Many things have happened in 2022, one being LinkedIn officially turned 20 years old! Can you believe that LinkedIn has been around for that long? To this day, it is still one of the best social media platforms that connect businesses and employees to potential clients, talent and potential partners.
If you are using LinkedIn as a business owner, then you’ll know that finding the time to networking takes time and effort – sometimes the two things you don’t have. The good news is you can network via LinkedIn quickly and efficiently.
LinkedIn is full of features that can help your business grow and succeed. Whilst some of them are obvious, others may be less so. Here are five features that we love and think you will too!
- Search and Filter
Sounds easy, right? However, we have found that this feature is widely under-utilised. The search and filter function allows you to search and connect with like-minded people and businesses in your industry, your region or on your hit list of people to connect with! You can search for people based on locations, industries, universities, schools or even employees of a particular company.
- Groups
As with Facebook, LinkedIn also has groups where users with similar interests can come together to discuss topics, ask questions and network. As a business owner, this is an excellent way to gain insights from others, contribute to topical discussions and find out what’s trending in the industry. It’s a great way to connect with potential clients and referral partners.
- Newsletter
One fantastic feature which not everyone is using is the LinkedIn Newsletter. The newsletter feature allows you to create a newsletter where every time you share a newsletter, it will send it to subscribers via an email notification. Your initial publication will send all of your connections a “ping” notifying them of your newsletter giving them the option to subscribe. When people subscribe, LinkedIn will notify them to let them know it’s there waiting! A really strong way to stay front of mind with potential clients and partners.
- Sponsored Content
Sponsored content is a form of advertising that allows businesses to have their content featured prominently in users’ feeds. If you’re wanting to test out Linked Advertising we would be recommending starting with some sponsored content as it fits in natively with the app, therefore becoming a part of the user experience. We would suggest having ads direct to a free lead magnet such as a downloadable guide, and a nurture automated responder series to nurture leads via email. Our ads team has extensive experience with these types of campaigns and would be happy to guide you if needed. Please reach out if you need some help.
- Paid profile vs free profile
A common question we are asked by clients when discussing LinkedIn is – “Do I need to pay to play?!” The answer is it depends on how heavily you’d like to use LinkedIn as part of your marketing strategy.
There are many features available on the free version that can help you in business including those we mention above. The paid versions of LinkedIn help you amplify this even further.
Some of the features where you’re able to access ‘more’ data and insights include viewing who has viewed your profile (paid version allows you to see ALL profile visits v’s a handful in the free version). The paid version also allows you to ‘InMail’ a lot more people who are not yet connected, save your searches and have a greater search filter when trying to find connections.
Although it may be easy to overlook LinkedIn due to the ever-expanding amount of social media platforms, LinkedIn should not be underestimated. If your target audience is others in businesses or professionals, then LinkedIn offers a wealth of features that can help you grow and succeed.
If you would like some more information on how you can make the most of your LinkedIn profile please –contact our team! We are happy to help.