Do you belong to any LinkedIn Groups? If you do, when is the last time you participated in one? By participating, I don’t mean that you shared your latest blog article in a group, or posted the link to your newest webinar. I’m talking about taking the time to read through other people’s posts and commenting on them, and providing useful information. If you’re not doing that, you should start and here are 3 reasons why:
1. Demonstrates your Expertise – Answering questions or simply providing another point of view to a conversation in a LinkedIn group is the best way to demonstrate your expertise on a given subject. The more often you demonstrate your knowledge, the more likely it will be that someone will want to connect with you, and even do business with you!
2. Fosters Trust – Every time you share some useful information, you encourage other LinkedIn users to trust you. And remember, the more people like and trust you, the more they will do business with you! (Do you sense a pattern here?)
3. Generates Leads/Sales – The more often you are seen as a trustworthy source, who provides concrete tips, strategies and useful information, the greater the chance someone will hire you to perform a service, or buy a product from you! And after all, isn’t this why you’re on LinkedIn in the first place? To do business?
To drive this point home, I’ll share with you my latest experience on LinkedIn. I recently decided to focus on the travel industry as my SEO copywriting niche. So, I searched for travel groups on LinkedIn and joined a few. Then, I started looking for discussions that pertained to online marketing and social media, my area of expertise. I began commenting and even created a Facebook list of travel sites from the contacts in one of the groups.
Within the last week, I have been contacted by two people about doing work for them, who responded positively to the comments I had made in the groups.
One of the benefits of this new strategy is that people are sharing some interesting things with me, like the documentary below about 5 teenage girls who travel to Peru. I hope you enjoy it!
[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/41802198 w=400&h=225]
© Copyright 2012 Gloria Rand
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Gloria Rand is an Entrepreneur, Speaker, Copywriter & Marketing Consultant who works with entrepreneurs and business owners in the travel industry to implement SEO strategies and social media marketing for online visibility, profits and success. Leveraging her background as a writer and producer for the award-winning PBS news program, “Nightly Business Report,” with her own experience as a small business owner, Gloria helps professionals turn great ideas into cash cows. Link up with Gloria at www.gloriarand.com or www.fb.com/gloriarandcopywriter
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