Not a day goes by when we don’t see Twitter and Facebook as being talked about as essential social networks for bloggers to be investing time into – but over the last few months I’ve been investing a little extra time into another social network – one that I wonder if some have forgotten about a little – LinkedIn.
I’ve long had a LinkedIn Account (I’d love to connect with you there) but I’ve not really known what to do with it for a long time – but lately I’m seeing more and more opportunities in the network. Let me quickly mention a few:
1. Companies
In the last week I set ProBlogger up as a ‘Company’ on LinkedIn. I always knew you could do this but didn’t see the point, that was until I saw that you could also add your company’s products on LinkedIn. I’ve now set up all of the ProBlogger eBooks (and the hard cover ProBlogger book) as products on Linked In.
The cool thing about it is that you can also seek recommendations for those products from your LinkedIn network which helps to build social proof for your products. For example check out the ’31 Days to Build a Better Blog’ recommendations that have already come in.
2. Groups
Start a ‘group’ on your blog’s topic – it can open up opportunity for you to become a leader and authority in the niche and opens up some interesting networking opportunities (join the ProBlogger Group here).
3. LinkedIn Today
I’m still in the process of exploring this more but LinkedIn have recently set up LinkedIn Today which aggregates the most news from around LinkedIn (and Twitter). It breaks it down into categories and lets those who view it share and save what they’re reading. I’ve been using LinkedIn Today as something of a news reader lately but today when TechCrunch announced that LinkedIn have become their 2nd largest source of social media traffic (bigger than Twitter) it struck me that there are opportunities for publishers to generate traffic from it. Getting aggregated involves putting a LinkedIn Share button on your site and you’ll probably need to be on a topic that is relevant – but it could be worth exploring (more details on how to do it here).
4. Finding Guest Writers
One of my most successful experiments on LinkedIn has been in identifying people to write guest posts for my photography site. The search features on LinkedIn help you to hunt down people on topics of expertise and to send them emails – I’ve gone on hunts for a variety of photographers over the last few months and sent them messages to see if they’d consider writing a guest post for me (or to consider being interviewed) and it has landed me some great posts.
5. Status Updates
Lastly there’s the common status update feature that most of us are familiar with – similar to Facebook and Twitter. There are all kinds of opportunities here to share links to your posts, to share links to other sites, to ask questions and generate discussion etc.
Looking to Learn how to use LinkedIn Better?
Just as I was about to hit publish on this post I noticed that Lewis Howes (MR LinkedIN) has a special running on his amazing product – LinkedInfluence at $97 for his 4 Module teaching series on how to use LinkedIn effectively.
If you’re looking to increase your LinkedIn features I’d commend Lewis and his teaching to you.
I love linkedin. I’ve been using it to increase my business network. I getting good returns from the use of it.
Thanks for this added help to make my returns better
I’m a massive user of Linkedin, it really works for my business. The biggest issue for me is the amount of time it can zap. Thanks for the tips I’ve already started implementing them.
that is really informative
now i will try to use linkedin for marketing purposes
thanks darren
Interesting. I use Linkedin, the status updates are very useful. Since I set up them, with my blog updates and recent tweets, I got several contacts.
I don’t know Linkedin Today, I have to see it.
PS: the link “photography” doesn’t work, Darren, due to an “s” in http :)
Seriously i don’t use linked-in but i want to speak on you fourth point. These days various sites are providing you a platform to find Guest Post for your blog. I mean, it was yesterday when i was one of the site (from that various list) and i got 3-4 people interested to write Guest post for my blog.
Its definately a grow source of targeted audience.
If there’s a big three to social networking currently, you’ve nailed it Darren. Of course, we might need to say Big 4 with Google+ but until they open it up to more people, it’s hard to say. It’s interesting….I wonder if anyone will ever come up with a social network that somehow discourages marketing…facebook, twitter, myspace – they all tried at first it seems but like the man says, look who pays the bills and you discover who the owner is. In social networks, we are most definitely the products.
Hi Darren, thanks for the post. I need to start using my profile on LinkedIn too.
LinkedIn is one area of the social web that I have hardly touched. This has lit a fire and I think I’ll be put some energy into it now.
It has just always struck me as more of a corporate platform of connection and communication, not so well suited for individuals, internet marketers, and bloggers. Is that changing?
