STAYING CONNECTED ON LINKEDIN

LinkedIn, which is sometimes thought of as Facebook for business people, is the world’s largest professional networking platform. With over 575 million members, members use the site to connect with business associates, current and potential clients, and co-workers, former school or university friends.

It can be useful to think of LinkedIn as an online CV for your business, a way to showcase achievements, recommendations and what you are all about.

Here are a few of our thoughts about how your business make the most out of LinkedIn?

Contact and connect

Social media is all about making connections, and LinkedIn is no different. LinkedIn is an effective way to connect and engage with a professional, career focused audience. Here at Nexus we recommend that you should dedicate a bit of time to building your business a base of connection from people you already know, whether personally or professionally. Once you have a base, after any meetings, networking events or chance meetings, connect. Connect on LinkedIn with as many people as possible. Once you’ve connected, you will be able to see the full profile, and their connections. These become your “second-degree connections” and allows for some great networking possibilities, as you can connect with them directly.

Start posting

 By posting regularly about achievements and important meetings, your business can remain on the radar for other people in your industry. If you take pictures at events you attend in a business capacity, then you should tag people and share them. If you have read an interesting article that is relevant the share it.

There are so many ways to be active on LinkedIn as a business that will help portray to others that you are knowledgeable and active in your industry. You can record and share videos via LinkedIn from your phone as a nice way to add a human element to your business profile. Another interesting way to engage with your new connections is by writing an article. LinkedIn lets you publish full articles, via its Publishing Platform. Once published, the article stays on your profile for new connections to see.

And remember, add captions to videos before posting. 85% of social media user watch video’s without sound, so make sure your message isn’t lost.

Boost your organisation’s profile

 LinkedIn is a great way to boost your organisations profile, not only through connecting with people in your industry but by allowing potential clients or customers to be able to see what you are all about. Once you’ve set up a business account, you can use LinkedIn analytics to get a picture of the people who visit the page. This can help you to target your content more effectively and ensure that you are hitting your target markets. If you want to get even more out of LinkedIn, the paid accounts allows you to reach out to likely prospects, and to keep track of key personnel changes in your industry.

Alignment with broader communications strategy

One final reminder, it is critical that the approach your organisation takes to LinkedIn aligns with its broader communications strategy. Social media should be seen as another platform for communicating a consistent message.

Overall, remember that LinkedIn is a professional site, so the content and tone of your business account should be relevant and professional, but that doesn’t mean it can’t also be fun.

Should you or your team require assistance in developing a social media plan please don’t hesitate to get in touch.