Three Tips for Growing Any Business with LinkedIn

Last year, Social Media was the number one marketing tool used by small businesses.  That trend is continuing in 2012.  One of those sites, LinkedIn.com, is growing at a rate of approximately two new members per second.  Yes, that’s right, per second. 

LinkedIn (LinkedIn.com) is the Social Media site for business professionals and executives.  With currently over 175 million members, it’s the largest professional network in the world.  That’s a whole bunch of business people!

LinkedIn is a great place to connect with people you know or want to meet.  Consequently, it’s a good site to meet buyers of your product or service, whether you sell to businesses or consumers.  As a side note, LinkedIn suggests everyone connect only with people you already know.  What’s the fun in that?

If you don’t already have a LinkedIn profile, start one today.  Then search for people you know through the search box and ask them to connect.  The more professionals you are connected to, the larger your network, the more people who will see you, the greater your chance of making that next sale.

Let’s talk about a few ways you can grow your business using LinkedIn. 

1. Ask your connections for introductions.  This was originally the purpose of LinkedIn.  Strangely enough, not many people do this.  If you notice, the statistics on the right side of your profile page will show the size of your network through your connections and how many new people in your network.  Typically, this number is in the millions.

Whether you are in a big corporation or run your own small business, it’s good to know decision makers.  A personal introduction is a great way to meet someone you’ve wanted to do business with.  Go to the person’s profile you would like to meet and click on ‘Get introduced through a connection.’  It will list any of your connections who know this person and can make an introduction for you.