When they think of using LinkedIn for business, many small business owners believe that they are too far low on the business scale to be able to use this professional social media platform. In their opinion, LinkedIn is the place for multinational corporations, top -level executives, B2B managers, and entrepreneurs and their peers.
This is true, all these people and companies are present on LinkedIn, but likewise there are also millions of less renowned and famous professionals and small business owners, who do their best to reach out to potential customers and build more awareness, gain more sales and develop a stronger brand image. LinkedIn is an online forum where people search for various types of products and services, look out for potential business partners, suppliers and barter opportunities.
In short, people use LinkedIn to search for business opportunities and products at all levels, not only multimillion-dollar mergers and takeovers. That being said, this is how you can effectively use LinkedIn for your home-based business:
1. Customize Your URL
If you run your business in your own name, the first step is to create a custom URL for your profile, usually including only your first and last name. This will help your connections find you faster when they want to recommend your services to somebody else (referral works really well in LinkedIn). Apart from the URL, create an easily searchable headline for your profile, which synthesizes the type of services you offer. We will talk more about keyword optimization right after this.
2. Make Your Profile or Page SEO Friendly
Right now, the first search results in Google for people’s names or business names are usually their social media profiles. This happens because the said profiles are carefully optimized with well-researched keywords.
What does it mean for LinkedIn? The first element which should contain relevant keywords is the headline right under your name. This is your short sale promotion – the way people perceive you from reading this headline determines whether they continue browsing the rest of your profile and contacting you. The summary, in which you present your business visions, should be of moderate length (no more than 3 short paragraphs) and rich in keywords (but not stuffed with them).
3. Join Specialized Groups with Local Connections
Joining groups is a great way of building your authority as an expert in your niche and promoting your business in an efficient and discreet manner. Statistics say that more than 70% of people who want to purchase products and services using LinkedIn join groups in order to explore their options. Search for groups which include members or interests from your local area, with a potential impact for your home business.
4. Start Blogging
LinkedIn offers a free platform for blogging directly within the social media platform, called LinkedIn Pulse. You should be as active as you can on this platform, because you can create keyword-rich text with anchor text pointing to your website, you can share and demonstrate your expertise, and your name with the LinkedIn URL to your profile page will be promoted for free within the platform.
As a further argument, Technorati states that in 31% of cases, the buying decision is directly influenced by reading a well-written and documented blog post.
5. Beware of Private Messages
For the final piece of advice, here is something you should totally refrain from on LinkedIn: private messages to people you have barely known and connected with, to people you are not connected with and even to people who are within your first and secondary circles. Promotional messages, invites to click on a link, check your website or your LinkedIn page are seen as completely unprofessional and spammy. Compared to Facebook and Twitter, LinkedIn has a very low tolerance to spam messages and randomly getting in touch with people you don’t know.
Once you have built your network and reputation, continue being as active as you can, sharing interesting content, being helpful with answers, participating in discussions, and thus creating more trust and confidence in your home-based business.