I’ve been asked this question a number of times from different clients. They are on the main social networking sites – Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram and wonder should they also be on LinkedIn? With LinkedIn being the fastest growing social media network (currently 300 Million users, 2 new users per second and over 7,000 searches per minute), it’s a very good question. My first response is where do your clients hang out online?

Just how you invest in other marketing where your potential clients will see it, you should always consider this when investing your time in different social media platforms. Similarly you wouldn’t place an advert for your services in a regional Chinese newspaper, if you don’t provide services in the area or in Mandarin, you aim is to have an online presence where your clients are, so you can interact with them and build relationships.

If you provide services or products for organisations and therefore your existing and potential client contacts are on LinkedIn, my answer is “Yes!” you should be on LinkedIn.

LinkedIn is the most powerful online Business to Business (B to B) marketing tool. While you can upgrade your membership, the free membership provides a vast amount of functionality to build your online presence, demonstrate your expertise in specific areas or industries and link with your desired connections to develop effective business relationships.

If you’re new to LinkedIn or been using it for a while, below are some basic tips to help you get the most from your LinkedIn presence.

Have a Professional photo – LinkedIn is a professional networking platform and while it’s always important to have a photo that represents your uniqueness, use a professional photo. It’s not Facebook where you are marketing your services directly to customers or sharing holiday photos with friends, so use a professional headshot to best represent you.

What does your headline say – The section under your name, is your headline and should be answering the question that your clients are asking. For example, instead of stating “massage therapist”, try “providing corporate massage services to help employees be relaxed and super productive”! This way you will stand out to potential clients, you clearly state how you can help them and the headline field is SEO friendly so you will return in more search results.

Be active – whether it’s through sharing and commenting on someone’s information, posting your own information (& how it relates to the corporate world), in groups or updating your status. The more you are sharing useful information, your connections will see this and you will stay front of mind to them.

In summary LinkedIn has 3 X higher visitor to lead conversion rate than Twitter or Facebook, is a very powerful B to B marketing & sales tool, it’s free and you can easily do so much with it to connect with decision makers and grow your business.

We’ve been successfully using LinkedIn to grow our network and business development for a number of years and if you want to know how to get the most out of LinkedIn to make valuable connections with the right people and grow your business, contact us for a review of your profile and to develop a plan to support your business growth.

(stats from Quicksprout)