With over 100 million active users worldwide, LinkedIn is fast becoming an invaluable networking tool for businesses large and small all over the planet. So how should you plan and manage your new online presence with LinkedIn to really make a positive difference to your company?

Define Your Goals
Knowing what you want to achieve from your social media networking strategy is key to success. Who do you want to network with? What other businesses in your industry should you be associated with? Where do your potential customers visit online? By looking at these factors you’ll be able to find out how other companies similar to yours operate online, which industry blogs they appear on and where they find their customers.

Define Yourself
Every business tries to define itself online in some way or another with mixed results. Knowing what your business should sound like is one of the most important steps in social media strategy. By defining a ‘tone of voice’ – templates help. Having a frenzied, changeable style is regarded, quite rightly, as unprofessional. Companies who succeed in their networking strategies select an appropriate tone and never deviate from it. Using slang terms, for example, if you haven’t been promoting a ‘hip’ image previously may seem out of sorts, know what I mean?

Be Active
Updating your live feeds regularly not only keeps your users interested but solidifies your online presence so that your feeds become a regular part of their online experience. However, receiving an inundation of messages from a firm is likely to put people off reading. Choose quality not frivolity.
Video updates and blogs from your company are great examples of content that should be managed with timing in mind. A glut of videos in one week is likely to overload the interest of your members. Plan ahead. Know what you’re going to post and when. By posting updates every so often you’re more likely to hold people’s interest- remember: keep them wanting more.

Introducing weekly or monthly polls is an excellent idea to get your members involved. By asking a simple question that they can answer with a simple click you can generate interest around your business and understand what people think about the latest industry news.

Be Responsive
Answering questions and queries from your group’s members publically is like killing two birds with one stone. On the one hand, you are providing a quick, effective response to a genuine query that the individual will no doubt appreciate. On the other, you can identify any FAQs that may need to be written or any further explanation of your product or service that you have missed. People involved in your group will be able to see your professional responsiveness and glean that all-important information from your answers.

Link building too is now an essential part of any online business so link building with Outreachr is a smart way to get your business noticed online quickly and simply.

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Craig Dean is a marketing professional from Leeds