A really exciting and useful aspect of LinkedIn is the “Groups”. Groups are places that you can commiserate with colleagues who are in the same business as you, or where you can give advice and establish yourself as an expert with potential clients who might someday use your services or buy your products.

• When you are finished creating your complete profile on LinkedIn take a look around at the different groups that already exist. You can search the groups by clicking Groups, then Groups Directory.  You can also use the search function on the top right hand side of your home page. Simply select groups, then type in a search term to find groups within your niche and where your target market might congregate.

• Look through the groups and choose five active groups to join. Some of the groups will require approval of your membership request, others you’ll become a member immediately upon request. Once you’re a member of the group, introduce yourself to the group, then try to spend about 15 minutes a day conversing with the groups you joined. You can ask questions of the group designed to make the readers curious about your business. You cannot overtly advertise within someone else’s group, but you can let people know what there is to offer by setting a good example and promoting intelligent conversation.

• Remember to project a professional attitude at all times when you are participating in groups. Follow the group rules, and do not get into controversial debates on LinkedIn.com. Answer questions in such a way that you are not overly selling your services or businesses. Anyone who reads one of your questions on a group, or answers to someone on a group, are perfectly capable of clicking on your profile and finding out more without overly selling. Also, try to participate about 10 to 15 minutes per workday. After all, social media networking is supposed to be social and you can’t be social if you don’t participate.

• Although Linkedin Answers is now retired, Questions are still asked through LinkedIn Polls, Groups, or status updates. Read the question and if you know a good answer, even if other people have answered, give your answer. Pay attention to your grammar, your spelling, and your phrasing of each answer. Try to be as complete as possible and give an honest answer that does not automatically say “hire me and I’ll tell you what to do” instead try telling them everything, give away the farm, and then offer to do it for them if they don’t want to do it, and to contact you.

Letting clients come to you is the best way to get a client. A client who is already sold on your ability, your intelligence, and your compatibility with them will not need to be sold. They will come to you, and they will want to pay your fee because they will already know that you’re smart, you know what you’re doing, and that you can help them.

Personal branding is key to your success and LinkedIn is an excellent tool to help you achieve that. Let’s look at 7 ways to maximize your LinkedIn and your personal branding.

1. Make the Most of your Profile

Using your LinkedIn profile properly is very important. When you communicate with others on the site, your profile will speak for you. Don’t just upload any photo; upload a good photo. Don’t upload your logo here. People want to see what you look like. Make sure you completely fill out your profile DO NOT leave any areas blank.

2. Build Up Your Contacts

When you first join LinkedIn you need to build your contact base.

Connect present and past colleagues along with your alumni from your university or college.

3. Recommendations

Recommendations are very important. In fact, it is one of the most powerful tools that LinkedIn has to offer. That’s because people recognize recommendations as sincere and trustworthy. Others MUST write them and they are very hard to fake or forge.

4. Use Groups

There are three ways you can use groups: lead generation, increasing your LinkedIn profile development, and personal development by learning.

5. Promoting Events

Using LinkedIn to promote your events is a very wise move. You can easily target your audience and can spread your information quickly all the while establishing your personal brand.

6. Use Your Status Updates

The LinkedIn status updates are not used to their full potential.

However, this has been changing a little bit thanks to the integration of Twitter with your LinkedIn profile, a move that was much needed.

Update your LinkedIn profile with relevant blog posts and news. When you use your status updates wisely they can play an integral role in your person branding.

7. Networking for Lead Generation

LinkedIn is a very powerful tool for you to use to connect with others who are looking to individuals from within the corporate community. When you take full advantage of the tools LinkedIn offers you can build a powerful personal brand. It will not take as long as you might think, and it is worth every bit of time you put into it.

Open networkers can be a powerful tool for you on LinkedIn, so let’s look at the 6 tops LinkedIn open networkers you should be following.

However, before we do that we must remind that it is against the LinkedIn User Agreement to invite someone into your network of professionals if you do not know them personally. The reason for this is LinkedIn was built on the philosophy of trust, which means you need to know a person in order to truly trust them.

LinkedIn has added the follow feature, which allows you to follow a group discussion, and then a little later on you can invite them to join your network.

1.Olivier Taupin
Oivier Taupin created the group Linked:HR, which is the largest LinkedIn Group at 850,000 members and more than 350,000 professionals. Creating a community of this magnitude is no easy task. Definitely, this group’s worth exploring.

