Jessica G. Troccoli

While working in Paris, I was faced with the challenge of convincing our client of how valuable LinkedIn is for business. I was able to get him to try out the network and within one weeks time, he had almost 500 connections. After experiencing that kind of response, he finally recognized LinkedIn’s power and reach. Mission accomplished! I wrote the following blog post for the Imagewest blog to explain a few ways LinkedIn is valuable for business.

Since 2003, LinkedIn has been connecting professionals and companies all around the world. It is currently the world’s largest professional online network with more than 100 million members in over 200 countries. LinkedIn can help businesses find new contacts to expand their network, grow their business and gain free publicity. All of these benefits are what make LinkedIn an invaluable resource for any business.

There are numerous ways to utilize LinkedIn for business purposes. Here are a few ways that companies can build their repertoire online:

Continue to grow

-       Grow your network by joining industry and alumni groups related to your business.

-       Search for new contacts using the advanced search feature to find people by company, industry, city and more.

-       Start and manage a group or fan page for your company. This is a great way to keep people in your network up to date with company happenings.

Stay relevant

-       You can answer industry related questions to show your expertise without being seen as a self-promoter. Your good advice alone will get you noticed more than through self-publicizing.

-       Share useful articles and resources that will be of interest to your network.

-       Write honest and valuable recommendations for your contacts. You can ask them to write a recommendation for you as well.

Discover new information

-       Conduct market research and gain knowledge without directly polling your contacts. People are more likely to provide valuable feedback when they do not feel solicited.

-       Share the results of your research with your contacts.

Keep in touch

-       Use widgets to integrate other streams of information. Some widgets allow you to import blog entries, website updates or Twitter feeds into your profile.

-       Publish your LinkedIn URL on all of your marketing collateral, including business cards, email signature, newsletters, websites, brochures, etc., so people can easily find you and learn more about your company.

These are but a few ways that your business can utilize LinkedIn. The site is a great resource for growing your business and easily expanding your outreach to relevant professionals in the industry.

As an added benefit for global companies, LinkedIn is currently available in six languages including English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish. The site allows you to translate your profile into any of these languages automatically, making worldwide business communication simpler.

It is time to get networking now! Click the icon below to connect to me.