photo credit: coletivomambembe
LinkedIn has gone retro to promote their Timeless Guide to Small Business Success. The 6 episode series follows 3 business as they evolve and grow by taking advantage of the different offerings of LinkedIn. The underlying message is to use LinkedIn to grow your business however the lighthearted and cheesiness of the videos takes the hard sell out of the mix. Let’s walk through the first three in the series and follow up tomorrow with the last three.
Episode 1: You and Your Company
The series starts with John, who is looking to expand his design business. The narrator walks John through how connecting with all of his professional associations on LinkedIn can help them to become his first customers and how with an email he can set up a company page. The company page coupled with the personal page heightens the presence and provides more opportunities to be found, so long as your profiles, summaries and skill sets are properly defined and contain the industry terms as keywords.
Episode 2: You and Your Customers
Alice, the small bakery owner, thrives on repeat and new customers. Staying on contact with her customers while also running the business creates efficiency and growth. Taking advantage of the opportunity to connect a Twitter account comes with some caution as well as updating your status only about your business. Updating your status on both is definitely important and encouraged but make sure you talk about others and not just your business and offerings directly. The direct ads are a better means of just getting 0ut your the special offerings to the targeted market and to generate new business with LinkedIn.
Episode 3: Your and Your Team
As you start to grow the business and stabilize within the growth, the next step is to hire employees. Posting a job on LinkedIn is simple and very easy to manage. Stanley the manufacturer of rubber duckies, is walked through how to not only post his job but how to perform a background check of sorts through the candidate’s connections that are connected to you. It is all about the connections and how you know … always.
LinkedIn the Small Business Owners Resource
LinkedIn is a resource we know for job seekers however for a small business owner, there are multiple ways to use LinkedIn. When you are expending and not necessarily ready for employees, there is temporary help you can seek in virtual assistants. Referrals for accountants, attorneys and an advertising and marketing agency that caters to small businesses. Growing your business is not just who can be referred to you, it is also who can you be referred to. These new connections lead to new business. Professional development is just as important and business development.
These are silly and cheesy but is a softer sell than a modern day ad that walks us through the different offerings. It is hard not to focus on the caterpillar eyebrows and Greg Brady-Johnny Bravo fro, but once you get over that part and listen to the message, it is well received.
