LinkedIn: Advisers Gold Mine
Although having a constant presence on Facebook and Twitter is a good idea for advisers, they are social media sites used for both business and personal use. LinkedIn is a social media site that is geared towards businesses, professionals, executives and people who are looking to interact with any of the above. You will not find people leaving messages for their mom, it is a social site that is orientated towards businesses and it is a social media profile that you, as an adviser should have.
LinkedIn is a veritable gold mine for advisers for a variety of reasons. For starters, it is another way for you to increase your web presence. Every social media profile that you have will increase your brand awareness, which is vital. People think that only large businesses have brands, but that is far from being true. As an adviser, your brand is yourself and your services. You are your brand and your profile needs to reflect that.
LinkedIn is your ticket to building a professional network, and as an adviser, your network must constantly grow for you to get new clients in. Businesses, professionals and executives use LinkedIn more so than any other social media site. As an adviser, your potential clients include businesses, professionals and executives so what better place to grow your network by establishing a profile than LinkedIn. Your target client base is already on the site so you should be too!
Your first step is to complete your profile, fully. A hastily put together profile will do you no favors. Use a professional looking photo of yourself as your profile photo. People like to know the person behind the business and since you want to connect with your clients, you need to let them know who you are. Avoid using icons or your logo; use a photo of yourself.
Your summary should be complete but yet concise. Who are you and what can you do for your clients? Add some personality to your summary, do not just list off bullet points, you can list your skills in the skills sections, which you need to add.
With a full profile, you can begin to add people to your network. You should add peers, personal friends on the network and professional friends. Add your current clients, vendors and other business contacts as well. Start recommending the businesses and profiles of people in your network. Recommend your current clients. The more recommendations that you give out, the more you are likely to get in return. Recommendations are easily visible and will give potential clients are good feel for how good your services are.
Join groups and actively participate. Remember, people looking for advisers will be more likely to begin their search on LinkedIn over Facebook. Do not just have a static profile, you should join as many relevant groups as you can and participate. People looking for advice will post in the groups, if they like your response to their posting in the group, they can very well become your next client. Groups also help you to expand your network, and the bigger your network, the better your chances of getting new clients. Always be on the lookout for new groups, they are a good way to interact with potential clients and your business peers.
LinkedIn has a section called LinkedIn Answers where people can ask questions and wait for answers. This is an excellent way for you to show your expertise as an adviser and to reach out to new people. Do not ignore this section of LinkedIn; you can very easily get new clients by giving thoughtful and useful answers to posted questions.
If you want to increase your exposure to new clients, LinkedIn is the best way to help form new connections in your network. As your network grows, so will your ability to reach out to new clients. LinkedIn is a way to make smart connections; you will be connecting with people who can benefit your business, either by adding peers, vendors or as potential clients. LinkedIn is one of the social media sites that you need to be using as an adviser because it will put you in touch with the people who are most likely to need your services.
