In the final part of RH Strategic’s series on LinkedIn, we examine the time and effort needed to successfully leverage LinkedIn as part of your strategic communications plan.
Become a LinkedIn Regular and Shake Some Digital Hands
Like all forms of social media, LinkedIn requires a strong commitment in order to be successful. Networking and industry events all require time, but as face-to-face meetings are seen as extremely valuable to generating leads, such time spent is understood to be necessary for business development. But who has time to duck out of the office or meet up with people face-to-face every week? Like it was mentioned in our previous article, this platform is a networking event at a person’s fingertips, and it helps to regard it as such. Meaningful business relationships take time to nurture and grow, and the same can be said of the connections made on LinkedIn. Becoming a regular on this platform will not only showcase a spokesperson’s expertise on industry trends and issues, it will also increase name and brand recognition. Establishing a presence on LinkedIn won’t take up a lot of time – keeping the momentum up is where most of this time will be spent.
This can be directly applied to people positioned with influence in groups they have joined. The more content a person posts and the more they engage with the group members, the more influence that person will have – and like all great payoffs, this takes up a good chunk of time and commitment. This is where it is most important to come in with realistic goals. Before seeing an ROI on all the time spent using this platform, an online foundation needs to be built – digital hands need to be shook. Connecting with people this way opens the door to face-to-face meetings down the road.
As professionals continue to use the platform more and more, LinkedIn has the potential to be a cornerstone, not only in a social media strategic campaign, but also in the overall communications plan. LinkedIn is the “world’s largest professional network with 300 million members in over 200 countries and territories around the globe.” This makes it one of the most powerful business resources available, and it should be regarded and leveraged as such. Its online community – including your target market – is only increasing. Embrace it, or get left behind.
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RH Strategic is the PR firm for a hyper-connected world, delivering integrated traditional, digital & social media strategies for technology, healthcare, and public sector markets.
