How To Use LinkedIn To Build Your Business

Last Updated on December 8, 2022 by Ludiah

Social media has contributed a great deal when it comes to businesses. It offers the platform to create connections, network, market your products and services and meet customers. Of all social media platforms, LinkedIn stands out as one of the most business-oriented platforms. If you are looking to learn How To Use LinkedIn To Build Your Business, this is your post.

LinkedIn is a platform for professionals to connect, increase their business connections, search for jobs, connect with employers, and most of all, network within their industry.

For a business owner, any opportunity to grow your customer base is important. LinkedIn offers you the opportunity to not only connect with people in the same niche as you are but also gives you a chance to connect with prospective clients/ customers. 

How To Use LinkedIn To Build Your Business

Before I show you how to use LinkedIn to build your business, here are some of the reasons why you should consider using LinkedIn to grow your business.

How to Start a Work-From-Home Business

Creating Leads– LinkedIn creates an avenue to network and connects with potential clients. As a business owner, keeping your page updated with relevant information is very paramount. You want to be the person your connections and followers think of when they desire services in your area of expertise. As such, branding yourself as an expert is a resource to your connections and benefits your business.

Build quality business connections. One of the benefits of being on LinkedIn is the ability to create connections with individuals with a similar mindset. LinkedIn offers a great avenue for people to reach out and connect for business purposes.

As a business owner, you can take advantage of this and connect with people within your industry that in the long run, you can partner with or who can help you grow your business in one way or another. 

Marketing research – LinkedIn can help you as a business owner to understand your audience without spending a lot of money on it. Using LinkedIn, you can ask your audience/ followers for their opinion on what they think of your brand, new product ideas, what and where you should make improvements in your business, which tools within your trade can help you grow your business, and much more.

By using the LinkedIn Q/A you would be able to learn a whole lot regarding your niche and area of expertise that can boost your business for the better.

Checking out your competitors. Just as you are on LinkedIn to grow your connection and reach out to prospective clients, so are your competitors. Knowing who your competition is, helps you keep an eye on them, checking out who they are connecting with, projects they are working on, which new products they are launching, whom they are leaving recommendations for, and what they keep talking about.

Learning about your competition can help you maximize gaps within your niche that your competitors might be overlooking, it can also guide you on how to grow your business as you work from home.

Grow your online reviews. Building up your reviews in the online space, helps you show authority and relevance in search engines as well as grow your users’ confidence. LinkedIn reviews equally matter. How well you rank in LinkedIn creates a higher likelihood for users to find your LinkedIn profile when they are looking for your brand.

Your LinkedIn reviews also communicate to your prospective client your eligibility, work ethic, and whether or not you can deliver. As such, you can use the connections and networks you are building to create positive and capturing referrals.

Learning trends in the industry. LinkedIn’s skills and Expertise search function can help business owners see who LinkedIn views as relevant in a particular niche. This can be very helpful in staying up to date on any trends that might be happening within your market space. For instance, if you are a blogger, this could help you know which topics to consider writing on.

Using the Platform to showcase your achievements. LinkedIn is like your online resume. Including your achievements and accomplishments builds the trust of your potential clients. It also allows them to know what services/products you offer and how you can be of service to them.

Ways on how to use LinkedIn to build your business

Create A Strong Personal Page

As a business owner, you are the first brand ambassador to your business. Therefore, creating a LinkedIn profile that tells the story of your business is important. To create a strong LinkedIn profile page, here are some things that you can do.

Put a profile photo. This is an important step to set up when creating your personal page. For your profile photo, make sure that you use an up-to-date photo of you. Using professional headshots can be helpful. Ensure that your face takes up most of the frame and the image is clear when you upload it.

Create a thoughtful headline. The headline is the first thing that people read on your profile. It explains what you do. Most people write their titles and company name. Even so, you should keep it very clear and straight to the point.

Write a summary. The summary is where you expound on your achievements, key strengths, and share your vision/mission.

Share your experience where you can indicate your current work position and include your company Page. You can include your working experience with different organizations or projects if any.

Create Your Company’s LinkedIn Profile

 Aside from a personal profile, a company’s profile is Key. The company profile page often does not have as many features as a personal profile. Even then you can use it to impress your clients.

