LinkedIn is the most popular online professional network that allows users to have their contacts listed, views only those whom they know and also enables them to find people who are present in their network. Business people usually interact with each other here and hence it is a much more effective medium for social networking compared to Facebook.
LinkedIn is not just addictive but also highly useful. Lots of people join this network but do not get enough time to make best use of it. Some are even not aware of how to use it, while others don’t know what impact it can make if used in the right manner. In this article we will see the What, How and Why of LinkedIn so you can use it to your professional advantage.

Getting Started

Firstly, create a nice profile to present yourself in the professional world. Creating a good profile will greatly help you in getting recognized on the search engines. Put your message across clearly and sketch a dream profile of yours by saying true things in order to attract the professionals. After that send invitations to the people present in the contact book of your mail. A default mail can be sent by LinkedIn but do not be hasty in this case. Tell them to get connected and stay in touch. Even motivate them to get back to you.

Reach Out to Lost Contacts
Many people may have lost touch with you due to some reason or the other. By trying to connect with them you are opening your professional doors by telling people exactly where you are professionally. Also, if you are looking to hire somebody you can just look at the profile and decide on how to go about it. Extend your network by connecting to more and more people through your first hand connections.

Find the Right People
LinkedIn can be used to know who else is there in your network. It is always interesting to know about people in your network to get information & knowledge about them. By getting into mutual contact with them you can have all their personal details and accordingly you can decide on your approach. You might get recommended by them too.

Follow Certain Guidelines
Invite people whom you know in person rather than sending out invitations to unknown people which might create a bad impression in front of professional members. Prefer relevant contacts. Send an appropriate invitation when contacting people for the first time. Do not include stuff which is whacky or very personal on your profile. Spend as much time in creating a profile as in inviting the right people to join.

Advertise by Means of Content
Continuous updates relating to your industry are sent by LinkedIn. For example, regular news item updates are sent by LinkedIn which have been featured on BBC.co.uk, Entrepreneur.com, Inc.com, or Forbes.com, etc. You can use all these platforms to advertise yourself by becoming a guest author on the same. Besides, you can write articles with reference to the posts that people upload such as the articles on statistics, research, business, careers, talent, recruitment etc. After writing articles on these subjects, you can post them on the blogs related to your industry.

Brand Promoted through Employees
You can come into close association with the employees of top companies who tend to become your LinkedIn contacts. Such people can be invited to write something on your profile by making their profiles more appealing to read. Even employees of the same workplace can endorse each other for specific knowledge or skills.

Top Influencers” Professional Circles should be Tapped
LinkedIn Top Influencers are no ordinary people. It is a panel consisting of 150 members which includes entrepreneurs, gurus, bloggers, business giants and President Barrack Obama. This panel was created in October, 2012. A contact should be established with these people in order to differentiate you from 200 million members present on LinkedIn. Your association with them can translate into comments, follows, shares, which will enhance your profile to a large extent.

Multimedia Content should be Shared
Through visual content, the message gets across to the user in a highly interactive way. Quite recently LinkedIn acquired SlideShare which has resulted in video sharing on LinkedIn in a much easier way. To have this kind of set-up you just need to have a SlideShare application on LinkedIn.

Paid Membership should be Purchased
This is another popular way to establish relevant & valuable connections by getting access to more statistical data, targeting & search options as well as additional information related to other members. It is an ideal way to get to the right people without sourcing too many profiles and high level professionals can now be easily contacted.

Search Tools should be Effectively Used
Native search engine of LinkedIn could be used to search for groups, group members, first name, last name, company name, etc. In case if you have the paid membership, then you can have alerts related to saved search, as well as search filters using ‘and’ and ‘or’. LinkedIn even supports third party tools (such as BuzzBundle) that lets you to post with the help of a single dashboard, private messages can be sent, relevant discussions can be accommodated.

Conclusion
Promoting through LinkedIn is much more different than conducting marketing in social media platforms like Twitter or Facebook. If used in the right way, promotion through LinkedIn results in higher returns on investment. This is because LinkedIn definitely has an edge when it comes to sharing updates related to company, getting involved in professional groups, extending your influential professional circle, lead generation through your connections, having multiple privileges by becoming a paid member, promotion through employees and much more. Visit us if you need assistance for your business promotion on social media sites.