Take Advantage of the Power of LinkedIn

A recent study of over 5,000 businesses conducted by Hubspot, the marketing service company, found that LinkedIn generated the highest visitor-to-lead conversion rate at 2.74 percent -- almost three times higher than both Twitter (.69 percent) and Facebook (.77 percent). The visitor-to-lead conversion rate means the percentage of Web site visitors who took some action to become a lead, like download a white paper. 

The study's findings bring home the value of keeping your LinkedIn profile current, expanding your network and sharing updates that keep your connections well informed. You don't have to use Twitter to share your message with a wide audience. With far less social chatter than Facebook, LinkedIn shares get more attention and can deliver more value to your business.

Update Your Profile
The first step to making the most of LinkedIn is to update your profile and make sure that it is 100 percent complete. LinkedIn makes the process very simple with the "Improve your Profile" button located at the top of your Edit Profile page.

Michelle Glennie of The Partner Marketing Group offers three practical suggestions to keep in mind as you update your profile:

1. You need to have three recommendations in order to have a complete profile. Through the recommendation tool, send an e-mail to customers, colleagues or vendors that you have worked with. Once they have written a recommendation for you, you will have a chance to review it before posting it to your profile.
   
   
2. Be sure to add Skills & Expertise to your profile. This is a newer feature in LinkedIn and it's a tool that will make your profile more searchable. Think of these skills as "keywords" on your profile. Simply select as many skills as you like to represent what you do, what community you work in and where you have expertise.
   
   
3. Add your company Web site, blog and Twitter links to your profile. You are allowed to have three Web site links on your personal profile and a link to your Twitter account if you have one. These can create some good inbound links for your company and blogs that you are participating in, not to mention bring more awareness on how to stay connected to you.

Glennie added, "Make a note on your calendar to take a look at your profile and update it on a monthly basis. Making small updates such as adding recommendations, adding skills, or updating your summary can keep your profile from going stale."

In future posts, we'll look at additional LinkedIn best practices to help you send more visitors to your Web site and convert them to customers.

How are you using LinkedIn? Add a comment below or send me a note and let's share the knowledge.

Posted by Barb Levisay on April 19, 2012