1. LinkedIn for the Small Business

In the year 2017, if you are not easily found on the internet, you do not exist.  This is the first in a series of articles; “How to Create and Maintain a Social Media Brand – the Lecture Series”.   This is all you need to know to create a social media presence for the independent consumer based business.     Enjoy, and Happy New Year 2017.

LinkedIn is the social network for business professionals.   Seventy four percent of professionals are registered with LinkedIn.   Sixty percent of LinkedIn users check their LinkedIn site more than 3 times a week.   To network in 2017, use LinkedIn.  

In the olden days, I would get a business card, perhaps enter the information in Outlook, and then, with many contacts, lose touch with them as they changed emails or changed jobs. 

With LinkedIn, the contact maintains the information and the changes to their emails and job situation. 

     Rule 1:   Keep your contact information up to date in LinkedIn so that people can contact you, especially if they have no other contact information.  (oh yes, and have a professional photo of yourself)

Networking is more than just getting someone’s contact information.   It is about sharing who you are and learning about who they are and sharing updates.

        Rule 2: Share professional updates:   these can be articles of interest that you find on some publication, thought or musings or issues as they come up, company information, press releases, news and events in the business world that you work in, industry information, information about your profession.  

Write articles:   If you really are an expert about something, and good at your profession, you can write the occasional article that supports this.

        Rule 3:   Write articles for LinkedIn.   These can also be published on your blog if you have one.  Sharing updates and writing posts/ articles are 2 different things. Updates appear on the news feed on the Home page and flow.   Posts or Articles appear on your profile and do not flow away in a few hours. So it is worthwhile to take the time and write the articles. 

Company Pages explain to the world, the company that you work for.   You can showcase events and achievements of your company on these pages.   Your company is part of your professional legitimacy.  People do search on LinkedIn and Google treats LinkedIn information almost as highly as it does Wikipedia.

        Rule 4:  Create and maintain a company page.  (Post weekly or monthly).

Groups are a forum for you to connect with people in similar professions and interests, exchange ideas and publish opinions.   Join groups that reflect your professional credentials to further establish your professional credentials.

        Rule 5:  Join Groups that reflect your interests and skills.  Joins discussions and share interesting articles from groups to your contacts.  

for more info:  Social Media for Business Workshops