Why LinkedIn Is One Of My Favorite Things!

LinkedIn is one of my favorite things … one of my favorite marketing resources, one of my favorite “go to’s” for information and one of my favorite topics of conversation with business friends. I encourage all of you to grab onto its wonders.

My last article was about the LinkedIn profile page, and in this article I want to share even more of the value that is waiting for you via LinkedIn so you can add it to your list of favorite things!

So let’s begin …

1. MEETING AND CONVERSING WITH AMAZING PEOPLE
   One of my very favorite activities on LinkedIn is exploring opportunities for engaging with new, interesting, powerful people by leaving them comments on their posts and/or on their comments to others!  It opens doors based upon a very simple human behavior, i.e. “Do you like to receive comments? Well, so do others!”
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   The instant recognition received from most, not all, of the people that I leave comments for is fun & productive. Thank you LinkedIn for having our 120 character headline be with us no matter what we do!  Some very strong and profitable relationships have been created via headlines shown not only with our comments, but also our “likes & shares.”
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   There are lots of places to explore for opening new doors & conversations
2. — The Daily Rundown is where I go the most on the notifications page
   —– What people are talking about on your home page
   —– Groups – you can now see group posts in your home page feed by demand
   —– Company Pages —– strategize these comments
   — Live Feed – posts from your network and also posts filtered by hashtags on demand
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   Does it take time? As little or as much as I can plan for daily. That’s why I usually begin with the Daily Rundown first thing in the AM.  If I don’t find a reason to comment, I don’t leave any comments, as it only is as successful as you are authentic.  Very important.
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3. NEW IDEAS FOR MY OWN PRESENTATIONS, WHAT TO SHARE IN MY CONTENT, WHAT’S HAPPENING, WHAT ARE PEOPLE ASKING, AND MORE!
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   If you are ever lost for ideas, the search capability of LinkedIn is amazing! Here are some ways I use different pieces of LinkedIn for different reasons:
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   What’s going on in my industry. For example early in January I searched LinkedIn for “online content in 2019” using the “content” filter. I wanted to see what professionals were saying about what to expect in 2019 for popular types of content.
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   Finding people within defined age demographics — You can get quite creative with the info that LinkedIn provides. One day I realized that if you search on the alumni pages for the years people graduated that with some simple math you could figure out how old they are today and where they live and work! So cool.
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   Up to date Industry lingo for what I do – I am a solopreneur so my world can be somewhat of a bubble yet I work in one of the most fast-paced and ever changing industries out there. I need to represent what I do in the current ‘lingo” out there in the business arena. So I will search the job listings for people who are looking for employees that do what I do and see how they describe them!!  Gets me right up to date and also reacquaints me with my value.
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   Companies to call upon –  the job search section is also great for finding companies who are looking for someone who feeds you or you feed them in terms of work contribution. The job description on the jobs page provides lots of insight as to the internal working of the business and where there could be need for your outside services.
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4. MAKING PRESENTATIONS
    Whrn I need an idea for a topic or a layout for a topic to use in a speaking engagement, etc. I will go to SlideShare and search the MANY presentations there on my desired topics.  What I find helps me, gives me assurance I am covering the topic appropriately, and provides me some new ideas!  And trust me .. .there is something there for everyone.
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5. SERVICE & BONDING
   You can create your own support and/or special interest group on LinkedIn and invite people to join .. private or public.  Groups are much more usable now as you can switch your homepage live feed to funnel just your group postings on demand into your homepage live feed.  Very cool.  BTW, you are all invited to join my group ~ Online Business Communications – What Works! What Doesn’t. https://www.linkedin.com/groups/13649285/
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6. SUPPORT OF MULTIPLE NICHE MARKETS
   Do you have multiple services and/or products with unique buyers for each niche?  Gotta love LinkedIn for creating Showcase Pages where you can dedicate a page per niche and invite individuals to follow each unique page of choice!!  That way people are only getting the info they are interested in and not all the other communications you may send out!  LOVE Showcase pages.
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7. A PLACE FOR FREELY SHARING MY BUSINESS, IT’S FEATURES, PROMOTIONS & EVENT ANNOUNCEMENTS! (free )
   LinkedIn is set up around people. Everyone has a “personal” profile page and 90% of communications should be relationship oriented via the presentation of YOU via your personal business brand.   It’s nice to also be able to talk freely about your company/business , i.e. what you do, your actual products and services and their “features” without pushing it into relationship building conversations.  LinkedIn’s Company Pages enables you get your business brand out there!! Talk away about what you do. Post ads!!  Promote events!!!  Love that this exists for that important part of our business building needs.
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8. PERSONAL BUSINESS BRAND DEVELOPMENT
   As shared last week, there is nothing like the LinkedIn personal profile page anywhere online. Keep it updated and it is impossible not to reflect upon yourself and who you are as you work with your profile page. There is no better exercise out there to receive a solid beginning for knowing your personal business brand and more!  I am still adding some of my past credentials, awards, and courses that I have forgotten about that have helped define me. Give it its due and it will give back to you!
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9. LINKEDIN PROVIDES ALL OF THE ABOVE SUPPORT AND MORE FOR FREE!
   Unlike other social platforms that charge you for anything that will benefit your business, LinkedIn is there with what we need as business people for free! They get us! They want to see us succeed. Will results come instantly? LinkedIn does not create the opportunities … they provide you what YOU need to go out there and create your own unique opportunities. Consistency, being authentic and of value is the way to go in ALL your online communications and that has proven to work best on LinkedIn in the long term. But I have also suggested to clients to go into LinkedIn to search for people and simply pick up the phone and call them! So as a phone directory or a long term strategic platfom .. the choice is yours. LInkedIn provides the info.
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There are still more reasons why LinkedIn is one of my favorite things.  I invite all or you reading this to share your favorite reasons.  If you are curious to know more about LinkedIn,  the A-Z LinkedIn course is a tour of ALL your options that I offer each quarter. The offering for this 1st quarter of 2019 begins this Tuesday, Feb 12th. If you haven’t yet taken it, you are invited to join us at a very low special VIP fee.  Having made it all the way to this paragraph you must have interest in LinkedIn?  So to support that interest, again, enjoy my VIP offering of the A-Z LinkedIn Training for only $75.  Click Here  Public fee is $197.
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Again, I welcome you to share your favorite things about LinkedIn. It’s a RICH resource … let’s let the world know!!

Good Business is Good Communications …Here’s to your success via online communications! 

margie