In the business world, companies are using social networking sites to create brand awareness, as an online reputation management tool, for recruiting, to study competitors, and as a lead generating tool. These companies are using these tools to stay in front of their current and prospective customers.
Social networking sites build online communities of people who share interests and/or activities, or who are interested in exploring the interests and activities of others. Social networking has encouraged new ways to communicate and share information, and are being used regularly by millions of people each day.
There are 3 social networking tools that can help you promote your business: LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. This week we will take a look at LinkedIn.
LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com) is a business focused website that allows registered users to maintain a list of contact details of people they know and trust. These so-called connections can be used to gain an introduction to someone you wish to know through a mutual, trusted contact. They can also be used to find jobs, people and business opportunities recommended by someone within your contact network. LinkedIn allows its users to form and join groups. The group function provides larger communities for users to interact, post questions and participate with users who are interested in the same topics.
How you can use LinkedIn to promote your business
- Create and maintain your personal profile
- Link your profile to your business’ website
- Find business and personal contacts
- Interact with others on a regular basis
- If you are an expert on a topic matter, start a “group” to form a community of interest
- Consider using the targeted advertising tools built into LinkedIn to advertise your goods and services to a target market
Example: Linkedin is an opportunity to promote yourself and business as an expert within your particular industry. A great example would be of a Linkedin user posting his or her thoughts on an article dealing with their specific industry. Once that is posted to the user’s account, each person within their Linkedin network will be notified that a person in their network posted an update. This is one example of positioning yourself as an expert within your industry to an entire network that could market you as a potential resource to their network.
Learn how Facebook and Twitter can also help promote your business.