The Nitty Gritty of Social Media

Step Three: Recommendations

A quick, nice sentence or two about the people you work with will work wonders to the visibility of your profile. Commit to provide two recommendations per week. Again, don’t worry about details here. We’re literally talking about a sentence or two.

If you recommend a business associate, chances are they will recommend you back. Think about this—a returned recommendation from your customer is an instant testimonial that you could use other places (with their permission of course).

Recommendations also increase the visibility of your profiles. The more your company name is listed on your LinkedIn profile the higher your LinkedIn page will climb on search engines when someone “Googles” your company name.

Step Four: Participate

Remember those printer bulletins or forums you belonged to in the past? Consider LinkedIn your replacement for that. On your LinkedIn profile you have the ability to share a comment. So this is the perfect place to ask questions. You can also post updates on business ventures or community activities. Sharing can get you the same type of search engine benefits as recommendations. Also, the more you post, the more you’ll appear on your connections’ homepages under “Network Activity.” But again, this is not a place to spend more than a few minutes per day—or every few days.

Finally, join some groups. Joining a group gives you access to a wealth of information as members converse with one another in the discussion forums. You may even consider creating your own group once you’ve joined a few and understand the value they provide.

Step Five: Encourage Others

The more your company has a presence on LinkedIn the better. Encourage your employees to get involved and create their own profiles. Then have them complete steps one through four of this article and you’ll be well on your way to LinkedIn success.

Tawnya Starr is a former successful print shop owner who is now president of FireSpring’s PrinterPresence. She has dedicated her career to educating the printing industry on proven website and marketing strategies. In 2005, she received the Industry Award of Distinction from NAQP. Contact her at Tawnya.Starr@Firespring.com. This article is available as a podcast at www.quickprinting.com/podcast and from iTunes.