How LinkedIn Has Remodeled The Companies of These 3 Entrepreneurs

LinkedIn is often viewed as a focal point for personal career development, but it can also be an incredible resource for growing your business. Especially if you are a small business owner, its personal brand closely related to your company’s mission, LinkedIn shouldn’t be overlooked as part of your social media strategy.

I sat down with a few founders to learn more about how LinkedIn has changed their businesses. Read on to hear their stories, see their results, and learn the strategies to get started today.

Quick note: before you start with these strategies, I recommend you Audit your LinkedIn profile to make sure it’s correct and convincing. It won’t take much time and it can go a long way!

Building thought leadership

While other social channels are usually dedicated to building your company’s brand, LinkedIn gives you a unique opportunity to build a personal following, which in turn can help your brand be recognized. This is especially true if your individual thought leadership is closely aligned with the mission of your company.

When Sherrell Dorsey launched the digital news and insights platform The plug, she knew she wanted her to be seen as the leading voice in the black innovation economy – and she wanted her voice to be there too. She turned to LinkedIn to share her work and lessons a few times a week.

Sherrell Dorsey, Founder and CEO of The Plug

The results were shocking: “Just a few months later, the kind of engagement I received was insane. And then, just a few months later, I became a. called LinkedIn top voice in technology. “

This recognition has helped add more leverage to Dorsey and her company when it comes to PR reach and speaking opportunities. “That has a little street belief. I think people come across my profile and see that I’m a LinkedIn Top Voice so I have to be real, ”she says.

She continued to double on her LinkedIn strategy-Add to LinkedIn live conversations into the mix – because she has noticed how showing her passion ultimately strengthens the brand of her company. “It was a way for people to see me, see the work, see the authenticity, and then make the decision to get in touch with this brand based on what they saw, what I saw on LinkedIn posted or shared, ”she says.

Contacts with industry leaders they might otherwise never have met

Social media is a great way to connect with new people, regardless of where they are based. However, many entrepreneurs share that LinkedIn was particularly valuable in this regard. In a post-COVID world where conferences and gatherings are less common, LinkedIn is a powerful platform for finding coworkers to serve as sounding boards, mentors, and even future clients from afar.

Sheena Russell, Founder and CEO of Made with local, loves the fact that their company operates out of the relatively remote town of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. However, she shares, “In certain circumstances, not being where the action is can feel isolating.”

Sheena Russell, Founder and CEO of Made with Local

Thanks to a strategy to share some behind the scenes actions and reflections on her life as a CPG (Consumer Packaged Goods) entrepreneur on LinkedIn, Russell has expanded her network far beyond what would be possible locally. “With LinkedIn, I’m personally connected to great CPG founders and people who run brands that I really admire,” she says.

Not only are Russell and her team helping to feel more connected and empowering them to learn from the best in the business, but they expect these far-reaching connections to prove valuable as Made With Local expands into the US and moreover targets.

“It’s a really great opportunity for us to make a name for ourselves in the international CPG and health food and beverage community that will serve us across the board when it’s time for us to finally start selling in these Markets to begin, ”she says. “By then, I will hopefully be on the feeds of many other CPG founders and people from the US so that they are reasonably familiar with the brand.”

Meet customers

Lots of social media platforms seem like a fun change of pace – but are they actually helping small businesses make money? The answer for LinkedIn – especially for companies in B2B or career-related industries – is a resounding yes. According to Content Marketing Institute, LinkedIn is the best paid and organic channel for B2B companies.

Latesha Byrd, CEO of a talent development agency Perfeqta, saw this firsthand. Back in 2015, before starting her business, and while still having a full-time job, she started using LinkedIn Profinder (now called LinkedIn Services Marketplace) to promote their career coaching services and find their first customers. “That essentially tripled the revenue I brought in for my business, and in about six months I was able to leave Corporate America,” she says.

Latesha Byrd, CEO of Perfect

Even today, as Perfeqta has established itself on other platforms, LinkedIn continues to be a strong customer driver. “One of my current Retainer clients – a tech startup that we’ve built a talent acquisition framework and roadmapped for diversity and inclusion – found me on LinkedIn and contacted me,” notes Byrd.

While not every new connection results in an instant sale, getting featured on LinkedIn can be a powerful way to build a pipeline of prospects. “To my last LinkedIn Live, someone who works in diversity recruiting at a really great company asked for the inclusive recruiting guide I mentioned, ”says Byrd. That LinkedIn Live has been viewed nearly 30,000 times since then.

Best of all, all of these business owners agree that LinkedIn requires less intensive curation and content creation than many other social platforms. Post regularly a few times a week, interact with people in your world and don’t hesitate to authentically share your story. With these three steps, You are well on your way to building a strong LinkedIn strategy – and growing your business in incredible new ways.