Last Thursday morning we did a short presentation to the East Grinstead 4Networking Group about using LinkedIn for Business.  No sooner had we returned to the office than we found that LinkedIn had, that very day, just launched a new news aggregation service which they have called “LinkedIn Today” – here is a link to their own blog that tells you all about it.

Of course many other portals and social networks such as Digg, Facebook & Stumbleupon already have a news aggregation function so this technology is not exactly groundbreaking, however, this is the first time such functionality has been available on LinkedIn.  This makes LinkedIn even more important as a marketing channel for B2B businesses.

How Important is LinkedIn for B2B Businesses?

LinkedIn is already an important social media network, especially for business professionals.  As of January 2011 it had over 90 million members, around 5million of which are based here in the UK.  LinkedIn is regarded as the largest business / career focused online community there is.  If your business is a B2B business you should be on LinkedIn.

Here are a few tips to help you get the best out of it:

1. As with other social media networks you should never use LinkedIn to try and sell your products and services directly.  Instead you should use LinkedIn as a vehicle to link to the fresh, original content that will add genuine value to your connections and readers that you should be publishing regularly on your blog.  In other words use your LinkedIn profile to share your online content.

1. Take part in the conversation – be proactive.  The whole new world of social media is an extremely viral environment and it is vital to your online success that you play an active part.  Join the appropriate LinkedIn groups for your business – if there aren’t any create a new group yourself.  Look at the questions posted on ‘your’ groups – if you can answer them you should!  Don’t forget LinkedIn is an excellent platform for you to demonstrate your knowledge and expertise to other business professionals.
2. Let people know you are on LinkedIn – and any other social networks for that matter.  Add a LinkedIn icon to your website, your blog  & your email signature so that people can click on it to visit your profile and learn more about you and your business.
3. LinkedIn recently added ‘Company’ pages – if you have not already done so create a profile for your company on LinkedIn and let people know what you do and what you are looking.

If you would like more information about how you can use LinkedIn  visit GB Web Marketing – Internet Marketing Services For Business in Surrey, Sussex, Kent & throughout the South East of England.