LinkedIn is a great place to connect with potential employees and clients, catch up with co-workers, and connect with other people in your profession. However, many users don’t utilize the benefits of LinkedIn to its full potential. In order to be successful while using LinkedIn, be sure to stay active in other areas besides your own personal profile. This includes LinkedIn answers and groups. These are great places to share information, find professionals in your industry and local area, and more.
Join a few LinkedIn groups that directly relate to you and what you’re doing- this includes local community groups such as “Kansas City Professionals” and industry specialty groups, like “Internet Marketing Experts” if you were a freelance online marketing consultant.
Post Job Openings
After joining applicable groups, regularly post job openings that your company may have. Along the same token, look for active members in your area that are participating in groups that you are also involved in. Posting a link to the job description, as well as a contact name and email address or link to the online application. Make it easy for people to apply. Be sure to monitor your post to check for questions people may leave in the contact section.
Promote Your Content
If your content is well-written and applicable to the main topic and discussions of the groups you are in, post a link to the blog post you wrote. Make sure to write a title and description and make it seem worth the time to click through and read the article. Be sure to not post the content in every group, and don’t post every blog post you write, unless they are all high quality or newsworthy. If you over-post, people will start ignoring your posts all together.
Participate in Conversations
Don’t go into the groups only to post content or share your items about your own business. Answer questions that other users have posted in a thoughtful, engaging, and professional manner. Try not to use slang terms like LOL, OMG, or emoticons and try to say something original that hasn’t been said before. LinkedIn is a great place to learn, build connections, and gain exposure from other users truly interested in your company. However, be sure to return the favor but answer messages, comments, and other ways that users may try to connect with you.