When LinkedIn hosted a meeting recently with small businesses in the U.S., it was with a view to gaining a better understanding as to how those businesses are managing to successfully utilise the social media platform to grow their brands.
We reproduce below, five of the key highlights from this meeting which deliver some excellent insights:
1. Connect LinkedIn to your wider online presence. There are plenty of ways for potential customers to find you, but they may not always know where to go. Connect up the different channels to give your brand the best chance to be found by the right people.
2. Engage your employees on LinkedIn. Get employees not connected to your business’ marketing efforts involved in creating/maintaining/administering your Company Page. This will help establish the business culture where employees are engaged with the brand and contributing to the business mission. Even something as simple as an employee profile on the Company Page, or sharing your Company Page’s updates on your employees’ network.
3. Leverage other Social Media content. Use successful posts on other social media platforms to create high-quality content on your Company Page and personal profile.
4. Demonstrate value to followers. Your Company Page should be built around delivering value to your audience through a stream of rich and insightful content. In doing so, you’ll build engagement and develop a trusted relationship with your customers and followers, who will in turn bring their network to you. For example, post more status updates that are very specific to your service or product that delivers clear information and post fewer updates that relate more generally to your company’s activities.
5. Engage with LinkedIn Groups. Find groups that are relevant to your business, join those groups and contribute, so you can be seen as somebody who cares and provides insight, opinion and even good advice, benefits will accrue. And consider assuming a thought leadership role, that way you will build rapport for your personal and company brands.
To succeed, these businesses must utilise their personal networks to reach new partners, customers, and talent, while at the same time manage their businesses’ online presence to create brand identity. They have found that when people research their companies, they check their LinkedIn profile, and those of their teams, meaning the concepts of brand and identity become inextricably linked. So, managing this dual identity can be a challenge.
LinkedIn also recently published their 20 Tips to Amplify Your Brand on LinkedIn which you can find by clicking on this link