Review: Get LinkedIn With Your Business

Normally, it would be customary to do a review on a revolutionary new service, site, or product out there — but today’s not normal. These days, nothing is normal! Just look at the small business market out there. It’s like shark-infested waters. And all you’ve got is your wet suit and a harpoon gun.

What is an entrepreneur to do? The answer is simple: work with what you have.
One timed shot of your harpoon, and you can take care of one shark. Yay, one shark. It’s a start, though. What that simply means is fine-tuning your usage of some of the resources you already have on the internet. Namely one….

Introducing (Again) LinkedIn

Rating: 4 out of 5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You remember LinkedIn, don’t you? It’s been around for awhile. A remarkable site, one with major potential and obvious advantages — or else the site would’ve been dead and gone in the water a long time ago.

But are you really using LinkedIn effectively for your small business?

Here are some tips:

Tip #1: Online Recommendations and Word of Mouth

It’s such a little thing that I’m willing to bet many people overlook it on LinkedIn — they’re called ‘recommendations.’ You can ask anyone to write a recommendation for you, and the result is a worldwide firestorm of marketing fireworks as that little recommendation gets spread throughout the LinkedIn network. Pretty Nifty.

 

Tip #2: What’s a Blog Again?

Are we that behind on the cyberspace times? No. Just kidding. Everyone these days knows what a blog is. But did you know you can actually use your blog right on your LinkedIn page? The best part about that is it’s convenient. LinkedIn provides a simple feed that pulls your content from the blog and posts it right on your LinkedIn page. Everyone sees it. Everyone sees it without actually clicking onto your blog site. That’s convenience.

Tip #3: Watch Your Competition Closely

LinkedIn is basically an open book — nothing is left hidden. It’s not like Facebook where you actually have to add somebody as a friend and then wait for their approval before you can look at their goofy pictures. On LinkedIn, companies have public profiles, and you can see exactly what’s going on with them — who they’re hiring, what they’re doing, how they’re doing, and how they’re doing so well (or not so well). With that open feature, you can gauge your business and work the competition by swimming along the same waves (away from the sharks).

One Important Thing to Know

Those are your tips. Use them wisely. Those are dangerous waters out there. However…. Keep in mind that this is LinkedIn we’re talking about. Have you ever seen the scope of this site? It’s pretty intimidating. LinkedIn might be one of the only ‘social’ sites out there that really isn’t, well…. Social. It’s all about business. So there’s a lot going on, usually, on LinkedIn.

Try not to drown in those waters from the sheer exhaustion of perusing just about everything you can get out of the site: forums, jobs, connections, blogs, etc. etc. That would be your only downfall.

Otherwise, have a nice swim! Just don’t forget your harpoon.

Related Keywords: social media, corporate advertising, company competition