LinkedIn is a great social tool for professionals of all industries in various geographic segments.  It is a wonderful engagement platform for professionals and companies to interact with their peers and comrades, engage with their coworkers, and even do some cross- channel marketing and “thought leadership marketing” and/or “idea marketing” (see Chris Koch’s post about this marketing subject to know more).  While LinkedIn serves its purpose in engaging professionals into the social realm of business relationships, it also provides ways for them to engage in business development in a more business-to-business (B2b) setting than business-to-consumers (B2C).

If it were your business, how would you engage and interact with your contacts?  I can tell you that lots of topics have circulated across the web on this subject, but not all of them can be helpful.  Some can be seen as spammy or even resemble “blue hat-based” techniques, which can be very detrimental to your cause.  It’s really not too hard to use them, but you just have to use them correctly!

Email Marketing

A great way to start is through your email marketing campaigns within LinkedIn.  You export your contact list to generate your email marketing campaigns targeted to your business networks to expand your value and business offers throughout your networks.  It helps create interest for new developments and technology in your industries as well as provides you with a platform to showcase the cool things you’ve recently accomplished.  Christopher Penn, for example, is in my network and would sometimes email me about the latest and greatest things he’s done, which is cool in and of itself.

The caveat here is that you don’t want to spam your contacts with needless and unwarranted marketing campaigns, nor do you want to share useless information that no one cares about.  The trick is to find relevant and targeted contents that they would like to know based on how you know them, and to send them in a frequent setting that continues their interest but not bombard them.

Ask Questions

This is not your “ask a poll” sort of deal.  I’m pointing more towards the “ask your friends” type of question.  You’re in their network for a reason, whether for business or personal, so ask specific questions about your contacts, their industries, their opinions, and/or what they have to say about topics.  Engaging your existing contacts in what they have to say can establish a stronger foundation on your social relationships.  More importantly, it can lead to avenues for your business to partner with theirs, and vice versa.

An example would be if you are a human resources professional and looking for qualified candidates to fill a position, ask around your networks to see if they know of people who are looking.  If you succeeded in giving them that awesome candidate, chances are, they will look to you for more people in the long term!

Answer Questions

Answering questions from your contacts is a sure-fire way to let them know you’re interested in what they are saying. Mind you, it’s not a guarantee that answering their questions is going to immediately generate business.  A response in its simplest form says to your contacts, “I’m listening to what you have to say, and I want to give you strong professional (and sometimes personal) advice to get you the best that you need.”

In a more complex form, responding gives you the ability to reach out to your contacts and provide some resolve for them (and this is assuming that your responses are always of quality and integrity in value).

Be Respectful

It’s easy to joke around and be playful with other people, especially if you have a strong friendship and or previous working relationship with that other person.  I can attest to being a sociable person, but from a personal experience, I have had several instances where I should have been more careful in my communications instead of being too carefree (or maybe in this case, too careless).  Nevertheless, it does pay to be friendly AND be respectful at the same time.

How does “being respectful” help generate business?  Simple: it builds and strengthens the integrity of your social relationship foundation.  No one wants to be in business with jackasses, right?

Let’s be Friends!

Seriously folks, being friends on- and offline makes for a better relationship.  Right?  I know it’s hard to be “offline” friends with someone thousands of miles away, so the next step is to make sure that you’re as good of a friend online as you would be offline.

The reason? Establishing and enhancing your relationships brings the ability for that someone to want to meet your needs.  If you are a good friend of mine, and you are looking for something to help you with XYZ, I want to be a good friend and help you find that something, whether it’s through me or some of my channels.

Moreover, being friends with someone will help you get introduced to their secondary and tertiary contacts, making you more visible to provide your business solutions to potential customers.

I hope this gets you started on your business generation.  Good luck!

David

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