Tiffany Winbush is the Social Media Manager for Hiscox USA insurance, responsible for driving social media engagement and publishing the Hiscox Small Business blog. Tiffany lives in NYC with her tech entrepreneur husband and one year-old daughter. She is passionate about empowering women and girls and volunteers regularly with the over 100 year-old public service organization Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Tweet Tiffany at @TiffanyPR.
If you already know your small business needs to have a social media presence, by now you may have figured out where your clients and potential customers spend the most time. This will help you to optimize the time you spend on social media.
So where can you find your customers? Last year, a survey from Vistage International and The Wall Street Journal revealed that LinkedIn is the most beneficial platform for small business owners. Now that its been confirmed that the professional-networking site is the best social media channel for growing your small business, implement these tips to help with your small business lead generation.
Join LinkedIn groups.
If you’re only networking with your LinkedIn connections, you’re missing out on the opportunity to expand your network. LinkedIn groups allow you to highlight your expertise while expanding the number of people you can potentially connect with. While users can join up to 50 groups, I would suggest joining less to ensure you’re able to make an impact. Find groups that relate to your expertise or groups where your potential customers may be, then begin sharing your knowledge.
Publish original content on LinkedIn.
Earlier this year, the LinkedIn Publishing Platform was launched. This new tool allows all LinkedIn members to build their personal brand through creating and sharing long-form posts. When you publish a post, it will not only be shared with your LinkedIn network, but also other users you are not already directly connected with.
Introduce your connections to one another.
It’s no secret that word of mouth can grow your small business. Give people something to talk about. If you have connections in your network that may benefit from knowing one another, introduce them via LinkedIn. Showing that you’re a giver verses a taker in business, may lead to these connections suggesting clients for your business when the opportunity arises.
These three steps are just the tip of the iceberg. There are additional ways to generate small business leads on LinkedIn, but for now, use the three tips above and build on from there.
Are you using LinkedIn as a lead generation tool for your small business? Leave a comment sharing what’s worked for you so far. I’d enjoy hearing from you.
