Market inn answers, ‘How can I use my personal LinkedIn profile to promote my business?’

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LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network with over 690 million users worldwide. As a platform focused on professionals, with a wealth of features to facilitate networking, there are multiple ways to use your Personal Profile to promote your business. Also having a Company Page is important; using it in partnership with a Personal Profile can provide effective promotion and increase your Company following. Here’s what you need to do.  

Create a Company Page to have a LinkedIn space dedicated to your business
The Company Page is focused on the business and the business’ target audience. Having one gives your organisation a fantastic opportunity to present itself, communicate and interact in a forum which is purely professional and business-focused. The content on your Company Page needs to be relevant and valuable to your business’ audience on LinkedIn (which, as a network for professionals, will most definitely include prospective employees). 

Examples of relevant content: blog posts on topics of audience interest; new product, campaign or partnership launches; information on events; videos/images of behind the scenes action; coverage of your business in the media; introduction of new hires; listing of job vacancies etc.

‘My business seems too small for a Company Page?’ you may cry. Well, what about your business’ growth in the future? If growth is a business goal, start building that Page and use your Personal Profile to boost its exposure. Your employees can help too; if you have a Company Page employees can link to it when they list your business as their employer. Through this, your business gets visibility in their networks too. 

Share Company Page content on your Personal Profile
Your personal profile is all about you and your professional life. In our previous article on the importance of honesty on social media, we highlighted how much people value interacting with the humans behind businesses. Your Personal Profile on LinkedIn is a fantastic opportunity for doing just that. 

A really good way to use your Personal Profile to promote your business: share on it content that has been posted on your Company Page. Only choose content from your Company Page that is relevant to your personal following. Be sure to share the original post made on the Company Page rather than creating a fresh new post on the same content on your Profile. This way you can help drive traffic to your Company Page, and potentially gain followers. 

When you share a post from your Company Page it is important that you also add your own comment to it. This personal touch will help show the human side of your business. It’s also an opportunity for you to add additional context or information to the post. For example, if you’re sharing a post from the Company Page of a video for a new campaign, you could add a comment such as, ‘I am so excited to launch this new campaign for Banana Bread! It’s been 60 minutes in the making. Thank you Eggs and Flour for rising to the challenge!’ You should encourage your employees to share content from the Company Page too; it’s a great way to increase its reach and tap into their networks.  

Use your Personal Profile to keep in regular contact with connections for your business
Through your Personal Profile you can make connections with people relevant to your business. When you send Connection Requests, be sure to add a personal note e.g. why you’d like to connect. Once connected don’t let the spark die out; engage with them on the regular. It’s as simple as commenting on a post of theirs or dropping them a quick message to say hello. Nothing salesy. Should a time come when they need your products or services, those little interactions will help them to remember you.

Use your Profile to join Groups relevant to your business
Joining Groups will help increase your business’ visibility and expand your network. Relevant Groups could be those based in your locality (e.g. Lincolnshire Businesses Group) based on your industry (e.g. Agriculture UK & Europe Group) or based on your discipline (e.g. World Finance Network Group). Joining Groups isn’t about spamming them with posts about your business; it’s about interacting with its members and hopefully making useful connections.  

Update your Profile regularly to stay visible
When you regularly update your profile and post content, more people in your network will not only see you, but they will also see information on your business. But don’t make it a daily flurry of updates; it’s generally recommended you post at least twice a week, and definitely no more than once each business day. 

Want to learn more about making the most of Linkedin? We can help you out. Get in touch with us at [email protected]