LinkedIn’s niche in social media is chief officers, executives, and working business professionals looking to network with one another for the purposes of company advocacy, industry insight, and career advancement. To leverage these opportunities on LinkedIn, a business owner must know how to both promote themselves to their target audience while following the rules of engagement and utilize the technology of the platform without the fear of making a mistake in front of their peers, leads, or clients. As with any social medium, the LinkedIn Corporation has provided many tools and services that evolve constantly and all of which are subject to change at any time, which has left many small business owners bewildered and frustrated. I’m here to share a step-by-step demonstration of marketing your business on LinkedIn through Profile Updates.
Start by logging into your LinkedIn account. You will be taken to your Home Page, which contains your news stream of recent updates from your connections and followed individuals and businesses.
1. Locate the sharing bar
2. Select “Share an Update” from the three options
3. Insert your message
A. Type over the “What’s on your mind?” message and the message will disappear. You do not need to select the text and delete it first.
4. Decide if you want to add an image
A. Click on the grey image icon with a mountain and the Sun to add an image.
B. Select an image from your computer to include.
Note: Always respect copyrights on images and do not attach images that you do not have permission to use. You can learn more about finding free images for social media here.
5. Decide on and select your audience
A. You will almost always select “Public” for sharing, which is the default. Other options include “Just your connections” or “Just your connections + [linked social media platform].”
B. Click on the double arrow to the right of “Share with: Public” to change the audience for your Update.
Note: The options for the audience change often. Previous versions have included sharing to members of a specific group and employees of a specific company. Check for changes to this selection option often.
6. Post your Update
A. Click the “Share” button
Now that you know how to share an Update, let’s talk about what to share to market your business through LinkedIn. The top performing Updates on LinkedIn are interviews, believe it or not. People on LinkedIn love getting the inside story behind a business, so think about how you can share similar pieces of information. Try answering the following questions when you post:
- Have you had an increase in sales? Website traffic? Facebook activity?
- Have you locked in a big contract? (Don’t disclose names without permission!)
- How has your activity for the current week aligned with your mission statement?
- What is your mission statement and why?
- What is your brand identity?
- How has your background made you an expert in your field? Share stories from the past and what they taught you.
- Did you reach any of your goals for this year?
- How did you select your current goals?
- What is the progress of your newest product or service in the pipeline?
Try to think about information an investor might want to know about your business without disclosing anything to important that you wouldn’t want a competitor to know. Remember, once it’s on the Internet, it’s out there for good!
Once you’ve started sharing Updates on LinkedIn, be sure to follow me for more information about social media marketing.
