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Can Linkedin Be Used As A Social Media Marketing Tool?
January 13, 2010
I firmly believe it can be used as an effective social media marketing tool if the correct strategy is implemented. I have been an avid user of Linkedin for the last 4 plus years and know that great things can happen when connecting properly with other users of this platform. What I like most about Linkedin is that I can make great connections with people I already know from a business perspective, as well as potential clients looking to get connected via their platform.
The key to fully utilizing their system is the way in which you approach users; always maintain an extremely professional manner in communicating with potential contacts. But, first you need to ensure that your profile is professional looking so that when other business people look at you in their system they get the best depiction of "who you are" and "what you can do for them". Once this is complete, your next step is to identify "what you want to achieve" in Linkedin regarding business development and then look at "who you will need to go after". Conducting these activities is paramount to being successful in Linkedin and can make or break your entire strategy.
Now its time to conduct some research regarding reaching your target market and Linkedin's new search feature called "Faceted Search" will enable you to reach further into it's database to find just the right people. Linkedin has added some impressive features in their latest update from December 2009 and describes the benefits as:
"Faceted Search offers the following benefits to your search experience on LinkedIn:
* Enables True Guided Navigation: A list of filters are generated dynamically for every search in order to guide you through the optimal path to find the most relevant people
* Provides Intuitive Interface: Refining your search is easier than ever with an intuitive user interface that allows you to slice and dice search results by 8 facets
* Improves Precision: As LinkedIn continues to grow by the millions, increasing search space requires increased precision to help you find exactly the right people
* Increases Efficiency: Find talent, business partners, customers or a former colleague faster than ever before.
* Reduces Need for Complex Queries: It significantly reduces the need for complex Boolean queries. This was a particular need we heard from many of our power users."
Here's a video that Linkedin recommends to users to get a better feel for how the search functionality works:
After you have collected a wide variety of people to contact it is a good idea to save their profiles, which is also a new feature Linkedin rolled out recently. This will give you the ability to go back and grab any needed information about your potential connections when making contact with them.
Now is the time to start reaching out to people you found while conducting your research and once again you must remember to be professional in your communication efforts. I always make myself available as a resource first to my potential contacts because I would rather help out where possible than be a pushy salesman. I know that by giving my time to all of my contacts, whether current or potential, I can be viewed as a positive influence to their business. This kind of attitude will pay off greater dividends in the long run as it relates to gaining referrals from my network. Also, you need to be transparent to everyone all the time because people are very smart and can read between the lines, and will know if you are trying to pull one over on them.
Today's Lesson: Research, Respect, Reach, Reward!
If you follow these simple words when connecting with people in Linkedin I promise you will make more connections and create wonderful business relationships in the process!
All posts by Brett Lane
posted by Brett Lane at January 13, 2010 6:27 PM
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Comments
Why not? LinkeIn can be used as a social media tool. I am getting more visitors to my profile and to my site from LinkedIn.
Posted by: joelchrist at January 21, 2010 2:02 AM
I love LinkedIn because it feels like I'm just fooling around on Facebook; but I'm actually networking, which, for a college student, is pretty darn important. But I feel like most of my peers aren't using it to its potential.
Posted by: Michael Carper at February 25, 2010 8:20 PM
But I feel like most of my peers aren't using it to its potential.
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