Page 190 - Social Media Marketing for Dummies

LinkedIn was the fifth-most popular social media site after YouTube, Facebook,
Instagram, and Pinterest in the United States. It has 660 million users globally of
which 150 million are in the United States alone. That’s growth!

Why did LinkedIn grow so robustly? Like all the other popular social networks, it
met a need. It provided a way for like-minded business people from around the
globe to find each other, share information, and give advice. It legitimized a way
for professionals to communicate in an environment that had guidelines and
accountability.

The key to success is remembering that LinkedIn is just one channel of your social
media strategy. You need to pay attention to how your connections here can drive
traffic to other channels. For example, you may want to provide a link to a dis-
count on your website. By integrating selling with everything else you’re doing,
you won’t seem like a crass self-promoter. In this chapter, we look at LinkedIn’s
varied uses for social marketing of both yourself and your company.

Getting Started

To understand the potential marketing value of LinkedIn, as shown in Figure 11-1,
you can view it in two distinct ways: as a marketing vehicle for your own career
and as a marketing tool to understand and connect with the audience to which you
market.

It’s safe to assume that everyone on LinkedIn is sold on the idea of networking.
LinkedIn members know the value of a connection that can take you where you
need to go. This means that you can connect with people knowing that you don’t
need to convince them that sharing contacts or advice is valuable.

On the other hand, the fact that they understand this value means that you can’t
use connections frivolously. At no time should you connect with someone without
the understanding that you or your contacts could also be of value to them. It’s
also important to remember that a lot of salesmen aggressively try to connect on
LinkedIn without explaining why they want to connect and how the connection
can be mutually beneficial. This has led to some people being more hesitant to
accept connections.

LinkedIn gives you the option to start with a free account. This account has lots of
great features. If you’re just getting started, you may want to join without making
any additional financial commitment. You can decide whether you need additional
premium features after you get the lay of the land.

174 PART 3 Reaching Your Audience via Mainstream Social Platforms