Linkedin, the ultimate professional social platform

 

 

One of the main reasons is because Linkedin is perceived as a social network focused on individual professionals. Professionals who want to expand their network of contacts. And not for brands or companies, which at most limit themselves to having corporate profiles.

know if you agree with me

Linkedin is the social network for “gossiping” about the professional profiles of friends, competitors, enemies and colleagues… perhaps this is one more utility to add.

In this article we want to give you compelling reasons to finally consider LinkedIn as a powerful tool in your Social Media and Social Ads strategies, both as a brand and on a professional profile level.

In this case, we will start with the free version. And once you have it under control and measured the return on investment, you can move on to try the premium or paid version, such as Sales Navigator.

 Start putting the cart before the horse.

One of the social networks par excellence, if we think about the four main networks, Linkedin is one of them. If we look back, it was launched back in 2003, more than 15 years have passed now!!!

Its great virtue is that it has focused on being the professional network at a global level.

Both for professionals and brands that want to add value to their sector, activity, market, whether national or international.

It is true that in recent years it has focused a lot only on professional profiles, but lately it has begun to give more attention to company and brand profiles.

Linkedin profile example

Advantages of Linkedin over other social networks
In our opinion, the fundamental characteristics that have made it different are:

A network that helps you promote yourself professionally

It is therefore a Human Resources 2.0 tool where we can, in the form of an interactive Curriculum Vitae, tell about our professional experience, positions held, recommendations from our bosses, superiors or colleagues, training, etc.

In short, a well-optimized profile is the best letter of recommendation for professional improvement.

It allows for effective professional networking if we know how to approach it.
This is one of my main virtues: contacting potential contacts with whom I can generate business opportunities and synergies. To do this, we must be very clear about our objectives, what type of network I want to build and what type of contacts I want to have.

From there we will start working

on the profile at a commercial level. However, please do not send 100% commercial direct messages if the recipient is not really interested.

It is key to always provide value to the other person.

It is a network that generates business. The overused term Social Selling was born and developed on Linkedin.
It is a network that really generates business if well worked. And what does this mean?

Well, they end up closing clients and generating direct income.

Favorite Linkedin Features

But Linkedin is much more than having our profile well optimized and publishing valuable information for my contacts on the wall.

There is a lot of room for development and in fact they continue to work on it every day.

I would highlight 4 relevant features:

The creation of professional groups.
A widely used feature where extensive networks of contacts are created, enriched with professional content and synergies are established.

This allows you to search and connect with almost any professional profile from any field and country in the world. It is also the perfect tool to recover old professional contacts lost due to a change of job.

It also allows us to conduct commercial research and prospecting of profiles and companies. A way to optimize commercial strategies.

It has filters and advanced filters that will help us a lot.

Suggestions from people

The Linkedin algorithm, based on our current network, the content we consume, our interactions… In short, our use of the network, will recommend new contacts to us.

They can be contacts with “influence” on potential clients or profiles that will help us connect with our target.

Pulse by Linkedin.
It is well known and may have lost some of its momentum, but it is the “professional blog” of Linkedin. It allows each user to publish posts, add hashtags and accredit their professional experience in their sector.

We have used it and it expands the impact of your professional personal brand.

Suggestions for job opportunities

You will have seen that on the right side of the wall, it is continually recommending job offers that may be interesting for our profile based on the data it has about us.

It opens up an international job market for us!

If you have a well-worked profile, I guarantee that it will be quite accurate.

Profile as a brand on Linkedin versus profile as a professional on Linkedin
One of the advantages that Linkedin offers us is being able to work on brand positioning and generating business contacts from a double perspective: as a brand and as a brand professional.

 

Because the profiles are different, resembling in this aspect and in a certain way a particular profile on Facebook and a Fanpage.

Therefore, when designing the Linkedin action plan we must take this dual perspective into account.

In this sense we will have

Company profile on Linkedin
The brand that has a presence on Linkedin through a corporate page or a discussion group.

To give you concrete examples:

The Apple page that gives it exclusive use almost as an employment channel.
Nike’s profile, or even Google itself, has its own profile on Linkedin with more than 3.6 million followers, they publish content, they publish offers…
The important thing is to incorporate all the corporate data and clearly define why and what our brand is going to have this type of profile.

If it’s not going to contribute anything, why open it?

