Supercharge Your Small Business: Essential LinkedIn Tools You Need to Know

Ready to unlock LinkedIn’s full potential for your small business growth? Beyond a professional networking site, this powerful platform offers a wealth of tools and features designed to fuel your expansion. Let’s dive into the key ones you should be using right now.

LinkedIn Pages: Your Free Spot to Show What You Do

Think of your LinkedIn Page as your free and easy way to tell the world what your business is all about. It’s the place where you can shout about what you do, what you believe in, the services or products you offer, and introduce the folks behind the scenes – your team (or if you’re a freelancer, your close associates and referral partners).

To really grab people’s attention, make sure your LinkedIn page is filled in properly with all the key info about you and your business, using good, clear pictures  to make it look professional and inviting. This helps you connect with people who are genuinely interested in what you do and builds a solid base for your LinkedIn activity

For more tips about having a LinkedIn page that’ll hit the right notes with your target audience, have a read of my blog talking about getting the basics of LinkedIn right for your business.

If you’re a small business owner who’s also trying to build your own personal profile and get your name out there, LinkedIn has a special setting called Creator Mode that can really help.

When you switch it on, it lets you really highlight the main things you know a lot about, show off your best posts and articles, and makes it simpler for people to follow you. This can help you reach more people and become more influential in your industry on LinkedIn.

Showing What You Sell: Highlighting Your Products or Services on Your Page

If your small business sells specific things, whether they’re actual products or services you offer, LinkedIn has a neat feature called Product Pages. These give you a special spot right on your company’s LinkedIn Page to show them off.

You can point out the key things that make them great, explain the benefits they offer, and even include nice things your customers have said about them. This means that people who are checking out your company on LinkedIn can easily see exactly what you offer without having to click away to your website, making it much simpler for them to learn more.

Your employees are your brand’s biggest advocates. Encourage them to share company updates, news, and insights on their personal LinkedIn profiles. This expands your organic reach significantly, as your employees’ networks are likely to include individuals who might not be following your company page directly. Employee advocacy can add a layer of authenticity and trust to your brand messaging.

Sharing What You Know: Getting Your Expertise Out There

Another great way to get your small business noticed on LinkedIn is by sharing your knowledge and insights. Think of it as showing people you know your stuff! LinkedIn makes it easy to do this in different ways, from quick little posts and interesting articles to more in-depth newsletters.

By regularly sharing your expertise, what you’ve learned, and your thoughts on your industry, you can attract people who are actually interested in what you do. This can get conversations started and really help build trust and show that you’re a go-to person in your field.

LinkedIn also has a feature called Collaborative Articles that lets you add your thoughts to popular topics that lots of people are reading about.

When you share your insights alongside other professionals on these trending articles, it helps show that you really know your stuff. Plus, it means your profile and your business can get seen by a much wider audience on LinkedIn, people who might not have found you otherwise.

LinkedIn Events: Getting Together Online to Connect

Now, another cool way to connect with your audience and show what you know is through LinkedIn Events. These let you easily run things like webinars, online workshops, virtual meetups, and even show off your products online, all without people having to leave LinkedIn.

You can invite the folks who already follow you, but you can also target specific groups of professionals who you think would be interested. During the event, you can chat with everyone in real-time, answer their questions, and really build a sense of community. It’s a brilliant way to show you know your stuff and get people engaging directly with your business.

The great thing about webinars is that you can record them and re-use them for future events, on different platforms, and even on your website. Repurposing content like this is a great way of maximising every opportunity from your marketing efforts.

LinkedIn Ads: Getting Your Message to the Right Eyes

So, you’ve got your LinkedIn Page looking great. Now, how do you make sure your ideal customers actually see it? That’s where LinkedIn Ads come in. They let you really focus your marketing, showing your messages to specific people based on things like their job title, what industry they work in, their skills, and even the size of their company.

This means you can get your message right in front of the folks who are most likely to be interested in what you offer, whether you want to find new leads, get more traffic to your website, or just make more people aware of your brand within a certain professional group. Yes, there’s a cost involved, but the fact that you can target such a specific audience can really pay off for your small business.

Now, if your small business sells to other companies (B2B), then LinkedIn Sales Navigator is a really handy tool to know about. It’s a paid extra from LinkedIn, but it gives you super-smart ways to search for people, suggests leads that might be a good fit for you, and gives you up-to-date info to help you connect with potential customers who look like your ideal clients.

Basically, it makes finding the right people to reach out to much easier, so you can spend your time talking to the folks who are most likely to become customers and build those important relationships that can turn into sales.

Checking What’s Working: Keeping an Eye on Your LinkedIn Stats

To really get the hang of what’s working well on LinkedIn, it’s a good idea to check out your stats. LinkedIn Analytics gives you some handy numbers that show how your Page is doing – things like how many people are following you, how much people are interacting with your posts (likes, comments, shares), and even who your audience is.

By taking a look at this info, you can get a better idea of what kind of content your audience likes and who you’re actually reaching. This helps you fine-tune what you’re doing, so you can focus on what gets the best results and make your LinkedIn efforts even more effective.

Learning New Tricks: Growing Your Skills with LinkedIn Learning

Running a small business means always learning new things, right? Well, LinkedIn has a massive library of online courses called LinkedIn Learning that can really help you and your team get better at all sorts of stuff, from business basics and selling tips to marketing know-how and even technical skills.

It’s like having a huge online school right there on LinkedIn. You can learn at your own pace and it’s a great way to keep up with what’s new in your industry and make sure you and your team have the skills you need to help your business do even better.

And if you want to know what not to do on LinkedIn – check out my blog ‘LinkedIn Marketing Don’ts’ for some useful hints and tips.

Making LinkedIn Work for Your Small Business: Your Next Steps

So, as you can see, LinkedIn offers a fantastic toolkit for small businesses looking to grow. From establishing your presence with a compelling LinkedIn page to reaching the right audience with targeted ads and showcasing your expertise through valuable content, the opportunities are vast. And by keeping an eye on your analytics and investing in continuous learning, you can ensure your efforts are always moving in the right direction.

Don’t feel like you need to implement all of these tools overnight. Start with the ones that feel most aligned with your current business goals and gradually explore others as you become more comfortable. The key is to be present, be authentic, and be consistent.

Ready to unlock the power of LinkedIn for your small business and navigate these tools effectively?

As a Marketing Consultant, I help small business owners like you create and implement winning LinkedIn strategies that drive real results. Whether you need help setting up your LinkedIn page for maximum impact, crafting compelling content that resonates, or developing targeted ad campaigns that reach your ideal clients, I’m here to guide you.

Let’s have a chat about how we can use LinkedIn’s features to achieve your business growth objectives.