LinkedIn

A brave gathering of Rhode Islanders forsaked (correctly) forecasted torrential rain for The Hive’s Lunch & Learn. Attendees spanned from professionals working at a hotel to regular folks organizing community events who wanted to know how Social Media works best with events from increasing awareness to driving event attendance.

Do see the Slideshare deck above for strategies and tactics to boost engagement with limited time and restricted resources and how it all fits together: promoting your campaigns and events using channels like Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram, plus time-saving tools like Hootsuite, Eventbrite, SEO, and more.

Meanwhile, if you’re looking for co-working space or offices within a supportive community of entrepreneurs, check out The Hive.

About the speaker

Suzanne McDonald, CEO, Designated Editor

Winner of the 2014 International Business Award — ‘Internet / New Media Company of the Year’ — Designated Editor teaches individuals, educators & companies how to create influential interactions & eliminate social media insanity via customized courses & strategic consulting.

Former Boston Globe journalist Suzanne McDonald founded Designated Editor in 2008 along with Newport Interactive Marketers 1,000-strong networking-learning group.

Suzanne is currently developing URI’s first Social Media Certificate curriculum and has launched and taught Social Media Strategies at URI and Event Planning and New Media at Framingham State University.

She also led URI’s TickSmart Social Media team of interns to win Best Viral Video at the Strategic Video Awards.

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With more than 160 million users on its platform, LinkedIn is a strategic digital platform to connect with top decision players in your industry. A newer addition to LinkedIn, the “Company Page,” allows you to add your company to the professional networking site and stay on top of industry news. The Company Page allows you to establish strong social relationship with other companies, and gives you the capabilities to connect with the movers and shakers in your industry to drive your business objectives.

What is the best way to use the Company Pages to grow your business?

HootSuite University hosted Mike Grishaver and Andrew Kaplan from LinkedIn with best practices on how to grow your business using LinkedIn’s Company Pages in their presentation, “Relationships that Drive Results: 5 Key Steps to Engaging Followers on LinkedIn.”

Use LinkedIn Company Pages to

Optimize and drive traffic to your page
Effectively communicate and amplify your business
Update your status using strong content

HootSuite even allows you to add your Company Page their site, providing greater control of all your digital efforts. Do not hesistate to take advantage of the LinkedIn’s Company Page and HootSuite’s services to connect with top professionals and grow your business.

LinkedIn audience characteristics

Largest professional community
Highly educated, well-paid, high purchasing power
Social, yet business oriented
Great lead generation
Driven

Engage

Consumers are in complete control online
Build interest: Give members exactly what they want, relevant content
Target followers: How can you make members even better professionals?
Connect using similarities, provide industry trends, leverage audience

5 Step Approach

1. Establish company presence

Write your story
Fill in all your pages’ fields
Strong description: Lead with unique content
Recruit co-workers to help: Crowd-source!
Fill in product & services page

Best practices: Customize content for each audience

2. Attract followers to your page

Ask people on your personal page to join your Company Page
Add a “follow” button on your site
Announce your Company Page in a newsletter
Create reasons for people to follow YOU
Join Company Groups similar to yours & interact: Become an influencer

3. Engage followers

Message followers with great content
Status update interaction; keep brief, but get point across
Target your status updates on LinkedIn

4. Amplify users: Make your followers brand advocates

Ask your follows to like, share, and comment on your content
More follows =’s more followers … Social proof!
Use this

Best practices: Call-to-action, link to lists, product recommendations, videos, ask questions

5. Measure & refine approach

Set goals & track progress
LinkedIn provides statistic tracking on Company Page: Look at these and track growth
Optimize page to generate more leads
Generate meaningful content with relevant conversation

Content creation tips, master these

Unique content: Blog posts, videos, webinars, white papers
Linked content: Industry news, expert research, news coverage
Sourced content: Educational posts by guests, polls, testimonials

The Company Pages on LinkedIn help grow your business, if used wisely! Add your company to LinkedIn’s Company Page, join the largest professional network, and start engaging with key players in your field.

Social Media and Events: Tips, Tools, Tactics for Planners