LinkedIn General Guidelines & Recommendations

Why LinkedIn?

The average household income per LinkedIn user is hitting around $109,000. This is much higher than Twitter, Facebook and other social media networking power houses. You are dealing with people who mean business.

LinkedIn is the largest business networking site in the world. There is a different mindset when users login to LinkedIn compared to logging on their cousin sites, Twitter or Facebook. The mood changes, the messages are more professional. Conversations are geared toward partnerships and transactions, as opposed to how funny you looked in your birthday pictures. Everything is centred around advancing careers or building businesses.

Some tips for your LinkedIn journey

Join a LinkedIn group.

A great way to network is to join a group involving the relevant topic about your business or customers. If your business is small, local and has a niche, start your own group. This can help you network with other local businesses that can bring you more business. LinkedIn Groups also help you become a thought leader in your area of expertise.

Update your company status regularly.

Share what’s happening in your industry or company. Share posts and links to interesting articles, providing value to employees and companies that follow you.

Use and develop showcase pages.

Showcase Pages are ‘niche’ pages that function as an extension of your main Company. LinkedIn allows up to 10 free pages to post different elements of your company or business services. Craft specific content for each segment allowing customers to see how your services or products make up your company.

Be genuine.

In every interaction you have on LinkedIn, be yourself as much as you possibly can. When connecting with someone, avoid sending the standard “i’d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn”. It less likely to be accepted, you may even get marked as spam, resulting in your inability to send future connection requests. Personalised interactions make the other person feel like you actually value and care about them and take interest.

Recommendations.

LinkedIn recommendations can be an incredibly powerful thing. A recommendation should only ever be solicited from people you know and who know your work. If you request a recommendation, feel free to tell the person you’re approaching them about a specific goal. You may get a more useful recommendation. It can make their life easier as well giving them a predetermined focus area.

More LinkedIn Guidelines and tips for your business.

• Complete your company page and ensure it is always up-to-date. If you change your structure or have company news to share, be sure you’re updating your company page on LinkedIn; this will update in your followers’ newsfeeds.
• Update your LinkedIn page when key updates occurs at your company. LinkedIn is often a source of truth for individuals doing research.
• Make sure to respond to your posts, reviews, and questions. If a user leaves a product review, thank them. If they have a complaint, address it. Answer questions and offer advice and assistance.
• LinkedIn can be an amazing source of competitive intelligence for your business. Follow your competitors’ pages and watch for their news, updates, and employee changes. Certain exits and job openings can provide insight into a strategic direction.
• Offer news, tips and other insightful, relevant information about your industry or business. Get your followers engaged and build relationships. Don’t just sell all the time or blast them with promotional messages. Become friends first.
• Solicit feedback from your followers; find out what they want from your company.
• Aquire new customers through online recommendations and word of mouth.
• Groups are a great platform to engage in discussions and connect with like-minded professionals and to learn and share.
• Focus on nurturing your network by seeing what questions they’re asking and help them when you can. This will build trust and rapport, and your network will support you come back tenfold when it’s time to ask a favour!

We hope you enjoyed reading through our LinkedIn Guidelines. If you have any further recommendations or helpful tips, please leave us a comment, we’d love to hear from you.