LinkedIn now has more than 400 million members worldwide, and can be an inexpensive and easy tool to use to find potential customers for your small business.
A recent Social Media Examiner article entitled “How to Use LinkedIn to Connect with Prospects” by Melonie Dodaro provides some great tips for the effective use of this valuable tool.
First, if you have identified a specific company you’d like to approach or the specific job title of someone at potential companies that would be a good starting point for your prospecting attempts, you can simply type in the search bar the name of that company or that appropriate job title. You can then view the profiles of persons in that company or in that position who could respond to your offer to provide services or goods. Note: you can decide using your LinkedIn privacy settings (under Profile Viewing Options) if you want to view these profiles with the person(s) knowing your identity or anonymously.
Next, pay attention to your own current connections or interactions with your LinkedIn account, i.e. people who have liked or shared your posts or updates. If someone sends you a connection request and he or she is in a position at a company that could lead you to potentially reach out to that company for a sales call, ask him or her via a message to refer you to the right person at that company. There is already a familiarity that might lead to a warmer first meeting.
Third, look back at your account history and see who has viewed your profile. They will likely be people who have an interest in your line of business. If you sign up for the LinkedIn Premium account, you can message people with whom you are not yet connected in the 1st degree.
Lastly, if you haven’t already been creating posts to show the LinkedIn community the unique value proposition of your products or services and your expertise, get started. Such posts draw attention to your business’ offerings, and any interaction with your posts can help you find new potential contacts for future sales calls.
For extra tips and information on this topic, you can view the full article at http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/how-to-use-linkedin-to-connect-with-prospects.