To build your brand, you can begin by adding your company logo and cover image. The image can be the services that you offer or the products that you sell.

The Company profile also has an About Us section. This is the section where you share your business story. You can include keywords in this section to help you increase your SEO. It is key to keep it clear and to the point.

Build Connections That Matter To grow High-quality Leads 

In LinkedIn, connections eventually lead to sales, as such, people want to connect. Connections give you an opportunity to grow your business. To create connections on LinkedIn, you can sync your email address list and select those whom you would like to send connection requests to. Often, you will find that you already know some people on LinkedIn. 

You can also grow your connection by using the “People you may Know” section. Here you are able to view suggestions of people you may know and can send them a connection request. To add to these connections, check out the section ” People also viewed” which is really as the name suggests.

Must Read: How to grow your Facebook group

When creating connections on LinkedIn, you can add a personalized note when sending connection requests. This increases your chances of having the request accepted.

Join Relevant LinkedIn Groups

LinkedIn has group options where people with similar interests come together. This is equally a place where prospective clients might be. In that case, groups offer you an opportunity to participate in communities where there are like-minded people who may want your services or products and ultimately recommend you to someone else.

For a business owner, these groups can be very resourceful when you are looking for information, feedback on your products and guidance in your area of expertise. It also helps you send a direct message to someone in the group who is not in your connections. 

If you are not aware of any specific groups to join, you can look at the profiles of your connections. Check and identify the groups they are part of and join those that are relevant to your needs. It is important to be intuitive when choosing the groups that you join as you want to be in groups that will build you. Well, this is the easiest method on how to use LinkedIn for business 2020.

Update Your Status Regularly 

LinkedIn has an update function that allows you to post status updates. You can use both your personal and company profiles to update news, links to articles, recommendations, and any useful information. Posting updates can help position your brand/ company and grow your exposure to potential clients. 

To be relevant in the industry, ensure that your status updates are inline and related to your brand.

For every post that you make on LinkedIn, it appears at the very top of your contacts LinkedIn news feed. With this in mind, you can send a number of updates each day sharing quality content or useful information that gets your name out there.  

Use LinkedIn To Publish Content

If creating content is your thing, then LinkedIn is a great platform to pursue. LinkedIn allows you to create and publish your content. As a business owner, you can use this to create company content and this has a better chance of being seen by many of your connections. 

When you publish an article on LinkedIn, all your connections are notified of this which in turn translates to traffic to your company. As LinkedIn is a great platform for content creators, it allows you to view the analytics for the article that you publish. 

As a business owner, any opportunity you have to drive traffic to your website is pristine. LinkedIn’s analytics can give you insight on who read the post, how many people read the posts even your reader demographics.

Get Recommendations And Endorsements

When a friend recently told me he was looking for ways on how to use LinkedIn for business, remembered this tip. LinkedIn endorsement was the first thing that came to my mind. Recommendations and endorsements go along way in your business. Recommendations are short narratives that carry reviews of one’s skills and performance. You can receive recommendations from previous workmates, clients that you have served,  colleagues, and even employees.

Endorsements, on the other hand, are approvals indicating that one has a skill in a particular area. On LinkedIn, you can receive an endorsement simply by one click. Anyone can endorse you based on their connection with you. 

Endorsements and recommendations add credibility to your business and are a selling factor that your prospective client may consider before choosing to work with you. Therefore, getting the right recommendations and endorsements is important. If you have none yet, simply start by recommending others. Give thoughtful and genuine feedback to someone and in turn, people will be more open to recommending you.

Pricing

LinkedIn is Free for all. However, if you desire to upgrade, you would need to pay a charge for their premium/paid account. For Premium accounts, you pay between $29.95 to $499.95 per month depending on the premium plan you purchase. That is how to use LinkedIn to build your business without stress.

Conclusion

LinkedIn is one of the platforms that is business-minded and you can use it to grow your work from home business. You can do this by creating a strong personal and company profile, building connections that matter, joining relevant groups, and actively participating in them, publishing relevant content, and getting recommendations and endorsements. LinkedIn is diverse and rich and can help you boost your business while you work from the comfort of your home.  And that is How To Use LinkedIn To Build Your Business.