Why You Need a LinkedIn Account
As a small business owner, solopreneur, musician or author you know the frustrations of limited resources and knowledge. How do I generate leads? How do I engage my clients and audience without a tired sense of shouting? Where do I start?The answer is simple you must care and provide real value. How do you do this? Engage with content, listen and provide a real person and not a sales robot.
As much as I love facebook as a social media tool for your marketing you must realize that a strategy needs to be targeted at the right demographic. If you provide mostly business services and products you should definitely make a huge amount of your presence on LinkedIn. Without LinkedIn in your marketing plan you are leaving out a huge amount of the demographic likely to need your business products and services.

Reasons Why You Need a LinkedIn Presence

• Over 120 million users made up primarily of business professionals and entrepreneurs
• An average income of 100,000 more money is more spending power
• Branding opportunities through LinkedIn tools and features
• Consulting possibilities
• A new avenue to market your company through

How do you get started on LinkedIn? The answer is simple start with these tools:

• Fill out your profile completely
A complete profile will display you message, your unique value proposition and show what benefits you offer.
• Ask For Recommendations
This is such an awesome form of free marketing and it allows you to display testimonials of your knowledge and skills.
• Answer Questions
Provides the same branding opportunities as recommendations
• Start a group
A great way to engage and connect with your clients and customers while building trust and loyalty

• Link Articles To Your ProfileThis provides branding and content through any place you have been published

• Link your blog to your profileWhy make people search aimlessly for your great content when you can give them an awesome way to find it through your profile?

Finally have a targeted strategy for you marketing campaigns. Mix discussion, contests and content and care way too much in the long run it will be great for you and business.
If you use these tips you will have the start of a great social media marketing strategy on my favorite tool Linkedin. I cannot wait to see the great progress you will make.

Author's Bio: 

Jason Baudendistel is an entrepreneur, consultant, LinkedIn expert and business coach. He is the founder of Bored Student Records and Cofounder of Dynamictivity LLC. His prior projects have included Director of Marketing at two different technology startups and building a web business. He resides in Valley Park Missouri with his fiancé Abby.
You can learn more about him at www.jasonbaudendistel.com