With over 1 billion registered users the social network LinkedIn is not just a social platform but for those seeking employment, seeking employees, or those looking to grow a business is a vital tool in modern-day business.
As of last year, with an active user base of over 310 million, LinkedIn has been named according to Forbes: “…a far and away, the most advantageous social networking tool available to job seekers and business professionals today.”
Just check this graph from Statista, showing the most valuable B2B social media.
Connecting industry professionals inside their field can provide key industry knowledge that helps them grow and have an entrepreneurial advantage.
But for it to be such an instrument it is required to know how to use it, properly set it up, and maintain it.
Here we will explore some of the tips or guidelines on how to go about just that properly.
As in most things bound for success, the preparation step is key.
Preparation
In this phase try to understand better the audience you have currently.
How and why are they of relevance to your business or its growth?
Identifying this will help you calibrate and assess what kind of connections are the ones you should seek out or build.
To better understand your current industry consider your geographical area as well as the competing businesses inside it
It’s important to also envision the appeal or impression you aim to leave to your potential customers and follow suit accordingly.
Goals
The next step is to determine the goal you want to achieve by building relationships.
Whether your goal scope is a direct increase in sales, marketing, or building a reputable image. It is important to succinctly and forwardly orient your aspiration and subsequent action.
According to Harvard Business School, goals can be set using these 4 main considerations:
- Financial Measures
- Customer Satisfaction
- Internal Business Processes
- Learning and Growth Opportunities
Use this template to set up your networking goals, clearly state them for the entire company, especially for teams focused on sales and marketing, since it would be them implementing these goals.
Tactics
There are a number of tactics your team can deploy in order to boost networking efforts via LinkedIn.
An unmistakable mode of approach is to reach out to new contacts as well as build relationships with them.
This could be done in simple effective ways, such as to interact via messages, and comments or engage in meaningful discussion over relevant topics in your field.
Another good way would be to start a blog on the topic of your expertise.
This would also be of use in raising your credibility as well as social visibility from users on LinkedIn and attracting them as new connections.
An additional goal can be to tap into the existing networks of your team members, especially if the prior focus was to expand it.
Execution
Once all this is set one should begin to put this to action.
To make the most out of this it’s important to adhere daily to your profile. Have regularity in posting content, or blog posts, and be considerably quick to respond to inquiries or messages you will be receiving.
This will ensure you convey interest in fostering communication and building a relationship. That you are willing to engage confidently with your expertise and knowledge.
Even if you lack time to answer the question immediately, take a moment to acknowledge the question and how you will follow up with the required information soon.
To make all this less time-consuming and orderly you can try using useful tools to better organize LinkedIn messages and make sure none of the potential clients or customers are not given the required attention.
This should be done in a manner that inspires trust and confidence in your audience in regard to your professional competence and business assertiveness.
Remember to follow up with ex-customers or persons of interest by sending quick messages expressing interest in their satisfaction with your business, offer, or product.
A tool like a networking CRM can greatly expedite, organize, and help this become a hassle-free activity and routine.
Measure your success
Have oversight of your results and assess how successful or adhering to the previously set goals they are.
Be flexible to make adjustments or changes often in the beginning as it might take time to develop a routine that is best suited for you and what you aim for.
It can also mean that initially, you may need a little more time to make LinkedIn the powerful networking utility it can become.
Measuring results can be done using LinkedIn analytics, where you can check the number of new followers and impressions your posts made.
Also, you should create a report for all the people included in this project and track how many new connections each person got, is there any engagement via DMs or InMails as well as how many visits you got to your website via LinkedIn.
Have persistence
A last tip, but one of equal importance, is to be persistent with the execution and strategies you previously set out.
One should not lose the incentive or interest if the results don’t appear in the beginning as they often take time to do so.
As for all growth tactics, it takes time for it to start building results.
As in the real world, relationship building is a long process. It’s not enough just to connect with someone new and call it a day. Over the longer periods of time, you should keep in touch with newly created connections.
Write them a quick message to see how they are doing, if they change jobs, make sure to congratulate them or wish them a happy birthday.
If you’re coming to an event, check the location of your LinkedIn connections and ping those that are close by. Maybe they are coming to the same event or if they are a very important prospect for your company, invite them for a cup of coffee.
Conclusion
The largest professional network, LinkedIn, is the first place to go to when you want to start building relationships and improve the networking efforts of your entire team.
If done properly, focusing on all the most important steps like preparations, setting goals, tactics, and execution, you can expect to see great results.
Make sure to organize your team, track progress, report, and watch how your networks expand.
