5 ways to Kill it for your Business on LinkedIn!
And LinkedIn, being one of the strongest Social Networking sites nowadays, is no exception to this.
Over 160 million people have signed up on LinkedIn. That’s a lot of people. And making connections with even a hundredth of that could spell success for your business.
Here are 5 opportunities on LinkedIn you shouldn’t pass over (which also applies to other sites):
- Your connections
- These are your “friends” on LinkedIn. Those that are directly connected to you are your First-degree connections. Those are the connections you should really be putting most of your time and effort on. You already have their attention and interest—-you definitely don’t want to lose that. Keep communicating with them. Connect with them on other social networking sites (e.g. Twitter, Facebook). Ask them questions. Do everything to keep your connection strong. Or better yet, try to make it stronger.
These connections would be your best way to create even MORE connections.
And since we’re talking about stronger connections…
- Your STRONG connections
- In the hierarchy of which-connections-to-prioritize, you would want to spend more time with connections that are progressing very well. These are more likely to bear good fruit. And by “fruit” we mean business. Proximity breeds trust.
- To know which connections are going well, you need to be aware of those whose interests are similar to yours, and those who respond positively to anything you put out. Similar to non-verbal communication, you need to be observant with your interactions to know which ones can possibly be big-time customers, and which ones aren’t that interested. That will save you a lot of time.
- Recommendations
- These are like those times when your friend introduces you to his friend who he thinks you’d totally click with. Do NOT pass this up. More often than not, your connections (especially those you regularly interact with) have connections that could be perfect customers for you. And they can notice those similarities.
- Those people who are connected to your first-degree connections but not to you are your second-degree connections. The better your relationship with your first-degree connections, the better your chances of hooking up with your second-degree connections. And if your second-degree connections become your first-degree connections, this ultimately brings in a larger pool of second-degree connections you can very well jump into.
- Groups and Answers
- This is a great feature in LinkedIn that can help you find people with similar interests and fields. These act as convening rooms for everyone with shared interests. Joining groups can expose you to potential customers and forums that could help you with problems regarding your business.
- Along with joining groups, asking and answering around can also bring in clients. Asking people about their suggestions, inquiries—even grievances about your field can draw out prospects like a sorting hat. And answering questions about the same can help you out as much. People just love having their questions answered.
- Advanced search
- Along with groups and answers, the advanced search option in LinkedIn can be your portal to kindred spirits outside your connection circle. Engines like these allow you to search for people who have the same interests, same plans and same field as you. Optimizing your usage of this amazing tool can be the key to opening new doors for your business.
To put it all in a nutshell, getting yourself more customers through LinkedIn (or any Social media network, at that) is pretty dependent on how you find, make, and develop connections. Once you get a hang of it, the influx of clients would be so great that you’d wonder why you were even worried in the first place.
It shouldn’t be forgotten that the internet is a ginormous hub of prospects—and all you need is a bit more vigilance in finding the right ones. Because from what we all know, in social media networking, it’s all about grabbing opportunities.
