Getting it right on LinkedIn: your online pathway to more business opportunities

I am sure I’m not alone when I say that nine times out of ten before a new client meeting, a recruitment opportunity or researching a new business prospect, instead of my default to Google, I now log on to LinkedIn, the business social networking site, to do a quick check on the individual and company profile pages in question.

Since it was formed in founder Reid Hoffman’s living room back in 2002, LinkedIn has grown incredibly rapidly. It has been identified as the online network where the focus is on getting business done rather than simply socialising or sharing ideas.

As of August this year, LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional online network, with more than 175 million members in over 200 countries and territories, and it counts executives from all Fortune 500 companies as members.

Last year, LinkedIn members did nearly 4.2 billion professionally-oriented searches on the platform and are on track to surpass 5.3 billion in 2012. With figures like that, if organisations and professionals are not using LinkedIn, they really need to come to the party.

However, with all company marketing and customer engagement tools (such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and YouTube), there are key reputational tips to consider which will help companies to present a unified, informative and up to date presence on LinkedIn:

1. When you secure your company page, you should also bookmark similar names: bluechipcomm, bluechip, and so on.
2. Once you have secured your company page, make sure the profile wording is consistent with your company’s strategy and descriptions that appear elsewhere (time for a rethink, perhaps?). Be sure to review and update it regularly with latest developments, content marketing updates, recruitment opportunities and news on new joiners.
3. The company descriptor section of all employees’ profiles should be uniform. Employee profiles should include key words and phrases that match the business’s overarching corporate strategy.
4. Members are now sharing insights and knowledge in more than a million LinkedIn Groups. Having key spokespeople – and possibly others – participating in relevant discussion groups and sharing relevant content can position your company as a thought leader.
5. Linking your company’s Twitter updates and blog feed to its LinkedIn profile will help keep your company page active and current. Once you’re comfortable with your company page, you can then invite followers by adding a ‘follow’ button to your website or blog, further extending your reach.

Participating in online social spaces such as LinkedIn is all about opportunities – opportunities to showcase your brand and offering, to learn from your target audience and to directly engage with your current and future customers, employers and employees.

Stay tuned to the BlueChip Blogspace in the coming weeks for more on online reputation and risk management.