LinkedIn: How & Why To Use It

Most users of social media think first of their Facebook, Instagram, or Snapchat accounts.?Because of this, LinkedIn tends to become associated with these platforms; an unfortunate fact. While Linkedin is often lumped in with those sites mentioned above, there is much more to this platform than meets the eye - and there are countless reasons to embrace Linkedin when building both your personal brand and your company image.

Before really diving in, let’s discuss what Linkedin is not.

A Job Seeker Site: While there are robust tools in place for both job seekers and recruiters, this is not the main purpose or the best use of the worlds number one professional networking platform.

A Political Platform: One of the most amazing aspects about engaging with Linkedin is that it is the one social media platform which has not been overtaken by political commentary. Sure, you will find the occasional politician, broadcaster, or journalist spewing their beliefs, most people in professional settings understand that there is more negative that comes from jumping into a controversial political discussion on the internet – and they avoid doing so.

Personal Social Media:?Do you want to complain about your favorite sports team’s recent performance??Are you trying to sell that old dining room set??Perhaps you are looking for a walking partner. Great!... but Linkedin is NOT the place to handle these types of things.?There are countless other sites around the web that specialize in, or encourage, these types of activity…but Linkedin is not the place to do these things.

A Dating Site: I suppose it is not the furthest thing from possible that some happy couple out there met through Linkedin… I (and anyone I know) has not heard of this couple though. Why? Because as a rule, when using Linkedin it is an excellent rule of thumb that if you would not post it on your office bulletin board, then do not post it on a professional networking site.

What IS the Purpose of Linkedin?

The purpose of Linkedin is to create connections.?The types of connections we make will be largely dictated by our industry and our role.?Whether you are a sales executive, an operations manager, a manufacturer, or an end-user of widgets, there are valuable connections to be found on Linkedin.?For each connection you make, there are hundreds or thousands of other connections who can and will see your content.?This can be a great thing if you are using Linkedin properly… or an awful experience if you are crossing the lines of acceptability for web-based interactions. I have found a good policy to be to think thrice before pressing that button that will reveal your thoughts to the world.

Is There a Real, Tangible Benefit to Using LinkedIn?

There certainly is! In order to realize the many benefits of Linkedin, however, we must first gain a very clear understanding of how the internet works on a larger scale.?Google.?Unless you live under a rock, on a different planet, you are likely using Google for multiple tasks throughout both your personal and professional life.?Have you ever wondered how Google chooses which web sites show up on the first page of their search results? I think most people have a basic level of understanding, but I am going to give a brief, high-level overview of the process which determines whether you show up on the first page, the last page, or somewhere in obscurity in between the first and last pages.

Very little advertising is effective today without repetitiveness, and there is no one magic bullet that will put you on the map.?Print advertising is not quite dead, but certainly not thriving either. Your budget does not allow for a substantial investment into paid internet advertising. What do you do??You gain an understanding of how you can capitalize on organic search results…. But how? How does it work??There is not a simple, one-size-fits-all solution to these questions, but below you will find the basics that will point you in the right direction.

Google (and Bing and Yahoo) rank every web site on the internet by relevance for the topic or subject being searched. The exact algorithm is a closely guarded secret, but there is enough known to be able to improve your search rankings.?One of the most frequently used aspects of ranking a site is called “Backlinks”.?A backlink is basically what google finds when they are indexing a web site and stumble across a hyperlink back to your web site.?The more backlinks that exist, the higher your site will rank. Where the search engine finds these backlinks is equally important to the quantity of them.?Since Linkedin is a tremendous resource of high-quality backlinks, most industry experts surmise that more weight is given to backlinks found on Linkedin. Posting a cute cat picture with a catchy caption will do very little for your company – but it may help you develop more of a following.

The frequency with which new backlinks are found also matters.?It your team is routinely linking back to the same old content; it becomes stale in the eyes of a search engine. Stale content will lower your search ranking, pushing you from the first page of the search results.?Because of this, it is strongly recommended to have a blog or news section on your web site. You will want to update if with a cadence of regularity – Every Tuesday and Friday, for example.?The internet is all about structure, so maintaining regularity and structure will be helpful.

