I belong to a number of networking groups in and around my local Lansing area and 

I am often asked by business owners how do I use or take advantage of LinkedIn?

Now I don't want to sound selfish here but I do want to get right to the point. So please forgive me if this article strikes you that way.

Remember you only get out of anything what your willing to put into it. So this means you will need to dedicate some time and efforts to this project.

1st always fill out your profile 100% completely with good informative useful information about you and your business, etc.

2nd start searching for and connecting with every person and business you either know of or have personally used in the past.

Connect with people and business's in your area and expand out from there.

3rd Ask as many people as you can to leave a recommendation for you or your business and do the same for them and everyone you know. This is so important that you may never fully understand the success you achieve through LinkedIn that can be directly linked back to this step.

Next go through all of your email, business card or social network contacts search and invite all of them as well.

Search through LinkedIn's networks and groups that you can become involved or connected with and request an invite from them. You can also search through your future contacts to see what groups they belong to and connect with them.

Next when these contacts begin to accept your request take a few minutes to say a quick hello and mention any pertinent information that might be relevant between the two parties.

After you have made a connection take some time to look over their list of contacts to see if there are contacts you may have missed and invite them as well.

Now think long and hard about who your perfect client, target audience or ideal customer would be. 

At this point and time you will have either come up with a good list of prospects to promote your goods or services too or you can begin to use your new contacts as a means to get introduced to the prospects they have in their spheres of influence and move down the list from here. 

Send a message or call the individual that is a direct connection of yours and ask them for a personal introduction or recommendation to the individual that they may have in their connections you are trying to connect with. If this isn't possible or does not lead to the connection you are trying to make you may have to contact them directly and pitch yourself.

The success you achieve through the use of LinkedIn will greatly relate to the time you have spent building a relationship with the individual.  Also if you are offering high quality products and services and stand behind them the better the success you will attain through your efforts. 

Don't forget to give back to your LinkedIn connections and community by recommending and thanking them.

Hope this sheds some light on how LinkedIn can be used to improve your business and generate solid leads for you to follow up with. If LinkedIn is used correctly your connections and leads will continue to grow as will your success.

Feel free to add to this as you all see fit.

Sam 

Lansing Grape Vine

Tags: LinkedIn How To Use Of LinkedIn Social Networks