PosterMyWall live class: How to use LinkedIn for your small business
Are you looking to learn the basics of LinkedIn marketing? Are you wondering if your restaurant, store, or service provider business should be on LinkedIn? And if you’re on LinkedIn, how do you improve your results for free? LinkedIn is a mystery to many small businesses, but that mystery has now been solved. In this week’s PosterMyWall free class, Clarene Mitchell, a.k.a. The LinkedIn Results Ignitor and CEO of consulting firm TCM Communications, shared her best LinkedIn tips and tricks for small businesses. With these tips, you’ll be able to master LinkedIn marketing in no time.
Here’s what Clarene had to say:
What is LinkedIn?
LinkedIn is a really powerful social media platform that enables you to network with prospective customers, run dedicated LinkedIn marketing campaigns, and gain credibility as an expert in your field.
What is the right way to use LinkedIn?
Over the years, LinkedIn has become more than just a platform for job seekers. It’s a place for small business owners and entrepreneurs to network, gather clients, and build a legitimate brand for themselves. With the platform’s free tools, anyone can run a stellar LinkedIn marketing campaign for their business.
Here are just a few examples of business owners using LinkedIn strategically:
1. Post dynamic visual content to keep followers engaged
Example 1: Ladosha Wright – Beautician
Ladosha actively uses LinkedIn to post short videos of her hairstyling techniques and other services that she provides. She shows her clients getting top-notch treatment at her salon, and she offers viewers tips on how to take care of their skin and hair at home. In other words, she provides valuable visual content that grabs followers’ attention and keeps them engaged.
2. Use LinkedIn to seek out your target audience
Example 2: Roger Pilney – Coffee house owner
As a business owner and employer, you can use LinkedIn to find competent and capable employees that understand your brand. That’s how Roger Pilney finds staff for his coffee house. A quick search for people with the right qualifications can get you a pool of qualified applicants that you might not be able to find otherwise.
Roger also uses LinkedIn to reach coffee enthusiasts. By marketing his coffee house as a sanctuary for coffee lovers, he’s able to bring in customers and connect with them on a more personal level.
Example 3: Erik Solberg – Dentist
If you’re a dentist or other professional, like Erik, you know that credibility is extremely important. After all, everyone wants dentists, accountants, and other service providers who know what they’re doing. On LinkedIn, you can share content that demonstrates your expertise and catches the attention of prospective clients.
3. Be candid and personal to increase engagement
Erik accomplishes this by posting candid photos of him at work – behind the scenes, with clients, a regular day in the office, you name it. This type of content gives people an idea of the kind of work he does and generates interest from clients and potential partners. More personalized content also gets you more engagement as people stop scrolling and take a moment to look at the pictures you’ve shared.
4. Establish credibility via industry tips and insights
Example 4: Cheryl J Muldrew-McMurtry – Accountant
As an expert in her field, Cheryl frequently generates engagement on LinkedIn by sharing free accounting-related insights and tips that people can learn from. Because she’s educating people, she both builds credibility for her business and attracts the attention of hundreds of potential clients and business partners.
How do you connect with potential clients, employees, and business partners on LinkedIn?
LinkedIn is a social platform, not a direct selling platform. This means you will get better results if you build authentic relationships with people by providing meaningful content than if you try to sell to them. Consistent, value-added content based on your area of expertise is the way to go. Make posts that are educating, inspiring, motivating, insightful, and most of all, true to your brand.
Remember that people do business with people, not faceless companies. So don’t be afraid to get personal. That’s how you’re going to get people to like you and trust you. Once you do this, you’ll be able to connect with more people.
5. Focus on quality over quantity when growing your network
When it comes to growing your network, focus on quality over quantity. Actively seek out people who you know would have an interest in your business. You can have thousands of followers but if they’re not a part of your target audience, you won’t generate results.
6. Personalize your LinkedIn invites
Once you identify people who belong to your target audience, reach out to them via personalized invitation. Don’t just hit “connect”. Send a personal note. Let them know why having them in your network would be a mutually beneficial relationship.
Likewise, manage the invitations you get strategically. Don’t just let them sit and gather dust. Pending invites can turn into lost opportunities if you don’t respond in a timely manner. So take the time to sift through the invitations you receive, and accept accordingly. If you’re super stoked about a particular opportunity or want to find out more about them, drop them a message.
What type of content should you share on LinkedIn as a business owner?
7. Spark a conversation with your content
You should share content that sparks a conversation. As we’ve established before, LinkedIn is all about building meaningful connections with people, and the best way to do that is to get them talking to you. Based on the kind of business you’re promoting, you can share your thoughts on news articles, infographics, insights on industry statistics, you name it.
The more conversations you create on LinkedIn, the more the platform will support your content, resulting in even more attraction and visibility. When that happens, you’ll start to see your effort pay off in results for your business.
8. Consistency is key with LinkedIn content
Another important thing to remember is to post consistently. Out of sight is out of mind, while regular content will keep your followers engaged and interested. This is especially crucial when you want to increase awareness of your business.
How can you create good promotional content for LinkedIn?
When creating content for LinkedIn, PosterMyWall is a game-changer. With dynamic and eye-catching LinkedIn templates, PosterMyWall can help you create all sorts of content including square graphics to share on your timeline and banners to brand your profile.
With graphics, your goal should be to get people to stop scrolling and spend at least a few seconds scanning your content. PosterMyWall templates make that happen.
Do hashtags help you promote on LinkedIn?
Hashtags are a great way to ensure that your content reaches your target audience – even people outside your network. There is a niche or a community for everything on LinkedIn – the goal is to find and tap into it using the right hashtags.
9. Use hashtags to market directly to your niche
Here’s how you find hashtags for your posts: search LinkedIn for a generic keyword associated with your business. LinkedIn will suggest a number of related hashtags in a drop-down menu. Look at the stats for each hashtag i.e. how many people are using it and what kind of people are engaging most with it. Then, select up to five hashtags to use in your post captions to reach those people.
What does a good business profile on LinkedIn look like?
Here are a few LinkedIn profile tips. A good business profile is one that is fully optimized for anyone looking for information about your brand. The way to achieve this is by customizing every section of your LinkedIn profile, top to bottom. When customizing, the key is to add elements and copy that will draw attention and reel potential connections in. Give people the opportunity to learn more about you.
10. Customize your LinkedIn profile for maximum benefit
While you are customizing your profile, be sure to create a customized LinkedIn banner. Add a profile photo too. And add a video that delivers an elevator pitch to your profile visitor. Tell them who you are, what you do, and what they can gain by connecting with you on the platform.
Most important, include your contact information and make yourself as accessible as possible. That way if someone is interested in your business, they’ll be able to contact you right away.
Start your LinkedIn promotion!
Now that you know more about how to market via LinkedIn, it’s time to start taking advantage of the platform and its many free tools. To help you get started with your LinkedIn marketing, Clarene has shared a helpful list of must-do’s for a strong LinkedIn profile that you can download as bonus content. After all, that’s where it all needs to start – your profile. For an optimal LinkedIn profile and presence, check out PosterMyWall’s diverse range of LinkedIn templates for an easy and stress-free promotional campaign.
