The contribution that social media has made to the world has taken digital socialization to the next level. There are millions of users on every social networking site like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and their user base is growing at an ever-increasing rate. They all target a different set of customer segments. They were made for different purposes to fulfill.
While Facebook is more for the general audience, Instagram appeals more to the younger crowd. Whereas celebrities use Twitter for giving quick updates in short texts to manage their fan followings. With so much happening around in social media, how can Microsoft leave the game? Hence, in 2002, they launched LinkedIn to specifically target employment-related social networking.
How has the LinkedIn mobile app changed the ball game?
All the social media websites were working fine in their respective zones with a steady growth rate until the advent of smartphones. With mobile apps becoming the new norm for smartphone users, all the social media companies launched their mobile apps as well. Consequently, LinkedIn launched its LinkedIn mobile app version in 2008 to take the user experience to a whole new level.
It became the first choice for employees and businesses to grow their network, harness online opportunities, and share their knowledge. The class which this app has been able to maintain surpasses way beyond any other app in this niche. The quality of networking, community, and knowledge sharing has never been compromised ever since its inception.
Basic features of the LinkedIn mobile app?
The LinkedIn app works as seamlessly as the LinkedIn desktop version. It is free and lets you connect to your LinkedIn account from your phone. It has a highly sophisticated design that is fast in its performance and easy to use. It lets you connect to your colleagues, check messages, follow celebrities (mostly business celebrities) and check newsfeed shared by your connections on your wall.
The bottom section of your app screen has LinkedIn primary functions like Home, My Network, Messaging, Notifications, and Jobs. The Home button will always take you to your wall, where you can check newsfeed from all your connections. This is very useful for you to stay updated with news like what professional move your colleagues are making in their career, what industry news is trending at the top, or any other useful knowledge related content shared by someone.
Likewise, the My network button on the LinkedIn app lets you manage your connections and see your friend list. There are many cool features in this, like adding your colleagues or managers or subordinates to stay most updated with their feeds. Notifications work like any other social media app. So, I won’t elaborate much on that. But the most important feature called Jobs is very useful, and we will cover this topic in the upcoming sections, when we will talk about search features on LinkedIn.
How LinkedIn can be leveraged for your business?
Although LinkedIn started as just an online portal for your resume, over more than 15 years, it has grown to become one of the widely used marketing, sales, and staffing tools by the businesses of all scales. Any growing business can make the most of it if they know how to use it up to its optimum level. I have listed down a few of those ways below, which allow you to see how to use LinkedIn for business.
Company profile
Before you even begin doing anything on LinkedIn, you need to complete your business profile. Create your company’s profile page. Here you can enter the most catchy description of what your company is about. Stick to the point and mention a specific problem your industry faces, and right after that, explain briefly how your company is providing a solution for that. You need to then enter your company’s logo and all other details.
Make connections
One of the points that differentiate the sales strategy through LinkedIn from others is that it is not a direct sales pitch you send to your potential customers. Because for that purpose, email marketing is the best. What LinkedIn demands from you is that you become a part of a community.
You have to slowly imbibe the culture of your industry, upgrade your knowledge, and keep up with the latest trends. Hence, for that, you need to make connections with industry leaders. Even if you don’t know them, you can still follow them to keep a watch on their newsfeed. You can also connect with your potential customers for any future sales leads.
Join a group
This is one of the coolest features that you can use in LinkedIn for business. Just to reiterate my point above, you need to feel that you are part of your community. That community is the business niche you fit in. There are many groups on LinkedIn for different niches. You must join them to get more specific updates about your industry. You will get to see how your competitors are engaging and how everyone else is adding value to the community at large.
Engage with your connections
Don’t let the connections you have made just get piled up for no use in the long term. To attract sales and make your name in your industry, you need to nurture relationships with your network. Engage with them on their posts by liking, commenting, or sharing them.
LinkedIn works on this algorithm that ensures to highlight those members who are actively engaged in this platform. But don’t overdo it, otherwise, you might hit a chance to be tagged as a spammer by your audience. Make sure that you always maintain quality in your engagement whether you are commenting or sharing any post.
Publish content
One of the best ways to showcase your expertise in your respective niche is by publishing articles on the LinkedIn platform. You can decide an optimum frequency for publishing your articles and stick to that religiously. After one point in time, people would start getting value from it, and you would slowly become a recognized expert in your business community. Just make sure that you select catchy topics or the common pain points for writing your articles. If you hit it right, your article may go viral as well.
Use search extensively
LinkedIn has a vast database of more than 500 million professionals. That means, you with your LinkedIn app can search over such a vast number of professionals who can fit into your business in various roles. You may search for either hiring new employees, or just to connect with the potential customers or even to follow industry leaders. LinkedIn has got it all for you.
Use social media tools
Making use of the auxiliary tools would help you leverage LinkedIn for even more than what it already offers. If you are handling multiple accounts or you need to engage with a large number of customers, then doing everything manually becomes too laborious and time-consuming. Hence, to solve that problem, Socinator is one of the best tools available in the marketplace.
Through Socinator, you can automatically engage with your connections by liking or commenting on their posts. You can also post your content on various social media channels with just one click. Apart from that, one of the best features it has is that it gives you statistical reports and analysis of all the marketing strategies you are implementing on LinkedIn or any other social media app.
These are just the most basic features of this tool that I have mentioned here. The more you get accustomed to it, the greater value you can derive from this highly intelligent tool.
Wrapping up
Even though you have signed up on a LinkedIn mobile app with a very basic idea of its features, the business tips mentioned in this article would help you unleash the best out of this app. Remember that LinkedIn or any other social media app has the primary purpose of harnessing the benefits of a community. Hence, avoid using it aggressively just to target your potential customers.
The most value you can derive out of it would be only possible if you grow steadily and consistently. This means nurturing your relationships with its members and slowly creating your brand image with the regular value you add to your business community.
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