How do you Leverage LinkedIn and grow your network?

It’s hard to imagine life without Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest, but is there a digital world you might be forgetting, one that might be the most important of all? In other words, are you LinkedIn?

With so many other social networks claiming time, it’s easy to forget the one that actually focuses on business. The number of users grows higher every year, a reported 467 million in 2016, and the LinkedIn network is a standard tool for recruiters, consultants and HR departments around the world. Here are a few ideas to get up to speed if you’re guilty of ignoring your LinkedIn account:

Ask what kind of people you need in your network. Potential clients? Small business owners? Use the LinkedIn search to find them, then filter down to the second connections. These are the people you share a contact with. Ask to connect with them and expand your network in a matter of hours. Share the updates and content your new contacts have published.

Just as on Facebook, you can follow pages and profiles. Find groups, businesses, influencers and others who have relevance to your business mission. Endorse the skills of others and they’ll likely do the same for you. Don’t forget to connect with your corporate office and even your competitors.

LinkedIn’s subscribers can publish articles, tips, blog posts, interviews and any other long-form content. The content is fully attributed to you and might appear on the newsfeed of your contacts and their networks. You can put all your articles under the same personalized LinkedIn URL and share the URL in an email newsletter or elsewhere.

If you’re in sales, use the LinkedIn sales navigator with HubSpot Marketing Automation to speed up the process of contacting your leads and to connect with new prospects as your network expands. The sales navigator provides tags you can use to keep track of the number of times you’ve communicated with each contact.

Install the LinkedIn app on your mobile devices and make a habit of growing your newsfeed, interacting with groups, and liking or sharing content. The more you participate, the more visible you are. Don’t forget to share your best content on other networks too — it’s east to tweet and share from LinkedIn, and it’s a great way to drive people to your marketing services.

 

Before you do any of the above, spend some time on your profile. Put up a professional headshot and avoid these mistakes. Fill out your summary, tag your interests, and consider a video or audio introduction. Remember — you never get a second chance to make a first impression!