Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight

Social Media - Is your LinkedIn business page up there with the best? It should be... After all, it's a sought-after online destination for business networking, hiring, and even financing.

According to current data (2Q13), LinkedIn had 238 million members. The professional social network's popularity grows unabated, remaining a sought-after online destination for business networking, hiring, and even financingIt makes sense, then, to take a second look at whether your LinkedIn business page is up there with the best. And if you don't have a presence on LinkedIn, here's an opportunity to announce your presence in style....

LinkedIn is great for making new connections, staying in the know about industry news and trends, sharing content, building and maintaining a following, and amplifying brand reach and visibility....

LinkedIn has an outstanding visitor-to-lead conversion rate of 2.74%, which is approximately three times higher than the conversion rates of Facebook and Twitter. The most common and detrimental mistake brands make on LinkedIn is creating overly “salesy” marketing. LinkedIn is a social network, so be social; set your sights on being an informational resource and providing links to highly shareable content jam-packed with deep industry insight and valuable solutions.

You must foster real connections and genuine engagement to attain success. Do not over-automate your LinkedIn activity or blast promotional spam; such tactics will not fly on LinkedIn. Strategic mastery of LinkedIn will allow you to amplify engagement, effectively promote your company, increase lead generation, gain influence and attract new business. Compared to other social networks, LinkedIn users are more focused on business and career, which increases the impact of relevant industry content...

Given LinkedIn's more than 200 million members, a company page on the popular professional networking site can provide a valuable venue for recruiting talent and promoting your products and services. But while setting up a LinkedIn company page is relatively common, some business owners have questions and wind up making potentially costly mistakes. To generate the kind of results you're looking for, it's important to consider many details when setting up a company page on LinkedIn.

Cambridge, Mass.-based business-to-business marketing software firm HubSpot, for instance, found LinkedIn to be nearly 300 percent more effective for visitor-to-lead generation than Facebook and Twitter, says Kipp Bodnar, HubSpot marketing director and co-author of The B2B Social Media Book (Wiley, 2012)....