Professional profile on Linkedin
Linkedin started out as a service for brands, but the part of individual professions has become more popular. Therefore, it is very important that whenever we open a new profile or already have one, we detail our personal profile in detail. Add all of our career, experience, photographs that accompany and illustrate what has been explained in the text, videos, achievements, skills, etc.

In this sense, it is essential to know how to synthesize information to provide precise details without being too extensive or too brief. From a single reading, anyone should know what we have done, what we are involved in and where we want to go.

Creating a professional and qualified network with Linkedin
If there is one thing that is good, if not really good, about Linkedin, it is using the advanced search engine to create a quality professional network that provides us with value, synergy and business contacts.

In this search engine we can refine for example by:

 

In the premium or paid version of Linkedin, the search and segmentation possibilities are very interesting. We can filter more in depth by position, level of experience, group membership… which gives us a powerful segmentation tool.

With the search engine we can define the type of network we want to create. What type of profile we want to invite to be part of it. We cannot forget that on Linkedin we invite professionals who may not accept the invitation. That is why it is very important to define the type of target we want to address, because they must see us as a potential contact as well.

Specific content for Linkedin

As we have mentioned in other posts, we must define and prepare specific content for each social network, depending on the type of network, the type of target audience, the use of the platform…

Of course, in this case, Linkedin is no exception. So we must bear in mind that it is a network by and for professionals. Therefore, the content to be shared must provide value. Explain a service or solution. Teach how to use a specific tool, publish conclusive data reports or sector analyses…

Let’s not share the same things we share on other social networks because then we won’t meet our stated goals.

It is vital to establish an editorial line, create a publication calendar and try to generate interest, debate and reflection.

If we are a workshop, for example, why not provide information on breakdowns, costs, preventive maintenance, mandatory inspections, etc.?

Create and participate in discussion groups
One aspect that works very well on Linkedin is participating in discussion groups. We’ve mentioned this before, but let’s go into it a little more.

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Linkedin allows brands and professional profiles to create specific groups on a topic, so that professionals can share and exchange useful and relevant information.

In this regard, the strategy to follow is twofold:

– Look for groups where it makes sense to be. By topic, by type of community, by content or debate. In this case, in the free version there is a maximum number of groups in which we can participate, but don’t worry, it is more than enough.

 

The goal is to generate debate, expand the community, establish contacts with other professionals, generate synergy and demonstrate that you are a true professional.

Don’t forget that there are private groups that can only be accessed by invitation!!!

– How to create our own group as a professional meeting point. Invite those professionals that interest us to participate and, above all, generate valuable debates. We cannot forget that users are wasting less and less time on trivial things because the digital offer is tremendous.

Direct messages yes, but with a head
Linkedin, like any social network, allows us to send and exchange direct messages through the platform itself. Therefore, it allows us to design professional email marketing actions.

In this regard, my recommendation is to be very sensible and cautious, because if we use this tool to bombard the community with mass emails, we will end up paying for it.

The strategy here is different. We can use email to take a further step in the professional relationship with a contact, for example, simply introducing ourselves. We can send emails in which we ask for help or a recommendation to later establish further contact.

If we already have a good community

Segment the database, we can launch mini communication campaigns. But always remember that we are in a professional environment.

With these recommendations I can assure you that I have closed meetings with professionals that I did not know personally, I have generated business for myself and for third parties.

So no “spammer”, “no purely commercial emails”, “don’t be annoying”!!!

A technique that never fails is to put yourself in the other person’s situation if they sent you that type of message. What would you do?

Job creation on Linkedin

Linkedin is a great tool for brands to launch professional talent search offers. In this sense, it is a very useful social network for finding work internationally, as brands from all countries publish their offers daily.

As a brand, it can be another line of transparency and of showing that you are alive, apart from providing an added service. And as a professional, it is an ideal place to change your professional direction.

Recommendations and validation of skills

Linkedin offers two services that, when well-designed, are very useful for improving one’s presence and professional profile based on third parties.

If you haven’t already, you’re taking too long to send professional recommendations in a double parsers for targeted advertising on vkontakte sense; you as recommended and you as recommended. The visibility of this type of action is enormous. They are professional recommendations from a specific moment in your career where a direct boss or company colleague expresses your professionalism.

Another interesting aspect

The agent email list validation of professional skills. Another aspect of human resources that Linkedin launched to further refine each professional profile and to be able to see really and specifically where we perform best.