Have you ever wondered if LinkedIn is overrated? Sure, everyone says it’s a valuable networking and B2B marketing tool. But if you’re an entrepreneur or a smaller organization, it may feel like you don’t have the time to really use it to its full potential. Is it worth the effort?
In a word: yes.
At AJA Marketing, we’ve found that even a couple of hours devoted to nurturing your presence on LinkedIn can boost your brand and bring you new followers that could develop into important leads or connections.
You don’t need to spend hours scrolling through your LinkedIn feed or overthink your profile picture to get a strong ROI on your time. In fact, straightforward networking is only the beginning of what LinkedIn can offer!
Brush Up on New Job Skills
Did you know LinkedIn added free educational courses in 2020? To help the millions of folks looking for work in the COVID-19 economy, LinkedIn launched a new education and job development platform in June 2020 in connection with Microsoft and GitHub.
More than 10 million people worldwide (and counting!) tapped into this resource where they could take free education courses in the most in-demand skills—especially in the digital and tech realms— search and apply for jobs, and prepare for interviews.
Explore Your Local Economy and Market
LinkedIn, Microsoft and GitHub took this collaboration a step farther: an economic data portal. If your company is curious to dig into how the pandemic impacted your business base or the labor pool, LinkedIn’s Economic Graph is compiling economic data over time from users. You can use interactive tools to sort data by location, timeframe and industry.
It’s useful for companies and individuals because it’s pulling together updated info on which companies are hiring right now, which skills are in top demand, and more.
And if you want to explore how job seekers and companies are reacting around the world to changing workforce needs and opportunities, check out the 2020 LinkedIn Opportunity Index. While the 2020 report was created from data compiled in late 2019, the global report is available as a free download and includes insights into the factors that are both encouraging and hampering opportunity for workers in different countries.
We feel it can be useful to hold a mirror up to what we’re doing right now as we all work toward the ongoing “new normal” as it develops. For example, many workers dealing with financial insecurity due to things like debts (rising costs of things like student loans, etc.) and 24% of respondents said they felt this factor was holding them back for new opportunities.
Therefore, seeking out free educational resources can be an excellent way to help bridge this gap right now.
Spruce Up Your Marketing Strategy
If your small business, non-profit or association needs to reach new leads, LinkedIn is an excellent way to target your audience and deliver useful, valuable content. Even if you don’t have a budget or resources to create original content in-house, there are lots of ways to identify people who need your services by sharing info that meets their needs.
So, how do you do it? First, there are features like Advanced Search on LinkedIn with filters to find people based on industry, companies where they’ve worked, schools they attended, language and more.
And don’t forget to search for groups in your area of expertise! Groups are excellent hubs for networking and conversations of interest. Find out what people in your target zone are talking about, and begin interacting.
The more active you are on LinkedIn, the better. Engaging with people in your network and on their posts can boost your presence. If an influencer shares a post that resonates with you, go ahead and leave a reaction or even better, a comment! Stay positive, avoid politics (unless that is your realm of professional expertise, of course!) and even send messages to new connections to continue conversations.
AJA Marketing specializes in helping small organizations, companies and individuals maximize LinkedIn and its many resources. We created a LinkedIn Profile Building 101 Coaching Session this summer, and due to client demand, we are still offering this valuable session. For only $177, you receive a 60 minute LinkedIn deep-dive, and a bonus action plan personalized to your profile. View full details and book a session online at: https://bit.ly/AJAFallOffer.
Get in touch with us today to find out how we can give you a hand so you can make the most of every LinkedIn opportunity as we gear up for 2021!