LinkedIn represents an essential professional network for construction companies. Often considered as nothing more than an online recruitment platform or resume database, LinkedIn can actually become a powerful tool when incorporated into your online marketing strategy. Rich with a multitude of features dedicated to businesses, it is the ideal place to enhance your brand and grow your business.
If your construction company is not yet on LinkedIn due to a lack of time or conviction, here are six facts that should convince you to use LinkedIn as a leverage to increase your business opportunities.
1. 414 million LinkedIn users throughout the world
LinkedIn is the largest professional social network with 414 million members, including 107 million in the USA. This figure has no equivalent: Facebook or Twitter are not exclusively reserved to enterprises and employees.
Members are mainly composed of employees aged between 25 and 54 years old, working for large companies. With 80% of its members aged over 34, LinkedIn offers an access to active and influential professional profiles, rather than young graduates looking for their first job. It is therefore essential to be present on LinkedIn in order to promote your construction business.
2. A Prospecting Tool for B2B Construction Companies
LinkedIn is becoming increasingly used by construction companies as a B2B prospecting tool. There is no better place to find a pool of potential business partners! When browsing through the network, you can easily map out the decision makers within your target prospects. Take this opportunity to make the right choices and stand out. Browse through the profiles and learn enough about your prospects to make your calls more relevant and useful to them.
Along with offering a bank of information concerning professionals and companies, LinkedIn is also a free competitive intelligence tool where you can find essential details on your competitors, their strategies and the construction market.
3. Who’s viewed your profile?
On LinkedIn, you can find out who has viewed your profile at no cost. This feature can offer an irreplaceable source of information. People who view your profile do so with a specific intention. Do not simply accept the connection request, take the opportunity to send a personalized message. Look for the reason why the person browsed through your profile and initiate a dialogue with them.
If the visitor has not sent a connection request and you do not know them, do some research and write them a personalized invitation message to arouse their curiosity. Remember to be concise: you only have 300 characters to write your request!
4. People Trust Other Clients Over Brands
Recommendations are one of the most significant factor in a consumer’s buying decision. They are a guarantee of reliability and seriousness. Given that online recommendations are now an increasing trend, it is worth taking the time to build trust online and offline. LinkedIn allows companies to enrich their profile and enhance their credibility. To obtain a great recommendation from your clients or partners, specify the points on which you would like the message to focus.
Consider recommending professionals with whom you have had a successful working relationship. They will think of you in return. Be careful not to systematically swap endorsements as this might eventually look artificial.
Another way to increase your credentials is to select, directly on your profile, the skills and expertise for which you wish to be recommended for. This feature allows your contacts to validate these skills in one click.
5. A Human Face on Your Business
Today, in the building industry probably more than anywhere else, potential customers are more likely to trust living, breathing, human spokespersons. When creating your company LinkedIn page, link it to the profiles of your collaborators with the Company Insider plugin in order to give a human face to your business. This a great way to establish a connection between prospective clients and the real people behind your brand.
6. More than 200 Conversations per Minute on LinkedIn Groups
If you wish to become a reference in terms of construction expertise, be active on LinkedIn. Do not miss the opportunity to exchange best practices and find solutions to business problems on construction focus groups. Take part in discussions regularly, offer useful information, share articles or answer questions. Present yourself as an expert in the construction field. You have much more to say and share than you can imagine: market vision, trend analysis, client experience feedback, good practice guides…These are all good ways to get your business noticed and forge new contacts.
Keep a special eye on the focus groups and pages created by your customers. This will enable you to follow their latest news and show just how involved you are in their projects.
Article by http://www.machineryzone.com/
