Are You Using LinkedIn to its Full Potential?

If you’re a B2B marketer or a marketing-minded individual, you probably already know about — and have a presence on — LinkedIn.

I’m willing to bet that you have a wonderfully updated profile, use the social network for more than a place to simply copy and paste your resume, and have taken advantage of LinkedIn’s many tools to help drive traffic to your website.
But if that description doesn’t apply to you and your business, then you may be missing out on a great opportunity to brand yourself and your firm.

After all, as of last November, LinkedIn was adding a new member to its network every second. And, unlike other social networking sites, LinkedIn is completely business-oriented, creating an opportunity for B2B businesses to connect to current and potential customers, vendors, and talent.

It isn’t enough to simply have a profile, though. As LinkedIn has grown, so has its capability, functionality, and potential as a legitimate marketing resource. In fact, a recently released HubSpot study revealed that LinkedIn is the most effective inbound marketing tool for B2B companies.

So, if you aren’t making the most of LinkedIn already, make sure individuals in your firm are using the social network to its full potential. To get you started, here are a few of LinkedIn’s biggest business benefits, along with some common mistakes you’ll want to avoid.

Why Use LinkedIn to Network?

Think about it like your virtual rolodex. LinkedIn provides easy access to your network of business contacts like never before. And with that access, your B2B business can benefit in a variety of different ways.

Here are some key benefits:

Stay top of Mind

By creating a LinkedIn profile and starting a network of contacts, you are ensuring that you remain top of mind for future business needs and networking opportunities. An up-to-date profile will showcase relevant information and allow people to keep up to speed on your new career or business developments. It’s a quick way to ensure that you’re within easy reach of your business network.

Manage your reputation

With a presence on LinkedIn, you can manage the professional information about you that is publicly available. By creating a profile, you are distributing the best and most accurate information, which will likely be picked up by search engines and serve as a primary reference for those looking to learn more about you and your professional history.

Find and Recruit Talent

With a bank of millions of resumes, LinkedIn can also help your business find and recruit talent. The ability to build connections, join relevant groups, and utilize the job posting functions is a huge benefit when your business is trying to hire the absolute best candidates. But unlike other recruiting sites, LinkedIn can also connect you with passive job seekers or people that may not be actively looking for a new opportunity and might consider a move if it’s the right position.

Generate Feedback

Tools like LinkedIn Groups allow users to generate feedback on ideas or products. By starting conversations in groups or posting news in your status update, you give other users the opportunity to respond and interact with you on that subject. That resource provides an excellent opportunity to solicit feedback from opinion leaders and connect with key influencers in your space.

Thought Leadership

Thought leaders are defined as individuals who possess a deep understanding of a business category and the marketplace in which they operate. LinkedIn Groups and LinkedIn Answers provide a forum for the creation of that thought leadership, which can establish you as an expert and position your organization as a leader in the industry.

Find Vendors

LinkedIn can also be used to find vendors and service providers for your expansion stage company. By posting your needs to groups, you’re likely to gain recommendations and references for exceptional vendors that have excelled in the past. That information is hugely valuable and it can save your business time, money, and the headaches that come from engaging with a disappointing vendor.

Lead Generation

Though LinkedIn’s purpose is to keep you connected with existing contacts, it can also be used for Lead Generation. As you establish your reputation in Groups and Answers, you can often boost traffic to your website by linking to applicable blogs and content. You can also generate leads by inviting your connections to participate when you host a webinar or forum.

LinkedIn also recently began offering its DirectAds service, which is still in beta testing. This service allows users to promote relevant content to targeted demographics, ultimately assisting lead generation.

Mistakes to Avoid

Though LinkedIn can benefit your business by helping nurture and cultivate relationships, there are a few mistakes you will want to avoid. Here are some of the biggest ones:

Overselling Yourself

Because LinkedIn is a public forum, all claims and statements must be completely accurate; nothing can be embellished. It’s also important to be sure all dates, roles, and job descriptions are as accurate as possible. There’s no room for puffery.

Asking For Too Many Recommendations

You should only ask a contact for a recommendation if you’re confident that they’ll be willing to do it and won’t have to manufacture their praise.

Spamming contacts

Do not direct message your contacts more than you know they’re willing to communicate with you. If you send messages too frequently, then you run the risk of being ignored or blocked. And if that happens, you’ve essentially lost that person as a worthwhile connection.

Creating too much noise

You have the ability to link your Twitter account to your LinkedIn profile. And while it’s a great tool, users should take caution when linking each tweet. That volume of information could create noise in your connection’s newsfeeds, leading them to block you out and avoid your posts.

As a rule of thumb, it’s best to pull in only the most relevant tweets to limit the noise your updates create. You can do that by selecting the “share only tweets that contain #in” option under your preferences. When you post a tweet that you feel is relevant to your LinkedIn network, you can include the hashtag “#in” at the end of it and LinkedIn will automatically include it in your profile and in your connection’s news feeds.

Universal Acceptance

Though the advice above can be applied to your personal networks, it should be applied to your firm’s leadership team, too. While updating a LinkedIn account is often the last thing on your senior leaders’ minds, having a fresh and accurate profile is a great reflection of your firm and the way you do business.

If you can drive universal adoption of LinkedIn within your company and use it for more than its basic purpose, you might be surprised by how beneficial it can be as a B2B marketing tool.

So, are you using LinkedIn to its full potential?  If not, what steps are you going to take to better your presence on this network?