What is LinkedIn?

LinkedIn is a social media site, founded in 2003 to connect professionals, advance careers and exchange ideas. Members of the site using LinkedIn industry list can interact and exchange material with other professionals, such as colleagues, employers and principals, business partners, rivals, new employees and customers.

Of course, LinkedIn is not the largest social network. It has about 300 million active users—about the same as Twitter, but Facebook has nearly 3 billion (and Instagram 1 billion). But these users use the portal in a very different way.

People go on Facebook and Twitter to chat with friends, troll, and watch memes. Instead, LinkedIn for business is a place where people can connect with like-minded people in their field and learn about their industry. What's more, bosses and executives are the group most likely to use LinkedIn of all public social networks, as are 41% of the world's millionaires.

How to use LinkedIn to promote your business?

LinkedIn allows you to expand your professional network by interacting with industry contacts and making new customers—even if you're a B2B company. Because it's a targeted service, professionals, and freelancers can often find new clients here.

When you have started your own business, don’t forget about adding a website on LinkedIn. If you correctly set up business, LinkedIn can help you advertise new goods and services, and distribute professional blog posts. This allows you to present your brand in a professional setting and get recommendations from consumers or clients.

As you can see, even having a company account can be very useful for a company—not to mention marketing on LinkedIn.

How does marketing on LinkedIn work?

LinkedIn is not a platform for selling or marketing your products and services, unlike other social media sites. On LinkedIn, it is not a good idea to spam or blatantly show that you are trying to sell something. This is why marketing on LinkedIn is different from other types of marketing, because the people using this social network are so different from the typical Twitter user.

If you use LinkedIn for business, you must first and foremost show who you are and demonstrate your brand to business users on LinkedIn. Since we live in a time when the truth always comes out, you should be honest in everything you say and not make anything up. When building your company's profile, be transparent and accurate.

So if you want to use LinkedIn for business marketing, you should focus on connecting with your potential customers, attracting new clients and customers, building brand awareness, establishing business contacts and partnerships. These are all crucial in promoting products and services. What’s more, all of these require sharing interesting content to encourage people to visit your site and establish that you are an industry expert.

But how can you position yourself as a consummate professional? Through your own knowledge and experience, of course. Think about what you've learned in your career. Tell people what your company's current situation is and what you're looking for now. You need to show where you're coming from, what you're doing, and what your goal is—so that others will want to travel with you.

It's not easy, but below you'll find tips that will enable you to do just that.

How to add a business on LinkedIn?

For most companies, having a LinkedIn business page is just as important as having a dedicated website. How to add business on LinkedIn? You can do it for free, as long as you have a company name and email address. 

In the top right corner of the LinkedIn site, click the Work icon. Then click “Create a company page” and select the type of page for your company from the list. Enter your name, company, and profile information on your page.

Confirm that your company has given you permission to operate the account. Select “Create page” and customize your own company's page. Now you can grow your business and encourage people to visit your site. If any problems arise, contact LinkedIn customer support.

Once you have a company page, you can easily post news and inform your colleagues about the latest developments in your company. It is important to use this profile frequently and responsibly.

Is LinkedIn Premium worth it?

LinkedIn Premium is a subscription service that offers more features to users of this portal. However, is it worth $30 a month? For job seekers, it may not be—a premium subscription doesn't get more people to contact you. Not having a premium account does nothing to stop you from chatting with whomever you want.

For the casual user, the time, and money you spend might be better spent on your own side projects or technical preparation. Even LinkedIn Learning, which is so lauded, is a collection of free courses that are available in many other places on the Web, like lynda.com. You can read more about free courses and certifications on our blog.

But for the business user, a premium account can be much more useful. You get the ability to send cold emails without a connection and discover additional contacts. You also get unlimited surfing and can see who has viewed your profile—and you can contact them, too. For a successful company, LinkedIn Premium can be a good investment if it wants to continue to grow.