A common misconception is that LinkedIn is a job board or social network, but Cliff Rosenberg Managing Director of LinkedIn Australia and New Zealand disagrees. At a recent event by the #SMC Melbourne held at the Order of Melbourne, Cliff Rosenberg said that LinkedIn is not so much a social network but a professional network that also delivers intelligence to it’s users. Make no mistake, if you are marketing to other business it is worth using Linkedin for business and seeking business opportunities.
How LinkedIn delivers Intelligence to You
Whilst, Cliff Rosenberg didn’t touch on this point, one of the best ways of getting intelligence is through your own network. LinkedIn is a fabulous tool for getting in touch with difficult to reach prospects. By observing 2nd and 3rd degree connections, you can often find that the people you want to reach are connected to someone you know. Its a networking goldmine and I will discuss this in more detail later in this article.
LinkedIn Today
LinkedIn is also a platform for staying up to date with the latest information in your industry. A case in point in LinkedIn Today which was launched in March this year. LinkedIn Today picks up Top Headlines and stories from multiple industries that are shared the most by LinkedIn’s network of professionals.
Members can also view top trending news relevant to a particular industry and what is being shared those most from people within that industry. It shows the Top 3 stories that are relevant to you which in my case includes Marketing and Advertising, Internet and IT. If you are not happy with the information delivered, you can change your profile so you are delivered the Top Stories for different industries or from different sources. LinkedIn Today can be accessed by going to the Home Page.
LinkedIn Signal
Like LinkedIn Today, LinkedIn Signal also delivers information to you from your professional network. LinkedIn Signal, it marries the world of LinkedIn and Twitter by taking the stream of information from Twitter and making sense of all the Tweets. Essentially it is a view of Twitter via LinkedIn’s eyes – you could call it the Twitter for professionals.
You can locate LinkedIn Signal in your profile panel by going to the News tab at the top of your profile and then scrolling down to Signal. Once you are in the Signal dashboard, you can sort through the Tweets by 1st degree connections, 2nd degree connections, company, industry, time, location and much more. It can be a great way of picking up interesting information from your own professional network.
LinkedIn Is a Search Engine
These recent innovations from within the LinkedIn team, indicate that LinkedIn is much more about content – in particular curating content from around the web and delivering relevant information to its users. In some ways it is fast becoming a search engine in its own right much like Facebook has become.
The key difference between Facebook and LinkedIn when compared to Google is that information is being found by users rather than users having to look for it. Google isn’t quite there yet but it is rapidly changing and trying to adapt.
Why LinkedIn is Attractive to Marketers
Previously the hunting ground of recruiters and Human Resources personnel, LinkedIn is also very attractive for Marketers targeting businesses. LinkedIn’s statistics tell part of the story:
- Globally Facebook has over 500 million members (with 300 million active users),
- Twitter has 40 million
- LinkedIn has 50 million members.
LinkedIn might lag behind Facebook in terms of users but it has a very attractive demographic which advertisers and business to business (B2B) marketers find very attractive. This is because, according to Cliff Rosenberg, LinkedIn members have an average age of 43 years and an average income of $100K, which is higher than average income.
There are also 2 million users in Australia so using the tools inside LinkedIn can definitely help you reach people that you previously found difficult to target. Just as exciting is the fact that LinkedIn is growing, every second new users are signing up to LinkedIn globally. Marketers like growth.
How to Get In Touch With Difficult to Reach Contacts
LinkedIn have a number of free and paid tools that make it easy to reach your target market depending on who your want to target.
Paid Options
Of the paid options, LinkedIn Ads are a great paid option to target prospects because you can target prospects by Geography, Company, Job Title, Group, Gender and Age. There is a lot of talk that the ads are much more expensive but bear in mind you are reaching a more attractive demographic with higher disposable incomes as well business professionals.
If you are in recruitment, then the obvious way to reach potential candidates is via upgrading your account to Business, Business Plus or Executive which enables you to send messages to potential candidates outside your professional network. Otherwise you can go the route of Rio Tinto and Vodafone which have an annual license so they can approach LinkedIn members directly.
Free Options
A good way to connect with members is to join groups relevant to your profession. This is a very powerful tool. By joining a group, you can participate in conversations, ask questions, get advice or opinions. Hint: Its a pretty effective way to do informal market research and find out the key requirements are for your potential customers.
The key is not to sell but to add value and build your authority within your industry or profession. As you become more known, you might find people approaching you instead of you being the one to approach them.
Another way is to look at your connections and see who they are connected to. If they know someone you know, you could approach your contact directly and ask them to introduce you. If they are happy with your service, and know like and trust you they will be more than happy to recommend you to their contact.
The other alternative is to request that your contact recommends you in LinkedIn. If they make a recommendation about you, it will appear on the updates section of your prospects home page.
Speaking of recommendations, it is important to also get recommendations from people who can influence your career. When you ask for recommendations, send a note explaining how people can recommend you. Some people just don’t know how to go about it and LinkedIn do not have a big button highlighting people to recommend you.
Make sure your profile is 100% up to date, keyword rich and that you use a professional looking photo.
Use LinkedIn as Tool to Help You Rank Better in Search Engines
There are a number of things you can do to help you rank better in Search Engines – particularly if you are a business owner or Managing Director.
- Set up a company profile so that it will appear in search results. Use good keywords. If you aren’t sure, engage a professional to help you refine keywords. Do put your website URL in your company page. Make sure you also nominate yourself and at least one other person as admin in case one of you is not available.
- Request that your staff put themselves on LinkedIn. It might sound crazy since many people see LinkedIn as a job board, but it is a good way of getting multiple backlinks back to your website which will help you rank in search engines. I can hear the “Won’t people leave” objection now. My answer, if someone wants to leave, they will leave regardless of whether they are on LinkedIn or not. Is it better for a non-engaged person to leave or is it better to grow your business,
- Participate in group discussions – groups discussions appear in search results so it is a good tool to build your personal brand and your company in search engines.
How We Can Help
Swoop Digital can help you target prospects in LinkedIn by:
- Pimping out your Company Page on LinkedIn So it is Search Engine Friendly
- Researching and recommending which groups are most effective for you to join
- Monitoring group conversations and making recommendations where you should participate
- Conducting Market Research To Deliver Targeted LinkedIn Advertising
- Managing Your Linked In Ad Campaign
- Split Testing your LinkedIn Ads to Measure which Ads are most effective