LinkedIn can be a great way to promote your independent business. Here are a few reasons why:
• LinkedIn is a network with 65 million business professionals around the world
• The average LinkedIn member has an average annual household income of $109,000.
• Nearly 50% of LinkedIn members have decision-making authority for their companies.
It’s easy to see why LinkedIn is considered the world’s largest audience of influential, affluent professionals in one place. Like other forms of Internet marketing, marketing your small speech and language therapy business on LinkedIn is relatively inexpensive.
Here are 5 great tips to help you get more traction on LinkedIn:
1. Interact
LinkedIn is a social network. To succeed here you need to be a social player that engages with people. The good thing about LinkedIn is that it helps you interact with the right people by showing you circles of connectivity. Browse through profiles of your connections and see who they’re involved with. You can find influential people within your network by searching keywords, job titles and companies. Many speech therapists use this feature to search for new business contracts from commissioners or other large business clients.
2. Create a Company Page
Create a company page for your business to represent you as a brand and organisation. You can make one of these separate to you own personal LinkedIn account that speaks on behalf of your company; include your values, services and client groups that you serve.
Even if you run a small business, using a company page and connecting it with your own profile is a good move. It allows you to post company updates and add information. Here you can find information how to create a company page.
3. Highlight your business on your own profile
Personal profiles are still powerful on LinkedIn. They give you the opportunity to present yourself as the individual behind the brand and build a professional reputation. Make sure your profile details the activities of your business and links to all the important pages. Use the skills section to list what areas you specialise in e.g. stammering, AAC, healthcare, speech pathology, speech therapy.
Here you can create your LinkedIn account.
4. Start a Group
A great social feature on LinkedIn is the ability to start a group that revolves around a specific interest. ASLTIP has created its own discussion group where members can share interesting ideas, articles. If you can connect your business to a general topic that engages people, you can set up a group, stir a discussion and make sure members know about your speech and language therapy business.
5. Participate in Other Groups
Creating your own community is not enough in the social media world. You need to be active in existing communities and interact with other users. The idea here is not to spam groups with posts about your business activity, but to engage in an actual conversation that creates real ties. Here are some speech and therapy groups that you may consider joining:
ASLTIP Group
iPad for Speech and Language Therapy
Private Speech Therapy Network
Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists
Speech and Therapy Apps
