The Reasons Why You Should Have LinkedIn As Marketer

The Reasons Why You Should Have LinkedIn As Marketer

As  of  this  writing,  more  than  100  million  people  are  members  of LinkedIn, making it the largest professional network in the world.

As  of  this  writing,  more  than  100  million  people  are  members  of LinkedIn, making it the largest professional network in the world.

While  there  are  many  reasons  for  joining  Facebook  and  Twitter, people  join LinkedIn  with  the  aim  of  developing  professional relationships,  expanding their businesses and establishing themselves as thought leaders.

Going  on  Facebook  and  Twitter  can  be  more  like  a  chat  in  the  pub, whereas LinkedIn is more like a business breakfast meeting. People are on LinkedIn to engage  in  conversation  with  their  peers  and  to  make solid  business connections.

For the astute LinkedIn member, these connections can easily result in:

➤ Increased business opportunities 
➤ “Interview the Expert” opportunities 
➤ Joint Venture partnerships 
➤ Lead generation 
➤ Identifying clients in a specific market or by other criteria such as position and number of staff 
➤ Positioning yourself as a “Thought Leader” 
➤ Project collaborations 
➤ Speaker invitations 
➤ Powerful brand building 
➤ Having high end clients contact you and pay you without having to hard sell them

The benefits of networking without the hassle 

LinkedIn  has  shifted  networking  meetings  from  the  hassle  of  hit  or miss networking  events  by  moving  the  process  online.  You  get  all the benefits  of offline  networking  with  less  hassle.  Instead  of  hoping  to meet  qualified prospects  at  a  networking  lunch,  LinkedIn  provides  a platform  for  you  to specifically  search and research individuals  who you know  will  directly  add value to your business endeavors.

A robust 100% complete profile is the starting point for unleashing th power of LinkedIn. If you skimp on this area, you’re defeating the purpos of joining LinkedIn.

Getting  set  up  with  a  LinkedIn  account  is  a  quick  and  easy. Creating an account takes about five minutes.

CONSIDER YOUR MARKETING MESSAGE

Think  of  your LinkedIn profile  as  a  one‐time  opportunity  to  make your first impression.  If  you  think  of  it  like  this,  you’ll  understand  the importance  of CREATING A HIGH-­IMPACT PROFILE.

Plan  on  spending  some  quality  time  creating  your  profile.  Your LinkedIn profile  will  become  your  interactive  business  card,  marketing message, background and experience all rolled into one.

In  that  respect,  consider  the  time  spent  developing  your  profile  in much  the same way as you would to developing your elevator speech.

Crafting your elevator speech
So what is an elevator speech? It’s a thirty second high‐level overview of your marketing  message,  with  a  quick  recap  of  your  areas  of expertise,  your industry experience and your accomplishments.

The  phrase  comes  from the  amount  of  time  it  takes  to  tell  your professional story to someone in an elevator while you’re riding between floors.

Thinking of your LinkedIn profile like this will  help you create a high impact online identity, which you’ll use to communicate your professional brand and attract others to connect, communicate and collaborate with you.

Who do you want to be, what is your message and who do you want to reach?

1. Think about the persona you want to communicate on the Internet.  

2. Think about the message you want to deliver.  

3. Consider who you want to reach. 

4. Last, ask yourself what your initial goals are for networking on LinkedIn. 

Marketing You – keep your message consistent 
Whatever you decide your professional brand and marketing message will be on LinkedIn, make sure it is consistent with the rest of your online messaging, whether  it  be  the  messaging  on  your  website,  your  blog, your  mobile applications, in forum signatures or in your email signature.

Developing  a  strong  online persona  on  LinkedIn  is  one valuable piece of the Big  Picture  when  it  comes  to  marketing  your  brand. Considering your persona, your message and identifying who you want to reach isn’t unique to LinkedIn, but is something you should be considering at all times.

Modeling successful profiles 

When  you  have  answered  the  questions  above,  you  are  ready  to create  a compelling LinkedIn profile.   

Initially this may feel a bit daunting. No need to be overwhelmed. 

Before getting to work on your own profile, take a look at how the leaders in your  industry  position  themselves.  This will  get  your juices flowing and give you ideas on how you might position yourself on LinkedIn. 

There's an easy way to identify the top influencers in your field. 

1. Go to Google.com 

2. Type in the following ‐ site:linkedin.com “your keywords” 

3. Replace the phrase “your keywords” with terms related to your 

niche. 

For  example,  say  that  you  are  an  Information  Architect.  To  see  how your peers on LinkedIn are positioning themselves, enter the search phrase: 

site:linkedin.com “information architect” 

Here’s what you might see:

Click  on  the very first  search result,  which consists of professionals with the job title Information Architect on LinkedIn. 

Have  a  look  at  people's  profiles  in  the  top  three search  results.  One of  your goals  should  be  to  get  your  profile  listed  in  the  top  three results  for  the keywords relevant to your industry.

Members on LinkedIn use the search feature on Google in much the same way that they would use Google search. So appearing in a top three to five position will be a huge advantage for you. 

Make  a  note  of  the  highest  ranking  profiles.  Take  note  of  how they’re positioning  themselves  for  your  market.  In  particular,  pay attention  to  the keywords  used  and  their  headlines. You  can  use similar  ones  in  your  own profile. 

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