Is LinkedIn for small business owners? If you are a small business and you’re not taking advantage of a LinkedIn marketing strategy, you are missing out. LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network and is a great social media marketing tool, no matter the company size.
In this article we go over the tools and things LinkedIn offers that help your business start conversations with new prospects, build towards success, and help you with a guide on the steps to take to make your LinkedIn profile reach new audiences for your small business.
Why Social Media Works for Small Businesses
No matter your industry or product, the world expects your company to have a presence on Google and across social media. While posting on platforms like Instagram and Facebook helps boost credibility, garners comments, and helps you stay in the mix among competitors, the top lead-generating social media site for businesses is LinkedIn.
LinkedIn for small business offers the potential of listing jobs and career opportunities for recruiting and hiring. They also let you start discussions in your niche to reach new friends and potential partners. You can share photos, tell your company story, and build the value of everything your business offers on the internet using the networking potential of your LinkedIn profile and app.
Is LinkedIn Good For Small Businesses?
Indeed, LinkedIn provides small business owners with the means to expand their professional circle, form relationships with clients and other small businesses, become visible to desired audience members, and remain in the know about industry trends.
Is LinkedIn For Businesses Free?
Signing up for LinkedIn is free, but for increased visibility for your business, you can pay for a premium membership.
This allows messaging to people you’re not linked to, seeing who has visited your profile in the past three months, and access to business information. These perks assist in creating greater visibility, refining your mark, and growing leads.
As a premium member, you will also have the ability to monitor LinkedIn data.
Leveraging LinkedIn for Business: Our Top 3 Tips
If you’re interested in promoting your business on LinkedIn you’ll need to create a company page. This is free and will professionally showcase your company. It lets you share news, announce new products or services, and engage with potential customers.
Your company profile should be filled with relevant content to attract followers. Developing a strong main page should be a key goal you have. A trustworthy main profile is vital to attracting prospective customers as a part of your company’s content marketing strategy.
You can add your logo, post videos, and add relevant content to your LinkedIn page that matters to your audience.
1. Craft Your Description and About Sections with Care
One of the most critical aspects of your LinkedIn page is the description. If you’re using your LinkedIn for small business a company description should explain what your company does and how you do it. These are typically 2000 characters or so. But don’t just write a dry description; include some interesting facts. Include the number of customers you helped. Share something that sets your organization apart.
What resources does your business have that could entice buyers?
When creating your company page, it’s also a good idea to include some deets in the about section. That’s because it’s the first thing a person will see when they land on your page. A great tagline that highlights your service and experience in the industry never hurts.
In addition to a description and logo, we definitely add a properly formatted cover photo. You can use a photograph of your team or a decorative visual. While you don’t have to include information about price, you do want to share details about what sets you apart and what makes your company’s mission different from the competition.
What are your business’s values and vision? Have you experienced massive growth? Use the power of conversation and messaging to get more views on your profile and interact with more potential customers.
To promote your company page, you can share it with other companies, post it to your email signature, or join some of the LinkedIn groups. Depending on how large your small business is, you may choose to create a Showcase Page. This page is a more detailed version of your company’s profile.
2. Work with influencers
If you want to gain more exposure on social media, one of the best ways to do it is by working with influencers. This can improve your current lead generation process and improve your brand’s reputation.
There are several key factors to consider when working with influencers. First, you need to have an advertising budget. You also need to define your campaign goals for any LinkedIn ads.
Next, you must research the content types and influencers you want to work with. Choose an influencer with a niche that is related to your business. In addition, you need to make sure that your influencer is a trustworthy source.
Influencers are often overwhelmed with requests. Some of them may offer free products in exchange for a shout-out. However, most of them will request payment. Therefore, setting a fair commission structure is important, especially if you don’t want your brand to get a bad wrap with other influencers.
When reaching out to an influencer, be polite. Make it clear that you’re looking for help using LinkedIn for small business needs. But avoid giving simple answers. Be creative in your questions.
Your pitch should be short. The pitch email should include a personal note, a suggested topic for guest posts, and a brief introduction to your brand. It should also include your potential benefits beyond payment.
Before you send out a pitch, look at the influencer’s LinkedIn profile and other LinkedIn pages they’ve worked with before. Generally, this will give you an idea of their style and personality. Also, you can check their second-level connections.
Remember that you’re trying to establish a long-term relationship. Not all influencers will be interested in working with you. However, you can create a partnership that will benefit both parties.
You can find a lot of great influencers on LinkedIn. Search through the different LinkedIn groups by keywords. You should also join LinkedIn groups or create your own LinkedIn group to connect with influencers and other LinkedIn members.
3. Optimize your profile when using LinkedIn for small business
Brand owners often don’t realize their LinkedIn profiles may be the first thing their potential clients look at. Make sure it’s optimized to drive more companies and more sales your way.
Identify the most effective keywords and phrases to use on your LinkedIn page. Keywords and phrases help users find you when searching on the platform. This all leads to more money in your account.
Include a cover photo. Your photo is the most important part of your brand’s LinkedIn profile. A high-resolution picture will make your store look professional and appealing. Select a picture that is relevant to your brand and your community if support from your local city is important to your bottom line. Share what your place looks like, share pictures of employees and
Publish regularly. Brands with successful profiles know that their LinkedIn page is an opportunity to show off their expertise and build trust. Use your profile to create and manage groups. Drive engagement with posts and questions that your customer base cares about. You can also include samples of what you do. Share a recent order you’ve completed. If your company has a blog, share links to it here.
Share the ways you care about customer service and meeting the needs of your consumer base. Share a worst case scenario and how you solved the problem. Share your knowledge in your industry and help others.
Let your audience know about the type of things you create, the choice and options available, share about different delivery methods and features of your products.
Including your website on your LinkedIn homepage can increase visibility and boost search analytics both on Google and LinkedIn.
Adding a good-quality background image is a must. The size should be no smaller than 1584 pixels by 396 pixels.
Include a clever headline. Choosing a picture that best represents your skills and the brand’s personality is key.
Users are looking for companies with clear profiles and consistent voices online. As such, if you are not using your LinkedIn page to its fullest, you are losing out on opportunities to grow your company.
Putting together a well-written, searchable, and optimized personal LinkedIn profile is an excellent step to growing your business. This can lead to more traffic, more meetings, and more sales.
Once you’ve created the perfect LinkedIn post, it’s time to share it. You should share your posts to any relevant LinkedIn group or page you’re on. Sharing written content as a part of your business LinkedIn strategy will help generate qualified leads and have your business show up on search results.
Create content that is valuable and informative to your audience when using LinkedIn for small business
By creating content that is useful to your audience, you can build trust with your readers.
To be useful to your viewers, begin by curating your posts to your location and niche. As an example, you could post a message about an event in your town on related LinkedIn groups. But, you should think about the hashtags you use in the post.
Utilizing hashtags that do not have much appeal can restrict your reach. Instead, mix prevalent and lesser-known hashtags.
Next, you can add images and videos to your posts. You should tag the authors of the linked content.
Incorporating these supplemental elements will make your articles better for your followers. Additionally, you should diversify the amount of text in your posts and the material you present. Longer and more in-depth posts will be more successful on LinkedIn than shorter one-liners.
Creating an effective strategy will allow you to stand out from other profiles on the platform. This will help you to establish your brand as an industry expert, and you’ll also be able to reach more potential customers.
Keep these tips in mind as you plan your next social media campaign on LinkedIn.
Looking for more ways to boost your reach on LinkedIn? Check out more of our services here.
