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Any populated social network is a great source of targeted traffic. Users are divided up by specific demographics and interests with minimal effort by businesses. Some of these networks make it easier than others. Linked-In is a great example of a social network that is almost intentionally built with marketing in mind. This is a social network geared towards professional individuals and businesses, which means that the user profiles are characterized according to particular categories of interest. How Successful Is Linked-In Marketing? Linked-In marketing is not incredibly common and it is often done with the wrong approach. This type of social networking is much different than Facebook and Twitter marketing. The main reason for this is that the website is designed primarily for businesses. Those other networks are made more so for the end users, but Facebook makes it easier to diversify companies and consumers. So, what value does Linked-In really have for marketers? Simply put, Linked-In is a network of authority figures. You have business owners, investors, and many other individuals in the same field as you. A large portion of these users are in a position of power with their business. This means that they can make executive decisions, such as implementing your time management software into their office if you can catch their interest. An impressive statistic is that the average salary for a Linked-In user is over $100,000 and this is definitely much higher in comparison to other social networks. With close to 70 million users, Linked-In remains as a social network filled with users that have both decision making and buying power - use that to your advantage! 5 Simple Steps to Linked-In Marketing 1) Get involved with the social network. Simply make an account, fill out your profile, and take a few minutes to browse around and see all the features. It is a good idea to take the time and effort to create a professionally written page for your business and have a personal page with your resume that is linked to it. When creating the page, it is also a good idea to use some basic SEO (search engine optimization) methods as Linked-In is a highly authoritative website and ranks very well in the big G. 2) Make your company page ready for visitors. Do this by allowing your page to be searched. This is important as your page will be findable through keywords in your page and this helps get targeted visitors. This may be the introduction of your business to an interested individual, so you want to attract them and get them interested in what you have to offer. Any form of testimonial helps as well, especially through Linked-In recommendations from other users. 3) Get active on Linked-In and stay interactive with other users. Setting up a page on Linked-In will make you noticeable, but getting yourself noticed is usually just as important. You can do this by making regular status updates, networking with users, participating in various Linked-In groups, and contacting users in your network. You can test out Linked-In advertising campaigns (through Linked-In DirectAds) and off-site advertising for your Linked-In page. Paying for an exclusive Linked-In membership will give you more features that can help with reaching out to prospects also. 4) Stay consistent and relevant with Linked-In marketing. You should keep your Linked-In page relevant at all times. Building the page up outside of the network (mentioning it on your website, during webinars, etc.) will attract attention. Even if these are not converting visitors, it will build up the authority and interest for your Linked-In page and attract more natural and targeted visitors to it. 5) Interact, interact, and then interact some more. The power of the Linked-In community is incredible and the brief stats mentioned earlier attests to that. There are many examples of networking methods that incorporate Linked-In activity. The various Linked-In groups are a great start. For instance, Start-ups Community for Entrepreneurs was made for entrepreneurs involved or interested in start-up businesses and many of these people may be great additions to your network. Also, interacting through Linked-In Answers allows you to answer questions and provide relevant sources. This builds up your authority and can serve as a direct marketing tool as well. Make the investment of your time to listen in on the conversations and then start your own discussions. After some time you just might build up some followers which could eventually turn into customers. Happy Linking! Pamela Wigglesworth is a Singapore-based American corporate trainer, speaker and Managing Director of Experiential Hands-on Learning, a training and development company. A resident of Asia for over 20 years, she works with companies across multiple industries to enhance their branding, marketing communications, personal communication skills and effectiveness in the workplace. To learn more about Pamela, visit the Experiential website at www.experiential.sg or email her at courses@experiential.sg
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