As an executive, you have a lot of responsibilities within your company — responsibilities which, if carried out properly, can help you build a lot of influence or power within an organization.
Fortunately, LinkedIn has become a sort of one-stop-shop for many responsibilities an executive may face, from hiring the best talent to finding new vendors. Use the tips below, inspired by LinkedIn’s recent 2014 company presentation, to leverage LinkedIn and build clout within your organization.
1. Use LinkedIn to Find the Best People
LinkedIn is a goldmine of great talent. What used to take executives hours, like trying to find the right candidates for a job, can now be done quickly, easily and effectively.
First and foremost, by this point almost every professional has a LinkedIn profile, regardless of whether they’re looking for a job or not. To give you an idea of its popularity, in 2013 LinkedIn had about 277 million members.
Second, newly enhanced LinkedIn features make it easy for you to find the candidates you need quickly. Since LinkedIn is already known for their pool of upwardly mobile and savvy talent, you can become known within the organization as the go-to person for hiring the best people.
LinkedIn is also the preferred method progressive companies use to hire the best talent. In other words, using LinkedIn will show your organization that you’re forward-thinking, an attribute all execs should embody.
2. Market Your Company to Customers and Candidates
LinkedIn isn’t just for people looking for jobs or recruiters trying to find candidates. It’s also a great way to market your company to others, whether you’re looking for candidates or customers. In fact, recent research suggests that people are 50% more likely to purchase from a company when they engage with them on LinkedIn.
One technique you can use is to build up a company page where you can share company news, updates and relevant content. It’s the same concept as having an individual page, except now you can like and share content as a company.
You can also use LinkedIn groups to show your company’s expertise in a multitude of ways, including answering questions, getting leads and posting relevant content.
3. Use LinkedIn’s Advanced Search Feature to Build Leads
LinkedIn is also a great resource for leads of all kinds, including customers, vendors, consultants and suppliers. With the advanced search function, you can conduct extremely targeted searches to find exactly who you need.
For instance, let’s say your company is looking to expand their mobile and tech presence by developing an app for their product or service and they don’t have an in-house software developer. LinkedIn’s advanced search function would allow you to find and compare developers the company would be able to use.
The same concept can be applied to anything you can think of. Did one of your vendors just disappear? Find a new one on LinkedIn. Need to rev up some sales? LinkedIn can help with that, too.
To access this feature, first click on the left-hand side of the search box and select “People.” The “Advanced” option should show up on the right of the box. Click on it, and LinkedIn will take you to a clean page where you can input the information you’re looking for.
When leveraged for its full power, LinkedIn can help you build your influence within a company. (Tweet this thought.) By using some of these LinkedIn techniques for advancing executives, you’ll be well on your way to building clout within your organization and better able to handle your executive duties.
How have you used LinkedIn to build credibility in your role? Share in the comments!
This post originally appeared on Chameleon Resumes.
Image: Flickr
