4 ways to get more from LinkedIn

LinkedIn’s Groups allow members to connect with each to share advice or generate sales leads.

The value of LinkedIn is much greater than the predominant practice of posting a resume suggests. Instead, it’s highly-qualified user base, offers valuable contacts for business owners and entrepreneurs who are looking either to expand their expertise, or their client list.

First published last month, American Express Open Forum provides a number of tips for turning LinkedIn into something much more popular than a pinboard for resumes.

1. Use Groups to generate leads – LinkedIn has thousands and thousands of Groups, covering topics from graphic design to children’s books and e-health. Landmark Tax Group president Michael Raanan tells Open Forum he uses LinkedIn daily as a member of 33 groups, answering questions and sharing content in an effort to develop leads and referrals. “This helps develop relationships with other professionals (some that are business owners) and build credibility for me and the business,” he says.
2. Seek out advice – LinkedIn’s Groups can also be a valuable source of advice for business people, allowing members to share their own tips and learn from each others successes and failures.
3. Research potential customers and competitors – Since LinkedIn introduced profile pages for businesses, it’s become a much more useful tool to research potential customers or competitors. Informer Messages on Hold founder Casey Hart tells Open Forum he uses the social site to identify potential alliances, tap into crowdsourcing, lear about new trends and establish personal connections with potential sales leads.
4. Use LinkedIn Answers – Another relatively new feature, Answers lets users post questions on any number of topics. Writes Open Forum: “Consistently providing information on industry relevant topics will help propel you and your business to the forefront of the LinkedIn community. Posing questions on LinkedIn Answers can also help you overcome objections, giving you a leg up on the competition who may not know their consumers true objections.”

The value of LinkedIn is much greater than the predominant practice of posting a resume suggests. Instead, it’s highly-qualified user base, offers valuable contacts for business owners and entrepreneurs who are looking either to expand their expertise, or their client list.

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