LinkedIn has over 332 million registered members worldwide and has become a powerful tool for sales and marketing. While originally known as a networking site, professionals are now using LinkedIn to market themselves and build relationships with potential clients. A study found that the percentage of companies expecting to use social media for promotional activities will rise to 83% in the next two years. Organizations need to identify their target markets, create professional profiles, increase relevant connections, build relationships through useful content, and obtain referrals to fully utilize LinkedIn's potential to increase revenue.

1. LinkedInisoneofthemostdominantsocialmediaplaormstoday.
AlthoughLinkedInispredominatelyknownforbeinganetworkingandrecruingtool,
salesprofessionalsarenowusingitformarkengthemselvesandbuilding
relaonshipswithpotenalclients.LinkedIn,ifusedappropriately,
hasbecomeapowerfulextensionofanorganizaon’ssalesandmarkeng
department.
LinkedIn,whichwasfoundedinCaliforniaandlaunchedin2003,isasocialnetworkingservicefor
businessesandprofessionals.Thesiteisavailableinover200countriesworldwidein20differentlanguages.
Abreakdown,bycountry,ofLinkedIn’sregisteredmembershipworldwide,asofOctober2014reveals
thatthemajorityofmembersarebasedintheUnitedStateswith107millionAmericansregistered
onthesite.Indiaboastedthesecondhighestmembershipwith28millionandBrazilrounded
offthetopthreewith19millionregisteredmembers.Furthermore,
smallersmallercountriesincludingSweden,Denmark,IrelandandMalaysia
allhadanesmated1millionregisteredmemberseach.
Thenetworkingsiteallowsmemberstocreateprofilesandmakeconnecons
withothersasawayofestablishingprofessionalrelaonships.
Asofthe3rdquarter2014,thereare332millionregisteredmembers.
Thereisnodoubtthatmanycompaniesareusingsocialbusinesstopromote
theirproducts/services.Thelatestreportshaveshownthefollowing:
Everycompanywantstoapplythebestmarkengtoolsavailabletoacquirenew
customers.Astudywasconductedtoestablishsomeofthesetools.62SMEs
(SmallandMediumEnterprises)wereaskedtogivetheirviewsonthebest
markengtoolsthatworkedforthemandtheonesthatdidn’twork.
Thefollowingresultswererecorded:
•Thepercentageofcompaniesexpecngtousesocialmediaforpromoonalacvies
pertainingtotheirbusinesswillrisefrom71percentto83percentinthenexttwoyears.
•Thenumberofcompaniesexpecngtousesocialstrategiestogeneratesalesleadsandrevenuewill
increasedrascally.Today,51percentofcompaniesusesocialstrategiestogenerateleadsandrevenue,
while74percentareplanningtogetonboardinthenexttwoyears.
•Post-salessupportisexpectedtoincreasefromthecurrent46percentto69percentinthenexttwoyears.
EEachcompanyhasatleastonesocialsalessystem.

4. LinkedInisnolongerjustfornetworkingandrecruing.LinkedInisnowapowerful
toolforincreasingrevenue.Organizaonsthatwanttogrowthrough
LinkedInneedto:
•Idenfytheorganizaon’stargetmarket
•Createprofessional,well-wrienLinkedInprofilesthatreflectboththeindividuals’and
organizaon’svalueproposions
•Increasethenumberofrelevantconneconsfortheenresalesforce
•Buildrelaonshipsbydeliveringtheappropriatecontenttotargetedconnecons
•Schedulemeengswithprospectsandcenters-of-influence
••Obtainreferralsfromsasfiedcustomersandnetworkconnecons