4 Tips for Small Business LinkedIn Marketing

LinkedIn is most definitely the place to go when looking for a job, for recruiters and to connect with past and current colleagues. But this is not the only way to use LinkedIn, in fact linkedIn is a powerful and professional social networking platform for small businesses to connect with new audiences and share industry related information with their piers. The type of users on LinkedIn are generally professional and discreet whereas in general other social networking sites likes Facebook and Instagram are bit more in your face and you may find businesses are quite promotional in comparison on these networks to LinkedIn. So with that in mind, how can you get started using LinkedIn to market your business and why should your message be spoken in a slightly different way? Here's my 4 top tips to get you started marketing your small business on LinkedIn:

1. No Hard Selling

Stay away from a hard sell techniques and use social selling techniques instead try and focus on content marketing, by this I mean, create great thought leadership articles or pen helpful information which solves a problem for your reader so it comes across as natural and more editorial focused than sales copy. This will in turn leave people looking up to you as an expert or the 'go to' in your industry.

2. Network!

It's very possible to network and to build relationships on LinkedIn - as a business. When you make a connection, consider their importance to you as customer, partner or supplier and build a relationship from there. Try and treat each connection as an individual and not just a fan or a number.

3. Build Relationships

This Small Business LinkedIn Marketing tip is really important! Because even though linkedIn is a more professional social network, it's still a social network and building those relationships in integral. LinkedIn is quite numbers driven  - The more connections you have, the more the chance your account will be seen by other group members and prospective leads or partners. However just making new connections isn't enough, make it part of your strategy to reach out to these people on an individual basis and gain your prospects trust.

4. Company Page

Have you created a LinkedIn Company page? If not, then it is time to set it up and start making it interesting. Having a page but not maintaining it could turn off potential customers. Create your page and complete it fully. Once it's done make sure you post current information on a continuous basis (perhaps use a content calendar?) ensure your page meets with the rest of your online/brand assets such as website and other social media pages.

Some companies or individuals check if companies have a LinkedIn company page first before they even look at your website, so not having it set up properly and regularly updated could lose you valuable business.

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