Making LinkedIn work for you and your business
When LinkedIn was first launched, its main aim was to connect jobseekers and potential employers. Today, the platform can be an incredibly powerful marketing tool for you and your brand. Kerry Robertson has the lowdown.
What do you use LinkedIn for? Chances are that you see it mainly as a platform to promote your personal brand and to make professional connections. With its focus on “serious” work-related information and career advancement, you may also see it as a social media site that is a bit more “truthful” than the more fun-focused social sites.
But these are not the only factors that distinguish LinkedIn from all the other platforms out there. To me, four characteristics stand out.
The first is that the site prioritises carefully considered content. LinkedIn is the perfect platform to post – and read – thought-provoking, longer-form articles such as thought leadership pieces and industry-related news. You won’t find someone showing off those cute cupcakes they baked this morning.
Secondly, LinkedIn has loads of cool elements to explore. Apart from visitor and follower numbers, and “updates” (which is how the platform refers to posts), you can dive into information about competitors, leads and more. It’s all about creating a professional community.
The third thing that makes this social site fascinating is that it gathers information that other platforms do not ask for, such as job title, industry, seniority level and career-focused groups you’re part of. This information can be useful both for building your own brand and for your business.
Fourthly, LinkedIn’s algorithm is unique. This is not the place for emojis – the algorithm (which sorts posts in your feed based on relevancy) “likes” nicely written articles and useful pieces of information. So, while you’ll see updates by your network and content you have engaged with in the past, it will also bring you specific content that others are engaging with and that you might find interesting.
So, how can you get the most out of LinkedIn as a tool, relying purely on organic traffic (not paid media or advertising)? Six useful organic tactics spring to mind:
1. Use polls. LinkedIn is an ideal platform for running polls, which offer a fun and effective way of getting people to tell you what they think. They’re also great for attracting engagement to new business pages
2. Use articles – taking advantage of the special LinkedIn feature that allows for them to be laid out like a regular website article with a cover image. As I already mentioned, thoughtful articles do very well on LinkedIn – better than regular updates. While one of the rewarding aspects of being on LinkedIn is to follow other people’s pages and read what they’ve written, you can also tag others on your own content and build a bank of influential pieces
3. Invite connections. While the platform emphasises “genuine” conversations, you can send out a certain number of page invites to your first-degree connections (currently capped at 100, or 250, depending on your account “credits” per month) to ask people to check out your page. (Every time someone accepts a page invite from you, the invite credit is “returned” to you.)
4. Use tagging. Tagging people’s personal or business pages on your LinkedIn content is a great way to get them to engage with you or to share your content
5. Use recommendations. This feature is unique to LinkedIn. Having a written recommendation or your skills endorsed by others helps to add legitimacy to your personal profile. You can recommend others too
6. Use hashtags. Hashtags can help you find conversations you want to be part of, so use them to look for information – or apply hashtags to your own page to help others find your content
Bear in mind that – if you’re a business and have the budget – paid advertising can also be very effective on LinkedIn. The platform allows you to target specific markets based on factors ranging from skills, seniority and job title to industry, location and language. Ads either go into inboxes or appear as updates.
Should your brand be on LinkedIn?
The short answer is that it depends … on what you’re trying to achieve and whether it aligns with your brand. If you’re in tourism, for example, you may not be posting glorious sunsets (which would be better suited to Instagram), but perhaps rather provide an insight into the industry.
It also depends on whether you have the resources (i.e. someone to write that long-form content and to manage the platform).
So, if you do take the plunge, how do you get it right? Here are my top tips:
- Don’t be afraid of publishing long-form writing on your platform
- Tag, tag, tag – tag people and pages
- Use polls as a great way to get feedback
- Celebrate others – it’s about building an online professional network
- Offer something new – find an angle or insight to get you or your brand noticed
The bottom line? As on other social media platforms, content is king on LinkedIn – but it should be the right content. It helps to give you a professional edge, enhances your profile and helps you to enhance others’ profiles. It’s all about growing – the insights you put out should also be useful and add value to the LinkedIn community.
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Kerry Robertson is a social media strategist at Flow Communications (www.flowsa.com), one of South Africa’s leading independent agencies. Founded in 2005, Flow now has a permanent team of more than 60 professional staff, with more than 800 years of collective experience in communications.
The 4 Most Common Reasons Why Small Businesse Fails
Running a business is not for the faint of heart; entrepreneurship is inherently risky. Successful business owners must possess the ability to mitigate company-specific risks while simultaneously bringing a product or service to market at a price point that meets consumer demand levels.
While there are a number of small businesses in a broad range of industries that perform well and are continuously profitable, 20% of small businesses fail in the first year, 50% go belly up after five years, and only 33% make it to 10 years or longer, according to the Small Business Administration (SBA).1
To safeguard a new or established business, it is necessary to understand what can lead to business failure and how each obstacle can be managed or avoided altogether. The most common reasons small businesses fail include a lack of capital or funding, retaining an inadequate management team, a faulty infrastructure or business model, and unsuccessful marketing initiatives.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Running out of money is a small business’s biggest risk. Owners often know what funds are needed day to day but are unclear as to how much revenue is being generated, and the disconnect can be disastrous.
