Leveraging the Power of LinkedIn to Find New Clients

Social networks are a great tool to leverage when you need to find new clients for business but some social networks are much more effective at helping you find new clients than others, take LinkedIn for example. Unlike the odd bunch you find on Facebook usually there to have fun and interact with their friends, LinkedIn is a business-oriented social network people join in order to make business connections and find new opportunities in their fields of endeavor.

LinkedIn: One of the best small business resources to discover new business opportunitiesr
A brief look at the LinkedIn platform will show you people whose profiles are categorized according to countries, industries and companies where they work, educational institutions they attended, their fields of specialty and if you are registered on the LinkedIn platform, who they possibly know that you might know within your network as well. LinkedIn also has interest Groups where people from a particular field or industry or people with common business interests participate in.
Using these details, you easily find out that you have access to the following information:

1. People with specific positions within a company or industry
2. Target market of persons and companies for your products and services
3. Related industries which might be interested in products and services you have to offer
4. Groups in which you can network to discover new clients

Marketing for small business: LinkedIn features you should know about

Another useful feature which LinkedIn offers is the ability to market to members through the use of its in-platform advertising system. With this tool instead of bothering yourself about making direct contact with other members or sending information which may end up not being replied to, you can easily set up an ad or a series of ads and list the parameters and demographic you want these ads to target. After this you can simply watch the new leads and clients come in based on the effectiveness of your advertising campaign.

You can also used LinkedIn to find out which events your connections or at least people in your industry are attending and how to attend these events to physically network with potential new clients within your industry. You can even market your products and services at such events, the events may provide you with insight as to the direction your industry is headed and potential new developments you would otherwise be unaware of.

One great tool which people tend to overlook on the LinkedIn platform is the search field, where you can search for People, Groups, Companies, Jobs as well as a number of other details. I’ve listed the People, Groups and Companies aspect because these are the most important when seeking out new clients.

You can easily put in a search term for whatever product or service you’re selling and see the companies, people or groups dedicated to those interested in the product. The number of leads you get from this search activity depends on how creative you are in seeking out search terms which People, Groups or Companies may have included as part of their information on the platform and which would be an indication that they are interested in whatever you have to offer.

The final great tool on LinkedIn which will help with sourcing new clients through the platform is LinkedIn Answers which can also be accessed via the search form as well as the “More” category option on the menu bar once logged into LinkedIn. Using LinkedIn Answers requires constant participation on the platform as it is an area where members get to ask questions and other members get to answer them.

Using this tool, you can find your area of specialty on LinkedIn and the answer other member questions regularly with the aim of becoming an authority in your area of specialty on LinkedIn. This will improve your profile ranking on the website and also introduce you to new clients who want further information based on the answers you may have provided or your recognized expertise within that industry. Several individuals have made use of this means to attract new business to their companies and profit from it immensely.

In closing, LinkedIn is a great tool for business and it goes beyond the simple listing of your personal profile and connections with people you have already done business with. Using the tips and tools offered here you can leverage this business-oriented social network platform in order to get an unlimited number of new clients.