Building a LinkedIn Strategy –Part 1

February 2nd,2012

LinkedIn is a business tool. Just like any business tool,to be effective there needs to be a plan in place to use it.

Many business professionals set up a personal profile and then walk away. The accept invitations randomly. They don’t follow up or build relationships. It’s like going to a networking event,passing out cards and walking away. No one wants to be that guy.

In this series we’re going to talk about how to build an effective LinkedIn strategy to ultimately grow your business.

Step One:The Basics

Your Profile

If you just set up a profile based on the basic information LinkedIn asks,you are not capitalizing on LinkedIn as a business tool. You need to remember LinkedIn is a website so it needs to be treated as one.

With that there are 5 key areas to make sure you complete. Those are:

Adding picture
Completing your current and past experience
Updating education
Asking and receiving at least 3 recommendations
Completing the Summary and Specialties.

With these in place you will more successfully be found not only on LinkedIn,but on other search engines such as Google. To find out more about these 5 areas,check out our article:5 Key Ways To Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile.

Company Page

The next piece you want to think about is having a company page set up on LinkedIn. Although the ability to have a company page has been around for a while,in 2011 LinkedIn allowed company pages to now post to their followers.

Setting up a company page allows LinkedIn to gather information about your company,group your employees in one place and allows you to showcase products and service (complete with reviews). Setting up a company page literally takes about 5 minutes and all you need is an email address associated with your website such as jen@yourlifesimplified.com. You cannot set up a company page with a Gmail,Yahoo,AOl or other online email account.

Navigation

The final foundational piece is being able to navigate through LinkedIn. Again it’s not enough to simply set up a profile. You should explore the other tools and resources on LinkedIn to use it as a fully functioning business tool.

Here is a short video describing the different areas of LinkedIn:

Next Step:Fan Strategy

Once you understand the foundations of LinkedIn,you can move onto Part 2:Developing a Fan Strategy.

What questions do you have about the foundations of LinkedIn? Ask them below. Remember no question is too small and something you ask may benefit someone else.

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Haven’t started using LinkedIn yet,or just at the beginning? Continue to follow this free series at Life Simplified or check out our 4 week LinkedIn 101 Home Study Course.