Four Ways to Boost Your LinkedIn Presence

Written by: Dave Goates, Director of Human Capital

Many industry analysts and observers have been astounded at the rapid growth of social media. LinkedIn reports it is growing faster than it did in 2010. What can you do with LinkedIn?

• Recruit potential new employees who can search for you online
• Create, manage and promote your company “brand”
• Generate buzz and traffic about what you’re doing
• Become a thought leader in your space
• Create a “presence” to generate inbound inquiries

You’ll notice here at Launch that we “drink” our own medicine a lot. We cold call to obtain our own new clients, but we also employ some of our own suggestions for improving the brand in social media. Here are four:

1. We encourage participation by our employees in discussion groups on LinkedIn. The open sharing of lessons learned and insights we glean through working with our clients helps everyone who follows us. We’re hoping to boost interest in our appointment setting capabilities, but also looking to grow our referral business as well. The best part is it’s cheap to do. We’re excited about building this online presence going forward, and we’ve set some specific goals with key players internally to “make it happen.” You’ll find hidden talents at your shop who can share their writing talents and have fun doing it.

2. Make sure you “blend” your social media outlets across all the channels like Facebook, Twitter and others. Harmonize the content and spread it around. The key is to keep it original. That’s how you become the thought leader in your space. Parroting someone else’s content only boosts their hits, but it won’t do much to push you up the search engine page; at least not as much as companies like Sirlinksalot do. Use keywords that tie back to you. Have you become a Facebook friend of Launch yet? Are you following us on Twitter and LinkedIn? Did you know Scott Smith, our CEO, was selected as one of the top 50 in America to follow on Twitter for sales advice? We’ll keep the content coming, and we hope it’s helpful. Give us feedback, make comments. We love to hear from you.

3. Deputize someone within your organization to monitor and manage the discussion group(s) you sponsor, and hand out assignments for content that dovetail with your value proposition. Don’t shy away from the possibility that others might be tempted to spam you. Stay open to their offerings, and learn more that might help you each day. The knowledge explosion is fantastic! Take full advantage of what others can contribute. Just remember, everyone sells something! Encouraging participation in your group will help you to become the defacto marketplace for your space.

4. When you create your content, remember to keep it simple and short. On a blog post, about 500 words is plenty. Small “bytes” is best.  Ask questions, encourage answers from the group, and keep posting thought-provoking original content. I saw one the other day that had over 30,000 comments. The question was, “Short of an open revolution, what would you do today to improve the economy?” Drop a link to your website into your comments, like Launch Leads does when we post content. It’s a subtle invitation to learn more without being obnoxious.