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Using LinkedIn to Build your Business

There are all kinds of social networks popping up on the world wide web - everything from Facebook to Foursquare - you name it. But, if you have a strong desire to network with professionals in your field, LinkedIn is the social network for you. But take note, it's not as easy as it looks. So, we've put together the top ten tips for networking with business professionals through LinkedIn.

Top ten tips for using LinkedIn to Build your Business:

1. Complete your profile.

Setup and complete a profile. If you use your profile efficiently, you will right-off-the-bat provide a gateway for potential clients, employees and industry partners to contact you. Be very thorough and provide a lot of information in your LinkedIn profile. The more details that you include in your profile, the easier it will be for people to find your profile (and you) through search engines. Make sure your summary is complete and include a professional photo of yourself to increase your trustability factor. Add your special skills to your profile to highlight those skills and make your area of expertise front-and-center.

2. Promote your LinkedIn profile.

Add a hyperlink to your LinkedIn profile in your email signature, post it on your business cards, and add a link to your profile on your web site. Download the free icon set at Yootheme.com and add the professionally designed social icons to your web pages so visitors can easily visit your LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter profiles.

3. Develop a company page.

Build visibility for your business by developing a company profile in LinkedIn. Members regularly use company profiles to view information about a company that they are interested in. A company profile should include a description, number of employees and the industry it operates in. Develop your company profile with specifics including your company's logo, your physical location, and even include a feed from your company blog and your Twitter account.

4. Develop your network.

The power of LinkedIn's networking lies in its ability to automatically recommend people you might know based on your details and existing contacts. Import the address book from your e-mail client to discover which of your contacts are already on LinkedIn. Regularly search your existing contacts for people you might want to connect with. By inviting new contacts into your network, you engage those people and demonstrate to potential customers that you are online and available, which in-turn builds trust and credibility. Among the many advantages of maintaining your Linkedin network is building trust and gaining a competitive edge. If you take the time to follow your competitors' online strategies, you may find that many of them are most likely not taking the time to capture customers' attention in the same way.

5. Ping your connections through LinkedIn Groups.

LinkedIn allows members to join 50 groups. Join groups with a high membership. This gives you the opportunity to engage with like-minded people who can provide you support and answer business-specific questions. Joining groups that are related to your industry or other small business matters is also a great way to make new connections.

6. Obtain recommendations.

Trust on the Internet is crucial to a business. Given the number of options web users have, you're actually asking site visitors to do you a favor when they visit your web site. And they're more likely to perform a favor for you if you establish trust on your web site. So, add trust-building elements to your web site - elements that not only encourage the performance of an action, but make the site visitor comfortable in the performance of that action. One way to build trust is to build a list of LinkedIn recommendations.

Recommendations are the most looked for feature when viewing a new profile and are a great way to secure new clients. Recommendations enhance your professional credibility and create a great impression on people reading your profile. Ensure you request LinkedIn recommendations from satisfied customers willing to provide testimonials. Positive stories from happy customers are the best source for new leads.

7. Search for and mobilize the right people.

By using LinkedIn's search tools, you can find potential employees to whom your business is best suited. LinkedIn provides a search tool that is very powerful and customizable. You can search, for example, for Texas web designers with whom you want to connect with your web hosting firm. Save your search and LinkedIn will email you the list of candidates from the search results on a regular basis. Once your receive the email of prospective connections, send each one a customized, personal email explaining the reasons why you would like to connect and how your relationship can be beneficial to both of you.

8. Increase productivity through LinkedIn mobile.

With LinkedIn's mobile app and your smart phone, you can access the network while on the go. Connect with and establish new business acquaintances at conventions. With this mobile app, you can research contacts and find background information before an upcoming meeting. This type of information displays your professionalism by better preparing you for an important event.

9. Integrate your Twitter feeds into LinkedIn.

To sync your LinkedIn and Twitter accounts, begin by checking the Twitter box under the Network Updates box on the homepage and follow a few simple steps. Access your LinkedIn profile settings, and click "manage your Twitter settings". By linking your LinkedIn and Twitter accounts, you are able to add a new dimension to your professional conversations.

10. Share your blog articles with your LinkedIn groups.

LinkedIn recently added a new feature that allows members to share and discuss news with LinkedIn groups. I can not emphasize enough the power of this tool.

Build your business with LinkedIn.

LinkedIn profiles can increase page rank in Google, which leads to more visitors to your company web site. LinkedIn allows you to make your profile information available for search engines to index. Since LinkedIn profiles receive a fairly high Page Rank in Google, this is a good way to influence what people see when they search for you.

