I am not sure how many of you out there are familiar with the business networking site LinkedIn, but if you’re not you should be.
LinkedIn is a social networking site focused on the business community that was started in 2002. It currently has over 161 million members, and is getting new members at 2 per second.
This isn’t like the other social media site such as Facebook and MySpace, LinkedIn allows you to connect and network with high level decision makers. At one point the average household income of the members was $104,000.
As you can see, LinkedIn can provide valuable connections for your small business. However, directly connecting to others is only the tip of the iceberg. LinkedIn also provides groups you can join to connect to others based on industry, interest, or affiliation.
By joining these groups, you automatically are pseudo-connected to everyone in the group. You can send them invitations directly since you are in the same group. You are also able to create and join in discussions within the group. The more active you are in a group, the more you are recognized.
In addition to joining groups, you are able to create your own group.
As the owner of the group, you are now able to send messages to the entire group. This is key because these messages go into the members actual inbox, not their LinkedIn inbox. This is a great way to quickly build a massive email list for your small business. Many people create local groups and have in person group meetings as well as just connecting online.
There is also the benefit of finding employees for your small business through LinkedIn. Many job seekers head to LinkedIn to find their next position. Executives from all of the Fortune 500 are represented on the site, and the sites job board is very active.
In future articles I will explore specific areas within LinkedIn. From creating or beefing up your profile to creating and running your first group. You can also join my group on LinkedIn, The Small Business Success Network.
I hope to see you there!
{ 11 comments }
Linked In Social Medial is quite a powerful tool, as it strictly concerns our professional career (rather than personal one). It’s a great way to find partners, develop businesses and promote companies.
Linked In is a great site and very user friendly. I have been using it since a year and it has been very beneficial in finding employees for my business as well as discussion in groups are of great use. Thanks for sharing this great post.
hi Mathena,
nice introduction of linkedin business network.
i have been engaged with linkedin since 201o,well,actually i am marketing my small business on linkedin,joining groups,spread my brand,i think linkedin is a business version of facebook,very good for business,career.
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Some good advice for anyone needing to improve their business network. Linkedin´s power can help you network locally, nationally and globally. I have recently started using Linkedin more and it has helped provide new connections and business contacts that would have taken years to develop.
LinkedIn does have many opportunities for small business. I like to use the discussion groups to find out what issues are trending with my customers and to see what my competitors are talking about. This information helps you to distil and target your sales messages. One word of caution though. Don’t abuse the group by using it as a place to spam people either in the forum or in their email. This will hurt your branding and yor reputation among your peers. It’s more for market research than direct sales.
Hi,
The best and more powerful social media Linked give more features to user like job and much more give lot of traffic also. I total agree with Sean Mathena it also grow your small business. keep it up Sean share more on your blog.
Thank
Kamran
Kamran From@Fire Truck Book recently posted..The Only (or first?) Mac The Fire Truck plush toy!
I used to be big on Linkedin, but kinda fell out of favour with it as I wasn’t getting results, but it seems to have grown a lot, time to check it out again I guess!
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I like the comparison of LinkedIn with other social networking sites which highlights its own unique features. I have been using LinkedIn too and it is proven to help grow small businesses.
Haily Poole recently posted..Juno Media now a Recommended Agency
I’ll admit that I have kind of ignored LinkedIn for a while since I have been getting better results from other channels. I guess I should revisit it. Thanks for posting this information.
DeAnna Troupe@learn small business recently posted..Small Business Advice: Show Your Customers Some Love This Valentine’s Day
I was comtemplating on whether I should start creating a linkedin profile or not. This has made my decision and I definitely will
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LinkedIn is a powerful social media tool that we should not overlook as small business owners. You just need to learn how to tweak it and use it to our advantage.
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