Linkedin.com is a vibrant professional social network of which you must be a part. If you’re serious about marketing your online business, one of the most respectable and useful online networking communities is Linedin.com. You’re likely familiar with Facebook pages, and profiles and Linkedin.com is sort of like this, only better. On LinkedIn.com you can create a personal profile but you can also create a company profile.
Linkedin.com is more professional in nature. You’re not going to play games on Linkedin.com, or share your child’s potty habits. No one wants to know what you had for dinner, or anything about your politics. What they care about is your business acumen. This is all business and not for personal information. Yes, you should be yourself, and how much you share directly depends on what type of business you’re in. But always keep in mind potential employers and potential clients are here.
To make the most of your LinkedIn.com membership it’s important to ensure that you fill out your profile completely. Put a nice headshot that projects a professional image that fits in with your niche. Include as much information as possible in the profile itself. Put something in every section. Include a feed to your blog, and connect Linkedin.com to your Twitter account. This is not the time to be anonymous. Today, online business owners must be open, upfront and honest about who they are. Be yourself so that you can connect with people.
Current contacts are easily brought into your Linkedin.com system via the handy Gmail important function. It’s a great way to find people you already know so that you can connect to appropriate people. They key is connecting to people you know, have worked with, and then via them connecting to new people who might want to work with you too. You should also be helping people in your network make connections. If there are people in your address list that you’re only connected with due to very personal reasons who have no possibility of providing anything useful to your LinkedIn experience, don’t add them.
Send an invite to connect with you on LinkedIn.com to your current clients, and the subscribers who are on your email lists. Once people connect with you that you’ve done business with request a recommendation via LinkedIn’s system. Additionally, give recommendations to people with whom you’ve worked and you truly want to publically recommend them. Remember that if you recommend someone you should truly be happy with their services or products.
Join relevant groups and participate in the group. Give people advice, have intelligent business related discussions. You are promoting yourself, but not in a way that is loud and used-car salesmen like, but in a way that demonstrates your knowledge and skills to the world. Contribute in a useful way and you’ll impress people who will want to do business with you.
There are three levels of membership prices ranging from $19.95 per month up to $99.00 per month. Each membership offers a different amount of access to connections including the people you do not know, the ability to search profiles, and learn information about companies. You can pay your membership monthly or yearly. Start with the free account because it is fully functional and there is no reason to get an upgraded membership right off the bat. Instead, concentrate on building an excellent profile and building up your connections.
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