Choose a quality web hosting provider. Build a professionally designed web site. Then, add a blog to your web site and build your article base by regularly adding quality, original articles each week. If you can't write, hire a copy writer to populate your web site and blog with new content a few times a week. You will quickly discover the cost versus benefits equation tips in your favor. Or write a few lines on what's going on in your industry - an upcoming seminar, symposium or trade show. In other words, keep your site visitors up to date with the latest news.

This establishes your credibility and the fact that you're plugged in to the latest news.

Top 5 Tips for Reputation Management with Social Media

Posted in Social Media

Reputation Management with Social Media

Corporate leaders in nearly every industry, regardless of size or geography, acknowledge that the dark clouds of impending social media crises are gathering. They also believe they know with some certainty how soon a crisis will occur—within the next year. An overwhelming majority of them—79%—said they believe their company is less than 12 months away from as potential crisis moment. Most of them believe that that crisis will arise from within social media networks.

The Reputation Assault

Despite the overwhelming notion that at any time, a company's reputation can come under assault through social media, most executives are totally unprepared to manage and emerge successfully from crises fueled by social media. Nearly half of those surveyed said they lack even a basic form of effective online reputation monitoring. Not only are they not prepared, they don't even have the most fundamental tools to know if their reputations are under assault.

Top 5 Tips for Reputation Management through Social Media

1. Monitor your company's social media reputation. Everything is discoverable today, and every potential online antagonist is operating in plain sight. Companies need to start listening and pay attention to any and all negative comments.. There are dozens of free and low-costs tools available to assist in the work of brand monitoring and crisis warning. From Google news and blog alerts to far more sophisticated programs that sort through the totality of more than half a billion online updates and posts daily, technology has made it possible for every company, brand manager and corporate communicator to keep his or her finger on the pulse of social media. Business leaders need to begin reputation management today by investing in the listening process.

2. Develop a social media crisis plan. Most companies have a traditional crisis plan written for a different era. Smart companies today have developed specific plans and protocols to handle a reputation assault through social media. The single most important part of your social media crisis plan will be identification of key players who "own" the responsibility of a social media crisis response. Turf wars between marketing, public relations, internal governance departments will be lethal when you face a metastasizing crisis online. Be pro-active and clearly define specifically who handles these types of crisis.

3. Regularly test your crisis plan. The old military adage holds just as true in corporate reputation management as in combat: No plan survives the first shot fired. Regularly testing your social media crisis plan by bringing together the key players from corporate communications, legal, marketing and online outreach, to identify areas in need of adjustment and better prepare your entire team for an organized and coherent response.

4. Develop and publish an employee social media policy. Even in today’s social media world, you can’t expect all your employees to have a high level of social savvy. Socially savvy organizations understand both the value of a highly digitally engaged workforce and the potential threat from an unprepared employee entering into the social media wilderness without a guide. Develop a clear yet short policy that encourages your employees to learn and use social media in their personal lives as the first step. This policy should illustrate best practices for identifying the differences of the ever graying lines between personal and professional activities. In a crisis, a well trained and connected workforce can often be one of the best resources for correcting misinformation and reclaiming the narrative of a company's reputation.

5. Provide employee social media training. Issuing a social media policy while not providing training is synonymous to giving a loaded gun to an 18-year-old recruit and sending him into combat without ever firing a practice round. Consider investing in a short online or in-person training program that will help your employees understand that in today’s social media world, there is little difference between personal and public conversations. Help employees understand the best practices for protecting themselves while bringing the goals of your social media policy to life in a way that encourages participation.

Why bother with Reputation Management?

We are now all in the business of crisis management. It is not a matter of whether we will stumble online but of when we will each have our moment. Understanding this reality and putting in place the training and protocols necessary to navigate the murky online waters will determine the difference between emerging successfully and suffering significant reputation and financial losses. More and more companies are finding that their customers and constituencies judge the overall quality of their brand based on their response and policies regarding the environment. One way to adopt an eco-policy is to choose GreenHostIt.com green web hosting for your web site.

Social media is positive for businesses, but think twice before launching a social media campaign.

Social media networks offer an excellent way to stay in touch with friends and build your network as well as grow your corporate brand in a positive way. But think twice before posting anything online because it can be viewed by anyone. If negative comments ARE posted by anyone – either a customer or an employee, never ignore those comments. Address them appropriately and your business brand and company reputation will improve.

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