What are three thoughts that come to mind when you think about LinkedIn? Are they, boring? Plain? Underused? LinkedIn may be getting a bad wrap.

LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional networking site that connects you with colleagues, employees and friends to exchange ideas, information, recommendations and opportunities. With lots of opportunities to promote yourself and your business, LinkedIn is also a powerful networking site used to expand sales opportunities.

Steadily increasing its audience, LinkedIn has over half a billion users spread throughout 200 countries and territories. So, they must be doing something right. The real question is, what tools can YOU use on LinkedIn to benefit YOUR business?

Create a Company Page

Creating a company page enhances the credibility of your business. Your goal should be to entice potential customers with attractive graphics and informational content who are looking for more information about your company. You have the ability to upload videos, information about your services/products, post status/content updates, as well as feed your twitter posts and/or blog posts right to your company page.

Build Showcase Pages

Showcase pages permit you to tailor specific messages to your different primary audience segments. It allows LinkedIn members to follow the most valued or relevant aspects of your business that pertain to their specific needs or interests. For larger organizations with a diverse set of products and service offerings, creating multiple showcase pages may be detrimental to your success in LinkedIn marketing.

Join Groups

There are thousands of groups to join on LinkedIn that are relevant to your profession, hobbies, interests, etc. Be a part of these groups and interact with the discussions to build brand awareness. Providing useful feedback and content also helps position you (and your business) as an expert in the field.

Find Out Who’s Listening

Regularly check your stats to see who is looking at your profile or engaging with your posts. LinkedIn allows you to view individuals/companies that are searching your information. Use this as an opportunity to research these individuals/companies and send them useful information about your business.

Give Recommendations and Endorsements

Write honest and valuable recommendations for others who you are currently doing business with and endorse them for skills you have witnessed that person demonstrate. Recommendations and endorsements build credibility, grow business relationships and show that you are a valued employee and/or a trusted business to work with. Plus, some of the people who you have endorsed/recommended will likely return the favor.

Post Jobs

Businesses can submit job postings to LinkedIn to find potential matches for an open position. All followers and connections to the business will see the posting and have the ability to pass it on to potential candidates.

Take Advantage of the Search Bar

Take some time to research and connect with local employees and businesses. This will help develop business relationships and potential new leads. There are a number of targeting options available for any business that can be customized to reach a specific audience including an individual’s name, zip code, city, industry, current employer, job title, school attended, previous employers, nonprofit interests and more. Premium members can break a search down even more by listed groups, company size, experience level, job function and interests.

In order to establish a more comprehensive knowledge base of how you may be able to benefit from using LinkedIn, we recommend contacting one of our specialists so we can gain a better understanding of your needs and current situation before making any recommendations. To schedule a no-obligation meeting with us, please call 952-449-6800 or email info@fuzzyduck.com.

Don’t forget to connect with Fuzzy Duck on LinkedIn!