I didn’t see the point of Linkedin until I found the Linkedin App. Now I’ve built my network up to nearly 2000. Not many for Twitter and FB maybe, but not bad for Linkedin. I’m also able to scout for artistic talent on the numerous group pages. Linkedin is also great for the fact that it only seems to attract professionals. Who needs 20’000 Twitter followers when you can have 2000 Linkedin contacts?
i just spent $25 at AppSumo on a video similar to this article on setting up your LinkedIn page for SEO, wish I would have seen this first! Great article, thanks for posting.
Thanks for a clear and easy to grasp post on the hot topic that is LinkedIn.
Don’t you think it’s about time you left an avenue of traffic for someone else to master first?!
Bloody hog ;)
I have never tried linkedin, I will give it a try and see the result.
Hey Darren,
I hardly ever go on LinkedIn but I will add some product pages to it as you did. It’s a viable alternative to Facebook and Twitter.
I’ve had a linked in profile for years and not done anything with it. Thanks for jogging me into action.
LOL – I know we all have the same amount of time in each day, but with my days seemingly getting shorter – this is something I need to attend to more often. Great info… I’ll get inside and start working on LinkedIn more… Question, I know Twitter, Linked in and Facebook are all wonderful. If you only had time for those versus your Blog – Would you focus on your Blog only???
I am asking due to the Real Estate social networks and Blogs, Trulia and Active Rain are examples. I seem to take time from writing content on my blogs to write on theirs… I am scaling back to focus on my blogs – Suggestions?? Thanks Brother…. GREAT READ
Linkedin from what I heard is an excellent platform for sharing ideas and finding people with similar interests. I haven’t personally used Linkedin but i’ve heard of some great results from it.
Nice to see a change of topic frin Facebook and Twitter.
Hi Darren,
I’m slowly but surely adopting LinkedIn.
I have a growing network but don’t want to spread myself too thin, already being quite active on Twitter and Facebook. I will use a few of your tips to branch out to my network and make some strong connections.
Thanks for sharing!
Ryan
I wasnt aware LinkedIn can have discussions among a group of bloggers. Nicely done, just became the 2668th member of ProBlogger group :-)
That is it, I re-doing my entire Linkedln account!
I haven’t tried LinkedIn for online marketing yet. I only use Facebook and Twitter. I will consider using LinkedIn soon, will study how to deal with it first.
I only do SEO to drive traffic and gain profits for my blogs. But since social media marketing is rising, I will consider going to Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn to market my blogs.
linkedin is new power of traffic building
LinkedIn is definitely the social network I’ve been struggling to truly take advantage of. There’s so much opportunity that I feel gets overlooked and it’s more deserving of a look around than some people think.
Heading over to LinkedIn now…
I didn’t realise the different parts associated with LinkedIn. Thanks for the info Darren.
Darren,
Thanks for the great info. Still new to LinkedIn, but working to build my professional network. LinkedIn take a lot more time to learn compared to Twitter and Facebook, but the long term benefits are definitely worth the effort.
Since I am not a full time blogger, I am still trying to figure out how to keep my “Job” life separate from my “Blog” life, and use LinkedIn effectively to promote both. Considering setting up 2 profiles, but that is twice the work. Might be taking on too much!
Guess I will keep plugging away, always learning.
I’m new to LinkedIn and I really didn’t realize how powerful it was I think am gonna give it a shot. Thanks for the post this is really helpful information.
Its a nice way to getting traffic and I will start following it and I was not aware off LinkedIn is so powerful
If you are involved in B2B you can ignore LI at your own risk.
BTW, you didn’t mention Answers. I like Answers because it helps you connect with people who are not even in your network. Also, good answers get you expert points and you can easily establish your credentials without jumping through a lot of hoops
Hi Darren,
I have been using LinkedIn for a long time for “professional networking,” and have made some great contacts and well as relationships that I would have not found on other networks or offline.
I was wondering what you think about BranchOut and if it will be a competitor to LinkedIn.
Thanks,
Susan
Thank you for the information, I never thought much of linkedin to build traffic, but your article change my mind.I’m thinking now of creating an account.
I haven’t considered using LinkedIn to help with my blog but I’ll definitely look into it. Hopefully I can find some use.
I have just started using LinkedIn this week for my blog. And I have connected with 4 people and who want to be guest bloggers and one that would like to be a guest on my show. I don’t know why I didn’t do this a long time ago.
Best part of linkedin is the amount of professionals. Easy enough.
I had no idea I could use LinkedIn to help with my blog! Because of your article, I am considering setting up a LinkedIn Profile to draw more traffic to my blog. I would love to see the difference in traffic in my blog before and after. Thanks!