- Inexperience managing a business—or an unwillingness to delegate—can negatively impact small businesses, as can a poorly visualized business plan, which can lead to ongoing problems once the firm is operational.
- Poorly planned or executed marketing campaigns, or a lack of adequate marketing and publicity, are among the other issues that drag down small businesses.
1. Financing Hurdles
A primary reason why small businesses fail is a lack of funding or working capital. In most instances a business owner is intimately aware of how much money is needed to keep operations running on a day-to-day basis, including funding payroll; paying fixed and varied overhead expenses, such as rent and utilities; and ensuring that outside vendors are paid on time; however, owners of failing companies are less in tune with how much revenue is generated by sales of products or services. This disconnect leads to funding shortfalls that can quickly put a small business out of operation.
A second reason is business owners who miss the mark on pricing products and services. To beat out the competition in highly saturated industries, companies may price a product or service far lower than similar offerings, with the intent to entice new customers.
While the strategy is successful in some cases, businesses that end up closing their doors are those that keep the price of a product or service too low for too long. When the costs of production, marketing, and delivery outweigh the revenue generated from new sales, small businesses have little choice but to close down.
The Small Business Administration (SBA) helps small businesses find loans for different needs, offering a variety of loan programs.
Small companies in the startup phase can face challenges in terms of obtaining financing in order to bring a new product to market, fund an expansion, or pay for ongoing marketing costs. While angel investors, venture capitalists, and conventional bank loans are among the funding sources available to small businesses, not every company has the revenue stream or growth trajectory needed to secure major financing from them. Without an influx of funding for large projects or ongoing working capital needs, small businesses are forced to close their doors.
To help a small business manage common financing hurdles, business owners should first establish a realistic budget for company operations and be willing to provide some capital from their own coffers during the startup or expansion phase.
It is imperative to research and secure financing options from multiple outlets before the funding is actually necessary. When the time comes to obtain funding, business owners should already have a variety of sources they can tap for capital.
2. Inadequate Management
Another common reason small businesses fail is a lack of business acumen on the part of the management team or business owner. In some instances, a business owner is the only senior-level person within a company, especially when a business is in its first year or two of operation.
While the owner may have the skills necessary to create and sell a viable product or service, they often lack the attributes of a strong manager and don’t have the time to successfully oversee other employees. Without a dedicated management team, a business owner has greater potential to mismanage certain aspects of the business, whether it be finances, hiring, or marketing.
Most small businesses start out with the entrepreneur’s savings or money from friends and family and then look for outside financing to grow.
Smart business owners outsource the activities they do not perform well or have little time to successfully carry through. A strong management team is one of the first additions a small business needs to continue operations well into the future. It is important for business owners to feel comfortable with the level of understanding each manager has regarding the business’ operations, current and future employees, and products or services.
3. Ineffective Business Planning
Small businesses often overlook the importance of effective business planning prior to opening their doors. A sound business plan should include, at a minimum:
- A clear description of the business
- Current and future employee and management needs
- Opportunities and threats within the broader market
- Capital needs, including projected cash flow and various budgets
- Marketing initiatives
- Competitor analysis
Business owners who fail to address the needs of the business through a well-laid-out plan before operations begin are setting up their companies for serious challenges. Similarly, a business that does not regularly review an initial business plan—or one that is not prepared to adapt to changes in the market or industry—meets potentially insurmountable obstacles throughout the course of its lifetime.
To avoid pitfalls associated with business plans, entrepreneurs should have a solid understanding of their industry and competition before starting a company. A company’s specific business model and infrastructure should be established long before products or services are offered to customers, and potential revenue streams should be realistically projected well in advance. Creating and maintaining a business plan is key to running a successful company for the long term.
4. Marketing Mishaps
Business owners often fail to prepare for the marketing needs of a company in terms of capital required, prospect reach, and accurate conversion-ratio projections. When companies underestimate the total cost of early marketing campaigns, it can be difficult to secure financing or redirect capital from other business departments to make up for the shortfall.
Because marketing is a crucial aspect of any early-stage business, it is necessary for companies to ensure that they have established realistic budgets for current and future marketing needs.
Similarly, having realistic projections in terms of target audience reach and sales conversion ratios is critical to marketing campaign success. Businesses that do not understand these aspects of sound marketing strategies are more likely to fail than companies that take the time to create and implement cost-effective, successful campaigns.
What Is the Small Business Failure Rate?
Approximately 20% of small businesses fail in their first year, 50% fail within five years, and 33% make it to 10 years and further.1
What Small Businesses Fail the Most?
The small businesses that fail the most are in the wired telecommunication carrier industry, the printing industry, the apparel and leather manufacturing industry, and the communications equipment manufacturing industry.2
What Are Some Signs That Your Business Is Failing?
Signs that a business is failing include small levels or lack of cash, inability to pay back loans on time, inability to pay suppliers on time, customers that pay late, loss of clientele, and an unclear business strategy.
Article by Investopedia