When it comes to marketing yourself and your business on social media, what are the first platforms that come to mind? Facebook tends to be the first place most young professionals and entrepreneurs turn to. Although Facebook can be a great resource to grow your presence on social media, many tend to overlook other outlets. One that a lot of individuals don’t invest much time into is LinkedIn. Many view it as a forum to look for a new career or recruit new talent for big corporations. It is not commonly associated with small business, entrepreneurs, or fields such as Real Estate. However, given the chance, LinkedIn could benefit you in more ways than you realize, and here are 7 hacks to kick starting your business presence on LinkedIn.

1)      Complete your Profile. This may seem like a pretty straightforward task, but you would be surprised by the amount of LinkedIn users who have not completed their profiles. A complete profile lays out a better story of your history, your skills, and how you may be a valuable contact to someone.

2)      Create a Business Page. LinkedIn is not just for professionals looking to change careers. You may not think you will gain much from LinkedIn outside of connecting with others in your industry, but it is a good way to keep in contact and up to date on potential clients.

3)      Link your Business and Personal Pages. This way you can promote your business on your personal page as well. You can also link your personal page to your business website. By linking these two pages you give connections a look into yourself personally (the individual behind the brand that they can relate to) and by showcasing what your company/business does.

4)      Join/Start LinkedIn Groups. See a group that interests you? Maybe it’s about Marketing, Real Estate, or the area you live in. Whatever it is, join in and share your opinions (or expertise!) If you don’t see a group that interests you, or you see enough mention of a topic that doesn’t have its own outlet, create a group for it! Maybe you are in a large group of other Real Estate Agents and you want to connect with a handful of them specifically. Create a smaller group to converse in, you never know what resources they may provide in the future.

5)      Update your Company Page Frequently. Use this to your advantage. Post frequently, but make sure your posts hold value. Don’t post something that you wouldn’t put on your website or other business pages you have. Add your blog, but make sure they have content your audience would find beneficial. Post visuals, but make sure they are eye catching. Don’t just post any image that comes your way.

6)      Interact with other Professionals (but don’t accept/invite everyone!). Be picky. Yes, you are on LinkedIn to network and make new connections. But not everyone that adds you to LinkedIn will be relevant to what your goal is, growing your business. Take the time to review the profile of every person that adds you. If you think they could be a resource or potential client, then feel free to add them. And this goes the other way around as well. Don’t start adding people to grow your connection count. Quality over Quantity is an important adage to live by in this situation. If you add and accept just anyone, eventually your 3rd party connections will be a complete mess, and you won’t be able to keep up with those who have pertinence to your business.

7)      Customize your URL. This will make it easier to search for you and share your profile with others.

LinkedIn isn’t a good fit for everyone. Those who are not looking to grow a business, change careers, or Network, will most likely stick to platforms like Facebook where they can keep up to date with friends and family. This makes LinkedIn a more niche platform for professionals to use. Take the time and learn the ins and outs of LinkedIn, stay up to date with the changes it makes, and it will pay off for you professionally!

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