Make good use of LinkedIn to turn your connections into gold
This article was originally published in “Economic Daily (opens in a new tab)”.
In the business world, traditional development models are facing unprecedented challenges. The open rate of cold emails is deteriorating, cold calls are often blocked by the switchboard, and expensive physical exhibitions often consume large budgets, but it is difficult to track the subsequent actual benefits.
Unlike general social platforms, LinkedIn is a gathering place for business professionals from around the world. Most of the users here come with the purpose of gaining industry insights, finding partners, or evaluating solutions. For small and medium-sized enterprises that lack public relations budgets, LinkedIn provides a stage for direct dialogue with decision-makers in large enterprises.
As long as they accurately grasp the leverage effect of personal branding and corporate content, small and medium-sized enterprises can use LinkedIn to convert their network capital into a steady stream of business orders.
Two-wheel drive between corporate page and personal profile
In the final analysis, transactions are essentially trust between people. The amount of corporate purchases is huge and the decision-making process is lengthy. What customers are most concerned about is whether this company understands my industrial problems?
Therefore, in order to establish credibility on LinkedIn, a two-wheel drive strategy of the company’s official page and the personal profile of the founder/senior executive must be adopted.
The official page is the digital face of the company, and its positioning should change from a company profile to a solution display center. In addition to clearly marking core business and service value propositions, corporate milestones, team dynamics and customer cases should be regularly updated to convey a stable, professional and continuously growing corporate image.
However, at the algorithmic and psychological level, the influence of individuals is often far greater than that of corporate logos. The founders, chief technicians or business managers of small and medium-sized enterprises should be on the front line. Turn your profile into a precise value proposition letter that clearly states: Who you have helped, what pain points you have solved, and what specific results you have brought. When potential customers search for your profile, the first thing they see is not a boring resume, but a trustworthy industry expert.
Three types of thought leadership content, bid farewell to the dilemma of self-promotion
A common mistake many companies make when operating on LinkedIn is to constantly forward company award-winning information or rigid product catalogues, and eventually fall into the predicament of self-promotion with no one liking it.
Corporate decision-makers focus on industry trends, operational efficiency and risk control. For SMEs to stand out, they must produce thought leadership content with practical value.
The first type of entry point is the analysis and solutions of industry pain points. For example, industrial automation component manufacturers can have an in-depth discussion on “the three most common pitfalls that traditional factories encounter when introducing IoT monitoring and how to reduce the risk of downtime by 30%”; enterprise software developers can share “architectural selection considerations for small and medium-sized enterprises when integrating cross-system data.”
Naturally prove your technical prowess by sharing in-depth professional insights publicly.
The second category is de-identified successful cases (Case Study). Describe in detail the difficulties a customer encountered before cooperation, the response strategies adopted by the team, and the final quantified benefits (such as how many man-hours were saved, how much yield was improved). Specific figures and real situations are always the most powerful weapons to impress procurement decision-makers.
The third category is industry insights and opinion analysis. Express unique insights on the latest regulatory changes, supply chain changes or technological innovations, and guide peers and potential customers to start professional discussions in the message area.
Social selling: interact first, then send private message
Overall, the key to business development on LinkedIn is social selling rather than hasty sales pitches. The most effective unfamiliarity development is often based on high-quality interactions in the early stages. Please first target the purchasing manager, technical director or chief operating officer of the target company, track their movements first, and leave constructive and in-depth insights below their published opinions, so that the other party will have a professional impression of your company’s name before they receive your private message.
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Vista Cheng speaks and runs workshops on AI workflows, writing and content systems for companies, schools and public agencies.
