitor-to-lead conversion rate of 2.74%, which is outstanding and almost three times higher than the conversion rates of Facebook and Twitter. Get LinkedIn, and amplify your marketing mix with social network marketing.... [Really good LinkedIn tips. ~ Jeff]
LinkedIn Company Pages: learn how the new Linkedin layout makes it easier for people to find, follow and engage with your Company Page. Do you have a LinkedIn Company page? Have you employed the newly designed look and features? If you haven’t created a LinkedIn Company Page, now is the time to do so. The new layout makes it easier for people to find, follow and engage with your Company Page. Here are the new design updates and features that you can take advantage of on your Company Page.... [Practical, actionable tips ~ Jeff]
With LinkedIn coming out with a new design for company pages it's time to create/claim your company page if you haven't already. Here are the steps that you need to take. [Six easy steps to a company LinkedIn page ~ Jeff]
A step-by-step guide for social media managers. On the heels of a home page redesign, LinkedIn has unveiled a new look for company Page. A number of aesthetic changes (and some improved functionality) unites for one purpose: “Simplifying the LinkedIn experience across our core products,” says LinkedIn’s Mike Grishaver. LinkedIn is urging the administrators of company pages to upgrade to the new design before Nov. 30—at that time LinkedIn will automatically convert pages, which could lead to lost content for companies—however, the social network has not yet indicated when page admins can begin the conversion from old to new. Regardless, we’ll show you, step by step, how to convert your page.... [Very practical, valuable information for social media managers- JD]
Are you being disrespectful to people when inviting them to join your LinkedIn network? Well, you might be if you are using that horrible standard invitation – you know, the one that s... simply auto fills. You are trying to encourage important professionals to become part of your valuable first-degree network, so show them some respect! How do you make a five-star connection request?... [Good tips for better LinkedIn networking - JD]
This LinkedIn training lays out the crucial steps to having the perfect profile in 18 detailed steps complete with helpful screenshots. Signing up for a LinkedIn account is easy enough but if you want to know how to create a LinkedIn profile that will attract your target market, this article is probably the most complete breakdown I’ve ever done on the subject outside of my advanced LinkedIn training course, the LinkedIn Profit Formula.
The key to your success on LinkedIn begins with a powerful and professional presence. You must strategically write your profile with your ideal client in mind before you start connecting to maximize the impact of your first impression online....
[Smart advice for LinkedIn success - JD]
If you haven’t already included LinkedIn in your company’s online social media efforts, then you should certainly consider adding a LinkedIn company page to your web presence arsenal. LinkedIn is considered one of the most influential social media platforms on the web, and can make a huge difference in terms of your business’ social media marketing strategy. A LinkedIn page can connect you with a really wide net of potential partners, customers, suppliers and helpful contacts, and requires a lot less regular attention than many of your other social media accounts. To gain some very real benefits in terms of connections and new business, use these tips to set up a really effective company LinkedIn page.... [Practical tips for LinkedIn biz results - JD]
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Another Jim Kouzes quote: "Stories are a powerful tool for teaching people about what’s important and what’s not, what works and what doesn’t, what is and what could be. Through stories, leaders pass on lessons about shared values and get others to work together."