7 Effective Tips For A Successful Business Development Strategy On LinkedIn

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7 Effective Tips For A Successful Business Development Strategy On LinkedIn

Although LinkedIn is often used for job search, it acts as a powerful tool for business development. In fact, over the years, LinkedIn has become a far more useful business tool as opposed to a career tool.

In today’s digitalized world, LinkedIn serves as an online platform to build professional relationships, allowing business dealings and practices to take place without the constant need for a face to face confrontation. Research shows that six in ten people turn to social media platforms such as LinkedIn in order to get acquainted with firms before investing in them.

With the growing dependency on these digital platforms in order to carry out business, it has become a prerequisite to know how to best use these platforms for your benefit. Hence, here are seven tips to help you with effective business development on LinkedIn:

1) Don’t Leave Your LinkedIn Profile Incomplete

One of the most common mistakes made by LinkedIn users is to leave their profile unattended and incomplete. Think of your profile as your pitch to a prospective client. If the LinkedIn profile is incomplete, the chances of you impressing a client will decrease marginally.

Hence, always make sure that you complete your profile, with all the relevant information filled out. Additionally, try and implement keyword rich descriptions wherever you can. This will considerably help improve your chances of gaining visibility, in case someone you wish to connect with, searches on LinkedIn using those keywords.

2) Network By Joining Groups

On LinkedIn, one can find tons of groups to join, focusing on all kinds of different domains. Before choosing to be a part of these groups one must keep in mind the kind of audience they’re looking to engage with.

LinkedIn groups are no longer just a place for professionals with similar interests to meet and discuss relevant trends in their industries. Make use of the right group in order to develop business among the people in the group. Start off with selecting the right group by using the “filter” option to locate relevant groups. Once you do, scan through the members of the group to identify future prospective clients, requesting a connection with them. Before requesting a connection, you can also view the profiles of the prospects to further narrow down your choices.

Moreover, you can participate in group discussions, commenting on topics to gain visibility in the group. Also, by bringing up hot topics and actively taking part in discussions pertaining to your field, you can establish your company’s as well as your expertise in the field, attracting more prospects in the process.

3) Customize your URL

Even though all users can customize their profile URLs on LinkedIn, not many understand the potential of implementing this feature.

After you pitch your service to a potential client, the first thing they will do is search for your company on Google, to see the kind of people they’ll be meeting and associating with. In this case, it would seem far more professional to have a customized LinkedIn URL pop up with your name on it. Additionally, customizing your LinkedIn URL increases the likelihood of your profile ending up as one of the top searches increases, by volumes.

4) Direct Traffic To Your Website Using LinkedIn

A decent amount of traffic is always welcomed for any kind of website since traffic generally leads to client conversions. With LinkedIn’s dominant presence, it has become easier for users to direct traffic from their LinkedIn profiles to their websites, without having to spend any money.

You can direct traffic from LinkedIn to your website in several ways. You could choose to post articles, updates, etc in groups that are joined by like-minded individuals with similar interests. Further, you could also share posts from your website to LinkedIn and later have interested individuals click-through these posts to your website. The chances of these visitors converting into clients are higher since these users are already familiar with you and your company via LinkedIn.

5) Professional Profile Picture

Since humans are highly visual beings, it is of utmost importance to pick a professional photograph for your LinkedIn profile. The only thing that would be worse than selecting the wrong photograph would be to not put up a photo at all.

While selecting a photo, keep in mind that you’re selling yourself first, before you start selling your company. The best way to go about it would be to get a professional headshot taken in a setting that’s not too casual. Select a photo that’s been taken recently and be consistent with the photos you use on LinkedIn and your company’s website. The consistency of photos will make you easily recognizable.

6) Leverage Your Connections

Let’s say, you come across a lead that could be a prospective client. In order to successfully convert them, you can use LinkedIn connections to your advantage to find out who in your network is connected with the said client.

All you have to do is search for the person’s name on LinkedIn, check if you have any mutual connections with them, and then go ahead and contact these connections in order to get an insight into the client. This is how one can use their LinkedIn connections as leverage, in terms of getting introduced to the potential client before needing to have a direct interaction.

7) LinkedIn Pulse

For those of you who don’t know, Pulse is an online magazine that LinkedIn came up with, giving access to people like us to publish content on it. Since popular articles on LinkedIn usually end up getting published in Pulse, it’s the perfect kind of exposure one needs in order to attract clients.

The best way to get your article up there would be to research what kind of articles under the same category, are popular. Once you do so, look for the common denominators with respect to the kind of articles being published on Pulse. Make sure your articles are similar to the ones being picked up, so that the chances of your articles being published in the popular category seemingly increases, helping you and your company get due recognition in the process.

LinkedIn is always the primary choice when it comes to social networking with future clients, sharing relevant information and discussing the changing trends in your domain. By following the tips given above, you’ll be able to easily connect with those who match your client profile, enabling you to reach your target audience efficiently. So, go on and apply these tips to see the difference for yourself.

Also, if you’re looking for similar tips on how to improve your profile, check out:

http://www.mim-essay.com/top-33-linkedin-profile-tips-job-seekers-2017/