2. Chris Brogan

Most of you already know who Chris Brogan is; A well-known, powerful online marketing guru. Be sure to read the many posts Chris has on his LinkedIn blog. Chris is a very smart networker and you would be wise to check out his LinkedIn profile , because you can learn a lot.

3. Gerald Haman

This is a man who is known as “the resolution man” on LinkedIn and he is also the creator of tons of Innovators LinkedIn groups including Innovative Marketing, PR, Sales, Word-of-Mouth & Buzz Innovators with more than 100,000 members. Gerald Haman is a professor at Northwestern University, and he has also helped clients generate more than 2 billion dollars in revenue.

4. Thubten Comerford

Thubten Comerford is a deeply spiritual man, and was even ordained as a monk in a Tibetan temple. He also has an incredibly successful track record in his business ventures. He is a social media consultant and you should definitely have a look at what he offers.

5. Jay Deragon

This may be a name you are familiar with since he was one of the social media bloggers for 2011 that was mentioned a number of times. Jay’s goal is to have us all become part of his new Social Flights venture. Jay is a very smart and business savvy man and most of us could earn a lot from him.

6. Gary Zukowski

Here is another one of the top connectors. If you have the opportunity to hear the story of Gary Zukowski’s company TweetMyJOBS be sure to do so. TweetMyJOBS is the largest job board and recruiting station on Twitter. Gary is a very savvy person when it comes to the twittersphere.

Linkedin is a major social media tool and in recent years has begun to grow in popularity and necesscity. Linkedin is different to other tools such as Facebook and Twitter in the sense that Linkedin is a business networking tool. Linkedin is a social media tool where businesses & professionals come together, exchange CV data, interact & network with others in your industry, recieve breaking industry news and apply for jobs etc. Therefore Linkedin is a must for any Business Coach or Sales Trainer.  Linkedin must become part of your  marketing planning and strategy.

Linkedin will enable you to have direct contact with not only customers but with other influential people in your industry. For example suppliers, buyers etc. Linkedin is an essential tool if you are hoping to expand your business coaching services or your sales training packages.

Linkedin will  allow you to generate more traffic to your actual company website & will also generate more leads. Linkedin is an essential way to network and it is important that you begin to network through this social media tool.

Therefore, if you are a business coach or sales trainer, Linkedin is a tool you should really think about incorporating into your marketing strategy.

In today’s age of new technology and new digital marketing practices, it is important for companies to adjust and build their online presence. Tools such as Linkedin are key in order for a business to achieve this. However it is still very important to maintain a strong off-line presence including customer service, a healthy product offering and brand image. Companies should look to continue building off-line channels such as promotions, personal selling, word of mouth & PR. However, Tools such as Linkedin can enable businesses to achieve this albeit online but when combined with off-line practices, it could really enhance and optimise the company’s performance and success. This is regardless of the industry or market the company operates in and in most circumstances, companies can achieve this.

So, if your company is a Printing Company, who offer Printing Services for both personal and business requirements, then this approach should be no different. Linkedin is a tool which can drastically enhance your online presence, your company’s awareness & you product/service on offer. So Why Use Linkedin?

Brand Awareness:

Linkedin will enable your business to generate brand awareness by placing your business information and offerings in front of a massive audience, who you can interact and communicate with directly.

Advertising

Linkedin can enable your company to advertise your brand and products but also advertise new campaigns and services. For instance if your printing company was looking to advertise new flyers or business cards, then Linkedin could enable this.

Competitor Analysis

Linkedin can enable a company to analyse their competitions strategies, their offerings and their movements. It can allow companies to identify the major selling points, how they advertise and how they interact with customers and followers. For instance, if your competitors were having succees with there leaflet printing services, you could look to identify, what there customers reactions, behaviours and opinions are. You could look to identify how they are advertising or communicating these services.

Research

Linkedin can enable businesses to conduct research on their market and on customer’s attitudes, feelings and behaviours.

Networking

Linkedin can enable companies to network with other like minded people, customers, clients and other people within the industry. Linkedin allows your company to join groups, organise events & host competitions etc.

Hiring & Recruiting

Linkedin is a great tool which can enable your company to search and head hunt talented people and can be used as a platform for hiring staff.

Keeping A Float With News & Events

Linkedin can allow your business to relevant breaking news articles or stories.

So if you’re printing company is looking to promote your brand & business printing services, then Linkedin is a tool which can allow you to do so. It is certainly worth looking into. So get cracking and all the best.