Don't Believe in LinkedIn? Then Don't Read This
If you don't believe that LinkedIn works for marketing a business, then stop reading this RIGHT NOW.
Leave. Go read the Wall Street Journal.
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Are you gone yet?
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No.
You're still here?
Good. Then it's obvious that you've got some brains about you when it comes to social media marketing. One of the driving forces behind an effective inbound marketing strategy is promoting the great content that you create on your website. Whether it's a blog, whitepaper, video, e-book...whatever. You need to promote your content. The easiest and most cost-effective venue for promoting content is social media: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google Buzz.
Let's focus on LinkedIn. Here's a REALLY brief history of the growth of LinkedIn. Check out LinkedIn's company history for a closer look, if you have the urge.
- 2002 - Started in a living room with 5 guys
- 2003 - Ends the year with 81,000 members
- 2004 - Ends the year with 1.6 million members
- 2005 - Ends the year with 4 million members
- 2006 - Ends the year with 8 million members
- 2007 - Reaches 15 million members by September
- 2008 - Ends the year with 33 million members
- 2009 - Reaches 40 million members by May 5
- 2010 - Currrently boasts over 65 million members
In less than 10 years, LinkedIn went from an idea to a power-player in the social mediasphere. One of the best parts about LinkedIn is that they've built a membership base around the idea of business networking. Business Networking. It's repeated for a reason. LinkedIn, simply stated, is all about building you social business network. It's a virtual business after-hours event with no time restrictions.
Why are we talking about LinkedIn? Couple reasons. First, we're born-again believers in the power of LinkedIn. Since our partnership began with Hubspot 3 months ago, we've realized, first-hand, the power that LinkedIn has to help drive traffic to your website. As of the date of this post, LinkedIn is our number one source of social media traffic to our website. Check out the numbers below.
Second, we want more people to not only join LinkedIn as members, but also to be active participants in the discussions that occur within the LinkedIn groups. We're a part of nearly 20 different groups on LinkedIn today. There are some great conversations taking place about anything business-related you can imagine. Get involved in these conversations, especially when the topic is related to your expertise.
Are our numbers going to compel you to run over to LinkedIn and start networking with other business professionals? Maybe, but probably not. That's okay though. We see a big opportunity to promote our content on LinkedIn, and you not joining is one less voice that we have to compete with for people's attention!