Types of backlinks also matter.?External backlinks are those found by a search engine while indexing other web sites.?Internal backlinks, however, are links from one page on your web site to another page on your web site.?Internal links help the search engines to index your web site in an organized manner – and to know that your web site is built in an organized manner.?This is the same reason that all search engines now penalize a site that does not have a sitemap page on their site.

Grammar. It is not just for grade school.?One of the most important things that a search engine will look for is how readable your content is to someone who stumbles upon it.?If you have grammatical errors, run-on sentences, or misspelled words, you will be penalized – greatly.?It is important on your web site to have grammatically correct content, with pictures, in order to maximize your organic search presence.

How Does This Relate to LinkedIn? What Is the Benefit?

As the largest and most popularly used professional social media platform, a lot of weight is given to Linkedin content by all major search engines.?This means that we can use a carefully implemented social marketing campaign to help organically increase our position in search results.?Increasing our position in search results will lead to more potential customers calling us, which in turn will lead to more sales of our widgets.?Have you ever seen the same post shared by a larger company 30 times over a week??This is by design, and well planned. The adage “Failing to plan, is planning to fail” applies very aptly to this situation.

The best approach to this silent growth tool is to put a programmatic solution in place to manage and organize the process.?There are many companies which exist solely to help with this through automatic, scheduled posts.?Using a service of this type can consolidate the amount of time that needs to be invested so that the rest of the program can be implemented and managed.?Once posts are scheduled for a week or two, it is time to get your internal team sharing those posts.?How??Great question.?Simply enough, ask them to share.?Let them know that growth is a team effort, and that it would be greatly appreciated if they could pitch in to help.?I am a fan of gamification.?Have a contact form on each page of your web site.?A call-to-action is among the most valuable tools we have in our tool box.?By using the contact form we can challenge the team to help generate 50 new leads in a month, at the end of which success will be rewarded with (be creative and use your minds eye).?A few teammates may shy away, indicating that they use Linkedin for personal-professional things and don’t want to be a part of the program.?Others may feel they do not have the time to invest.?How do we combat the holdouts??Read on!

Combatting Holdouts to Your Social Media Marketing Campaign

With new hires, it is easy to let them know during the interview process that our company makes heavy use of professional social media tools, and that a daily task with all positions is to share a company post. Most people interviewing for a job in a professional setting will be appreciative of the fact that the company has a digital marketing plan in place. It lends to credibility within an industry, and job security. Everyone enjoys a well thought-out, well-planned approach – even the people who do not yet work with you.

With all members of the team, it is important to ask them to put a link to the company web site in their profile. It is also important to ask each team member to ‘Follow’ the linked in page for the company. It is totally okay for an employee to maintain two Linkedin accounts as well.?It is not uncommon for someone to have a side-business, or a personal brand that they wish to keep separate from their full-time day job. We are playing the long game with digital marketing through social media, not the short game. The back links, over time, will contribute to growth of your brand and your business. It does not matter from which account they are derived.

Steps To Take in Implementing Our Social Media Marketing Plan

Like anything else in life, we need a plan.?Some people prefer to mind-map, others prefer a trial-and-error method. Below is a sample of a very basic Linkedin Marketing Plan that I have used on many occasions in order to spur growth. This is effective whether implemented by a dedicated social media manger or divided between a few willing souls on your team. Whichever way you choose to organize your social media marketing strategy, it is very important that you have a way to track performance so that you know what is working and what is not.?Below is a very simple basic sheet I have used many times to keep my head in the game.?Find a way that works for you and stick with it.

Social media marketing is not a 3-day endeavor.?Over time, and with persistence, a social media marketing plan can be all the difference between growth and stagnation.?There is nothing wrong with enlisting the help of a consultant who can help you to navigate through the mountain of confusion that can come with this task.?If you can implement a plan internally, all the better.?

Much of what has been discussed in this article has come from an extended period of trial and error on my part.?What works well for me, might work differently for you.?It is important that you settle on a strategy and stick to it…but don’t be afraid to adjust if something is not hitting as you thought it would.?Life and business are all about mistakes.?No person’s character has ever been determined by the fact that they made a mistake; rather how they reacted to that mistake.

Good luck in your social media marketing journey! May good fortune find it’s way to you through proper planning, implementation & measurement, analysis and adjustment, and repetition!