Social media and SME growth coach Warren Knight worked with International Jewellery London in 2015 to bring you ‘Think #Digital First’ – a book specifically focused on how the jewellery industry can adapt to social media and digital technologies to grow their businesses.
Knight will return to IJL this year to share more of his social media top tips, including his latest research on the power of LinkedIn. To give you a taste of what’s to come, we asked Knight to share his essential advice on how to grow your business using LinkedIn, and why it can be more than just a CV hosting service…
300 Million business can’t be wrong… Or can they?
Everyone talks about Facebook, Twitter and Instagram as a tool to use for increasing brand awareness and getting sales, but what about LinkedIn?
More than 5 million businesses in the UK have a profile and set up a company page on LinkedIn, and 1 out of 3 professionals on the planet have a LinkedIn account. The average user is on LinkedIn for 7.3 minutes per day, and 62% of businesses log in to their LinkedIn account when at home. The B2B social network is just as important as the likes of Facebook, and Twitter and as a Jewellery business, you could be missing out on finding new prospects to generate sales by not utilising LinkedIn.
As someone who has eight years of experience in social media I can say that LinkedIn (along with Twitter) has been one of the biggest sales drivers for me, and I want it to be the same for you. I am going to share with you some tips and tricks around using LinkedIn for your Jewellery business.
- Optimise Your Profile With Keywords
Having a LinkedIn account is great, but if you aren’t completing your profile 100%, and using the right keywords, you won’t attract the business you want from LinkedIn. Think about the Jewellery industry and your business. Where does your expertise lie?
- Custom URL
Whilst this isn’t specific to the Jewellery industry, this is an important step. To be easily found on LinkedIn, you do need to create your custom URL, sometimes called a “vanity URL”.
- Position Yourself As An Expert
When creating your LinkedIn profile, use keywords that build your authority. For example, using the likes of “award-winning” or “25 years in the jewellery industry” will help position yourself as an expert. Building trust through experience is how a person is successful on LinkedIn.
- Share Relevant Content
I use LinkedIn for so many different things, but the biggest engagement driver is when I share my content with my LinkedIn audience. As an authoritative figure in the Jewellery industry, share the content you write with your audience. This is a great way to increase exposure around your business, and to build your name in the jewellery industry.
- Build Your Community
There are so many different ways you can build your community within the LinkedIn sphere. Comment on your connections posts, ask questions (and answer them where relevant), join groups, create your own groups and be completely transparent online.
- Avoid The Hard Sell
As I wrote in my previous article, understanding your target customer as well as their pain is what is most important when using social media. Don’t use LinkedIn to sell, sell, sell. This is not what social media is about. You can achieve your goals by connecting on an emotional level rather than constantly talking about you, and your products.
- Give Recommendations and Endorsements
A recommendation on LinkedIn is almost like a review, and takes more time and effort than an endorsement. Take the time to give recommendations to those you have worked with as chances are, they will reciprocate.
- Use Quality Visuals
The way you present yourself on LinkedIn, or any other social network is extremely important. Use professional photo’s only for LinkedIn as it is specifically a business network.
Don’t forget to stay consistent and engage with as many people as possible. Whether you are looking for stores to stock your jewellery, or wanting to build your business profile in the jewellery industry, always be proactive, and transparent online.
Treat LinkedIn as part of your “customer experience” strategy… just because LinkedIn is a professional network, it doesn’t mean that it should be treated different to the likes of Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.
Want to find out more?
Warren Knight will be running a complimentary LinkedIn webinar on the 19th April, at 7pm GMT on how to generate sales using LinkedIn. In this one hour webinar, Knight will explain how to…
- Find potential customers using LinkedIn’s search functionality
- Get to the top of LinkedIn for your specific keywords in less than 60 seconds
- Utilise all of LinkedIn’s features to put you one step ahead of your competition
- How to share targeted and relevant industry information
- Build your LinkedIn business network to over 500 connections
- How to find, and connect with channel partners
- Design and implement an online networking strategy, specific for LinkedIn
- How to become an expert, and position yourself as this on LinkedIn
Visit IJL 2016 from 4th-6th September at Olympia Grand to hear more from our inspiring line-up of industry experts and speakers.
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