How to Really Use LinkedIn
These days, I am constantly amazed at the number of business people I meet every day who do not know how to really use LinkedIn effectively.
In America, 80% of employers use LinkedIn to find suitable candidates for senior vacancies before using any other recruiting tool.
What I want to explore in this article is how to really use LinkedIn to grow your business.
As a business owner, networking is the key to grow your business.
This should go beyond simply exchanging business cards but more importantly to develop relationships and understand how you can help one another.
Once you have developed a number of relationships to a mature level, it is time to start learning how to use LinkedIn.
Simply search for LinkedIn on Google and create a free profile following the on screen instructions.
Once you have completed this, you should now click on the "add contact" section and start to add your business contacts that you have built a relationship with.
If they are already on LinkedIn, you will find them accepting you pretty quickly and then the real power comes into play.
After you have added all of your contacts, you will then start to discover the power of LinkedIn.
If you think about the real world for a second, when we build relationships with people we are given access to their network of contacts.
The same applies to LinkedIn, when someone connects with you they grant you access to their network of contacts.
Let's think about how we grow a business in the traditional sense.
You research your target market and identify a number of sectors you want to sell your goods and services into.
Taking a particular sector, you then identify a number of businesses you wish to target.
The dilemma you are faced now is how to speak to the decision maker within your targeted business.
One method is to cold call the company, identify the decision maker and call them to make an appointment.
Although this sounds simple, the very idea of picking up the phone terrifies 90% of the population, let alone making a cold call.
There is another more effective method of making contact - LinkedIn So how do we really use LinkedIn to make contact with our decision maker? Let's go back to our research stage, using LinkedIn to search for our chosen business targets.
This search tool will not only identify the people within the business but it will also identify whether somebody within your LinkedIn network is connected with them.
This means indirectly you have now identified, without calling anyone, someone within your targeted business is connected to your network of contacts.
Once again picking up the phone but not to your target business, instead, to your contact who is already connected with them.
Your contact already has a relationship with the person and should know how best to make contact with them.
I would suggest you ask your contact what would be the best method to be introduced to them.
As you build more and more contacts in the real world and add them to LinkedIn, you will discover that this technique becomes more and more powerful.
For me, this is how to really use LinkedIn and is my preferred method of meeting Managing Directors of businesses without the traditional battle of the gatekeepers!
In America, 80% of employers use LinkedIn to find suitable candidates for senior vacancies before using any other recruiting tool.
What I want to explore in this article is how to really use LinkedIn to grow your business.
As a business owner, networking is the key to grow your business.
This should go beyond simply exchanging business cards but more importantly to develop relationships and understand how you can help one another.
Once you have developed a number of relationships to a mature level, it is time to start learning how to use LinkedIn.
Simply search for LinkedIn on Google and create a free profile following the on screen instructions.
Once you have completed this, you should now click on the "add contact" section and start to add your business contacts that you have built a relationship with.
If they are already on LinkedIn, you will find them accepting you pretty quickly and then the real power comes into play.
After you have added all of your contacts, you will then start to discover the power of LinkedIn.
If you think about the real world for a second, when we build relationships with people we are given access to their network of contacts.
The same applies to LinkedIn, when someone connects with you they grant you access to their network of contacts.
Let's think about how we grow a business in the traditional sense.
You research your target market and identify a number of sectors you want to sell your goods and services into.
Taking a particular sector, you then identify a number of businesses you wish to target.
The dilemma you are faced now is how to speak to the decision maker within your targeted business.
One method is to cold call the company, identify the decision maker and call them to make an appointment.
Although this sounds simple, the very idea of picking up the phone terrifies 90% of the population, let alone making a cold call.
There is another more effective method of making contact - LinkedIn So how do we really use LinkedIn to make contact with our decision maker? Let's go back to our research stage, using LinkedIn to search for our chosen business targets.
This search tool will not only identify the people within the business but it will also identify whether somebody within your LinkedIn network is connected with them.
This means indirectly you have now identified, without calling anyone, someone within your targeted business is connected to your network of contacts.
Once again picking up the phone but not to your target business, instead, to your contact who is already connected with them.
Your contact already has a relationship with the person and should know how best to make contact with them.
I would suggest you ask your contact what would be the best method to be introduced to them.
As you build more and more contacts in the real world and add them to LinkedIn, you will discover that this technique becomes more and more powerful.
For me, this is how to really use LinkedIn and is my preferred method of meeting Managing Directors of businesses without the traditional battle of the gatekeepers!
Source...