LinkedIn has always been considered the best B2B social media platform. I have used it successfully for clients in the past, but for some reason have neglected it for myself and my own business.
As with any social media, there are a few rules of engagement:
- Have meaningful conversations – be a perceptive, responsive comment writer, and an authoritative content creator.
- Don’t be a spammer – LinkedIn recommends no more than three hashtags per post and no more than five mentions.
- Find you niche – finding the right groups to suit you and your industry is the best way to make new connections.
As with all of the social media channels, LinkedIn has recently announced modifications to its algorithm. These are aimed at filtering out the noise and giving you the best user experience. So make sure you aren’t the one producing the noise and aim for meaningful, quality engagement with others on the platform.
Have you tried?
- When did you last check your profile? Is it up to date?
- Use the relationship section to make notes about where you met someone IRL so you never forget how and why you got talking.
- Be a subtle stalker! If there’s someone you want to connect with then see what they are writing about and who they are talking to. Are there public conversations you can contribute to? After all, you wouldn’t walk up to someone at an event and ask for their business card without even a little small talk first!
- Ask for recommendations. Your clients, colleagues and customers probably won’t even think to leave you one, even though you did a great job. If you don’t ask, you don’t get!