Alright. Now that you decided to promote your startup better by giving social media marketing a try, which social media platform should you use? Should you use all, just a few or many? Social media is very much like your social life: it can be rewarding, awkward, confusing, demanding or even fun. Many people believe that social media is a very valuable resource but at the same tune, great care needs to be exercised in terms of managing the amount of resources and time invested in it. With the sheer number of available social media channels on the Internet today, you may be tempted to simply raise up your hands and ditch the whole idea of social media marketing. Too many choices have been shown time and again to be overwhelming which can make it hard for Entrepreneurs to choose anything at all. But you don’t really have a choice then to choose one at least. That one single option would be LinkedIn Platform for Entreprenuers.
If you want to keep your startup growing and increase sales and profits, you will need to use social media. Which forms of social media you select and how many of them you manage are, of course, entirely up to you, but choose wisely. It is important to consider the networks your target markets will be most active on in order to maximize your time and resources on those social media platforms firstly. If you’re in the industry of providing helpful insights to people who are looking for jobs, looking to expand their business networks or connections and evaluating or thinking about their careers, then LinkedIn platform may be the social media platform that’s right for you.
What is LinkedIn Platform?
A social media site specifically created for business communities, LinkedIn’s goal is to give its registered members the opportunities to build and establish documented professional networks of people that they know and trust. A typical profile paw of Linkedln’s members prioritize or highlight working experience or history and education — 2 of the most important criterion by which people are evaluated in the business world for business partnerships or employment. The profile paw also features a professional network news feed with several modules that can be customized. Basically, membership is free, and members are referred to as “connections”. Another basic difference between Linkedln and social networking platforms lace Facebook — aside from its business theme — is that Linkedln requires that you have a pre-existing relationship with a prospective connection first before being connected.
Why LinkedIn Platform is the best Professional Networking based Community?
Do you remember how your parents used to remind about choosing your friends wisely when you were still a kid? Keep that advice in mind as you employee social media marketing for your startup. With all the available social media platforms out there, it’s important to choose only the best social media sites for running your marketing campaigns in order to maximize your limited social media time and resources. Certainly utilizing many, if not all, of the available resources and networks may seem ideal at first glance, but we warn you to look again. Many aspects of Linkedln, induding that one, are designed with a more professional, business oriented mindset than most other social networking sites, including Facebook, can boast, though of course that leads to less of the light-hearted social interactions that Facebook is full of. Linkedln can be a valuable resource for connecting you with other business or with business professionals, and can be an ideal platform for targeting anyone within that demographic.
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You can use Linkedln’s Company Pages to look for business partner companies as well as spy on competing ones. This can help you determine the most effective marketing strategies to use, as it allows you to consider markets your competitors have not yet tapped. It also enables you to take inspiration from their current or previous campaigns, modifying them to make them your own, of course, or explore new territories that they are lacking in. Furthec you can set up a page for your own business where you can show your expertise in your industry or niche and indirectly promote your company or business. Here, you can publish key information about your business such as website address, business address, and company or business description. Be sure to be thorough and accurate in your descriptions.
Related: Building Rapport using LinkedIn Company Page
What is inside LinkedIn Platform for Entrepreneurs?
While we discussed that social media management does not take too long to see a profit, there is a point of diminishing returns and how much time and budget you have available for such endeavors. Investing no time or romances will reap no reward, but investing too much will leave you tired and drained and worn too thin. As such we advise you to focus only on the LinkedIn most act to raise awareness within your target audience and net you eventual conversions. So instead of just blindly following the Pakistani social media crowd, it’s better if you approach it the same way you chose your hangout LinkedIn spots when you were still in high school: Where do the folks with the same interests as me hangout?’ The more familiar you become with using social media, you will start to realized that the term “cool” or “relevant” is subjective and could mean different things for different people. So when it comes to social media marketing, you need to know your prospects and customers as well as their interests.
Related: Attract Potential Customers for Your Business using Instagram
You must narrow down your choices of social media platforms to use based on which networks they’ll probably gravitate to. If you are targeting primarily middle-aged men, you’ll be looking into entirely different networks than if you are aiming to catch the attention of twelve year old girls. Plan poorly and you are sure to be disappointed. Plan well and reap the financial and prestige awards that come with watching your business grow and develop. You can connect by asking legit and intelligent questions and let other experts chip in their $100’s worth of advice and in the process, connect with them. You can also toot your own horn (not too obvious, though) by answering questions as an expert too. Both methods are a valuable way to form additional connections and to show off your intellect and thoughtfulness, provided you do so in a humble, honest way. Both asking and answering eloquently worded and reasonable questions can earn you the respect of other businesses and individuals you will encounter on Linkedln.
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LinkedIn is also a good choice if you’re in the B2B (business-to-business) market. Linkedln is best for industry specific information and pea networking although it’s trying to expand its information scope as of the moment. Because the average Linkedln user enjoys high income and education levels, it can provide you with a distinct target market that’s worth going after using the right message. Linkedln manifests a more professional image and a more professional goal- it is far more common to see people chatting or gaming with friends over Facebook than Linkedln, but that does not lessen Linkedln’s value. It allows connections within the professional world, be that finding empbyees or contacting other startups, in a way unmatched by the other social media platforms on this list, and it offers you a specific demographic that may well be exactly the market you are trying to reach.
Social Media Markteting LinkedIn Style
Because this is all about building networks, what you’re actually marketing on Linkedln is yourself as an entrepreneur or business professional. Obviously, the more you market yourself professionally, the more business contacts you pin, which is only beneficial for your businesses in general. So how do you market yourself well in Linkedln? One way is to build up your profile of course! Since you’re selling yourself, make yourself look good on it. Linkedln isn’t just about being sociable and engaging- major aspects of most other social networking sites. Here you can sell yourself, and your business, so don’t be too shy or modest about your strengths.
You can build your profile up in LinkedIn Platform using the following features, among others:
-LinkedIn Platform Status Updates: Short statements about you that you think your connections will find most interesting or useful. Here, you can include content-related links to other sites, including your business’ own, as well as links to other relevant sites and your other social media accounts. Posting actionable and useful status updates regularly can make you look more active on Linkedln. Activity will show motivation and work ethic and will go a long ways towards showing prospective connections how dedicated and professional you can be.
-LinkedIn Platform Slog Posts: This site lets you effortlessly syndicate your profile with your blog posts and vice versa. What this means is you can allow your Linkedln profile to update automatically with your blow on your business’ website by providing a link
-LinkedIn Platform Events: You can post events on your Linkedln profile to promote events that you’re either promoting managing or conducting
-LinkedIn Platform Tweets: You can also connect your Twitter tweets to your Linkedln status updates to better keep your connections and followers updated on your latest happenings. You can also brand your Linkedln address by customizing it. Much like a personal website, a branded Linkedln address can help boost your professional image. Choose wisely- the address you select will represent your company. You’ll want to appear professional and also select something well suited to what your business sells, offers, or represents.
Lastly, you can use LinkedIn Platform Community Features to collaborate and communicate with other Linkedln users. These include Groups, Answers, and Company Pages. Groups keep you informed and in touch with other Linkedln users of the same interests and passion. You can either join an existing one already or create your own! The best way to expand your social (and business) cirdes is to add great value to discussions when you participate. Keep in mind, you are still communicating as a business and the persona you created for that. In discussions, you will, of course, want to appear personable and friendly- but on a platform like Linkedln, there is room for greater formality and professionalism than you might present on alternative networks such as Twitter or Facebook Answers is an excellent way to connect with similar-minded colleagues as well as share your expertise with others, promoting your profile — and business — indirectly.
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