Tips to market your business with LinkedIn

LinkedIn is much more than a social site: it can be extremely effective for marketing small businesses. Here are some ways that you can make use of the network and its community of professionals and some possible benefits for your brand.

Establishing the Presence of Your Brand
Creating a good Company Page can help build your credibility and ensure that your business is getting the attention it needs and deserves.
A free LinkedIn Company Page can give people key information about your brand and help your business to be discovered as frequently as possible. It should be a one-stop-shop, offering an information hub for visitors.

Connecting with Your Target Audience
You can target your audience and then connect with its members by building up a strategically selected community of followers. The more people who know about your company, the more business can be driven through referrals and word of mouth.

Engaging with Content
Great content can help turn your followers into advocates for your brand.

Brand-Building Tips
Before you start creating your page, ensure that you understand your audience. Once you know this, run a search looking for members fitting your profile.
Investigate profiles and look at what types of subjects your target audience members follow. This should help you when deciding how you are going to position your Company Page.
Do everything you can to make your page as easy to find as possible. Add company specialities and links, as well as core value descriptions.
You should also make sure that you maximise on your overall online presence by linking to your LinkedIn page from your business website, other social platforms and your blog.

Building Your Community
Start by engaging with your employees and encouraging them to add their links with your company to their own profiles.
Prompt customers to follow your page by including links to it in company communications. They should also be able to make use of a Follow button embedded on your website.
Be a thought leader and promote your brand in groups that are talking about your industry or sector. This can drive attention and traffic to your Company Page.
You can go further and extend your reach beyond your network by using Sponsored Updates and LinkedIn Ads to promote your brand. You can tailor your targeting criteria to ensure that your company is put in front of people who can help your business succeed.

Compelling Content Creation
Create a content stream featuring a wide range of material, including company news and insightful articles about your industry.
Become renowned for your useful content, and do not bombard people with company promotions. For every one post that promotes your company, you should post four which focus on industry trends or thought leadership.
Post frequently and use a range of different content formats. This should include videos and photos, as these are known to increase shares and comments.
Prompt followers to react to your posts, as each comment, share or like can have a positive impact on your LinkedIn reach.
Build loyalty and awareness by engaging with people who make comments on updates, as they will appreciate your attention.