One of the legendary social media sites out there is, of course, LinkedIn. What many brands, especially those in small business land, may not be taking full advantage of this powerful site with regard to branding, establishing credibility, and driving traffic.
Launched in 2003, LinkedIn has grown to be, perhaps, the largest platform for professionals and businesses.
- Currently, LinkedIn claims 277 million members worldwide with a presence in over 200 countries.
- The company is signing on new members at a rate of about two per second and over three million businesses around the world have a separate company page.
- Nearly three billion users avail themselves of LinkedIn. That is roughly half of the total population of the Earth.
- Over twenty world languages are used and LinkedIn groups are hugely popular. In any given minute of the day, over 200 conversations are happening within these social media groups. Most members are involved with an average of seven separate groups. In addition, LinkedIn reports that over 8000 new groups spring up over the course of a week’s time.
- For businesses, Mashable seems to have the largest and most avid following. What are they doing that you are not doing?
- The site has received over one billion endorsements and the average time for a user to spend at the site is around 17 minutes.
So now you have been introduced to the value of this legendary social media site and it has become time for your brand to take advantage of such an all encompassing platform. So, what does your business need to do to remain competitive out there? What needs to be done to take active advantage of what LinkedIn has to offer?
- Start with your clients and customers that are using your products or services. Get those loyal and happy customers to venture out to the site and write you a heartfelt recommendation. It is great PR and many people, especially the Millennials, highly value recommendations.
- You cannot do everything. You need to find vendors and other professionals who are strong where you are weak. Having a challenge with distribution? Can’t write a marketing strategy to save your life? Have no idea how to write engaging content that is SEO optimized? Have no fear. They are out on LinkedIn so use the social media site to find those potential team members that will make your brand even stronger than it is.
- At LinkedIn, groups and networks are huge. It is, really, the only reason you are out there. Get out and mingle. Introduce yourself and your brand to others. Get some buzz going and see what happens.
If you do not currently have a business page and profile out on LinkedIn, what are you waiting for? Social media isn’t just about YouTube and Facebook anymore.
SearchPro Systems
2024