How to Grow Your LinkedIn Community

LinkedIn is the top social network for business professionals. Despite several social networks having more total users, LinkedIn has the highest concentration of business minded individuals. Many businesses are now relying heavily on LinkedIn to find new employees and customers. Businesses can not afford to ignore the power of LinkedIn anymore. Follow the tips below and begin taking advantage of the relationships LinkedIn can help create:

• Fill out your Profile Completely: Use LinkedIn’s Profile Strength meter to gauge the strength of your profile

• Don’t forget a profile picture: profiles with profile pictures get viewed 11x as much as profiles that do not

• Share links to your LinkedIn profile via other networks and email
• Place a LinkedIn button on your website
• Connect with other users: Instead of using the default message when sending a connection request, use an original follow request message. Seeing a non-generic message increases effectiveness

• Accept all relevant requests: Aim for 500+ connections. Each connection increases your network exponentially, so accept with all requests from relevant users
• Invite coworkers to add LinkedIn and include your business as their current employer: This will allow your company to be featured on their page, which will increase visibility
• Join 50 LinkedIn Groups: For personal accounts, LinkedIn groups provide a great place to interact with individuals that have shared interests. There are several other benefits, including the ability to message people who are in the same group as you but are not 1st connections.

LinkedIn has positioned itself as the leading network for business professionals, which makes it extremely valuable for B2B companies. Regardless your industry you need to create and maintain a company LinkedIn accounts, as potential customers and employees will expect it.What tricks or tips have you found useful in growing your LinkedIn community? Let us know in the comment section below!