Linking In to Your Professional Network

Ask any business professional and they’ll agree—one of the most useful social networking sites for maintaining business connections is LinkedIn. Yes, there are countless success stories showing that Facebook has created new business opportunities. But LinkedIn can be used for different purposes than Facebook, and can expose you to new, qualified contacts endorsed by those you trust, among other valuable benefits.

LinkedIn has more than 50 million registered users, spanning more than 200 countries and territories worldwide. The purpose of the site is to allow registered users to maintain a list of contact details of people they know and trust in business. LinkedIn users can simply maintain a profile or actively join and participate in “Groups” according to their line of business or interests. For example, Creative Marketing Alliance’s Group page is designed to keep our clients, past clients and other qualified prospects up to date on our activities and services.

The benefits of using LinkedIn are twofold. Not only can you do some reconnaissance work on prospective clients, current customers or those you’ve worked with in the past, you can also connect with them through introductions or referrals through your own network of professional contacts. LinkedIn also provides a way for you to track down contacts that have changed jobs, creating consistency when email addresses often change.

Discovering the relationships between your peers through LinkedIn might also allow you to tailor your sales pitch to that prospective client better. Through the involvement with various Groups, a LinkedIn user has the opportunity to position themselves as an expert on a given topic, whether it’s through your own Group or through your comments on another Group’s page.

The beauty of LinkedIn is that it’s a good place to get your feet wet if you’re unsure about how to use social media, as it does not require constant updating like Twitter or other social networking sites. Let our team help you determine a systematic approach to your social media initiatives to guarantee manageability and success.

Jeffrey Barnhart
President & CEO
jbarnhart@cmasolutions.com