Your essential guide to LinkedIn - Webfactory

What is LinkedIn?

Linked in is the largest professional network out there, a business orientated social media platform its primary goal is to connect with and grow business contacts. It now boasts over 238 million users with a new member signing up every second on average.

Who uses LinkedIn?

66% of LinkedIn’s audience is male and the most popular age group being between 35 and 54 years old. Their fastest growing demographics are students and recent graduates.

Is it suitable for your business?

Generally it is suitable for every business depending on how you use it. If you are looking to recruit then you can use LinkedIn and your company page for just that. It’s brilliant if you are looking to expand your network and gain new and valuable contacts.

Encourage your workforce to get a profile on LinkedIn as then you can grow your web of contacts even further afield. LinkedIn will not only help your company’s reach increase but will also help your employees build up a reputation in the industry.

It’s a great place to share knowledge and expertise, so if you’re looking for some marketing ideas or simply interesting content that relates to your business then LinkedIn has a vast library of information. Also by sharing your own content you can get your business known, and you’ll find others will want to follow what you have to say, meaning more business contacts.

If you’re looking to sell using LinkedIn then its less suitable for certain retail business in that respect and you’ll find a more image driven platform like Facebook more appropriate for that. Even so, you can still benefit from having a presence on Linked In and can get connected with potential suppliers etc.

How to get started, creating a profile:

• Head to their home page and fill out the information fields and click the yellow join button.
• Then you’ll need to create your personal professional profile.
• The site will guide you along in this process. It’s important not to skip through and fill out as much detail as possible to demonstrate your professionalism.
• You can add information on upcoming projects, which is great to add awareness to your business and show that you are an active one.
• Once you've filled out your profile you can start networking.
• Search for contacts that you already know by email or name.
• Select how you know them and add and add a short personal message inviting them to connect.
• Once you've connected, have a gander through their contacts to see who you might also know, and get connecting to them.
• Then you can add your business and create a company profile.
• In the dashboard above, hover over Interest and select companies from the drop down options.
• On the right hand side under create a company page, click the yellow create button.
• Then simply fill out the relevant fields and follow the instructions.

Top Tips:

• Ask to be introduced: There’s no harm in asking a contact to introduce you to a second degree contact, so don’t be afraid to. Remember this platform is all about networking and growing that all important contact list.
• Be professional: Remember, this isn't so informal as Facebook and Twitter etc. So you need to be more formal and professional. Just keep in mind that it’s all about business and treat connection as they are business connections.
• Check out your competitors: Not only can you find out what their business is getting up to, you will probably find some useful contacts that might be relevant to your own company.