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LinkedIn has been around for almost ten years, yet still most professionals don’t seem to understand how it affects business development and marketing. Why? I believe it’s because many people may not understand why people buy and the benefits of creating and sharing content through a platform like LinkedIn.
Last week, I attended a webinar put on by Josh Johnson of Ruby Law on the value of LinkedIn for business professionals, when it comes to marketing and business development. He demonstrated 4 keys reasons why people choose a service provider:
1. Unique and Valuable Perspectives
2. Ongoing Advice & Consultation
3. Assistance in Avoiding Land Mines
4. Education on New Issues
When I first read RubyLaw’s 4 reasons why people buy, I thought, wow I need to do some more research to validate these points. How could price not be in the top 4? What I found was validation for Josh’s points. According to Forrester, 90% of the buying cycle is completed before a B2B buyer ever speaks with a sales representative. IDG Connect illustrates that decision makers spends 23% of their time in conversations with peers or colleagues and 56% of the buying cycle searching for and engaging with content. Thought leadership is here and people need to understand that they must start to share information and content through social media, especially LinkedIn.
These statistics demonstrate that people need to start buying into the necessity of utilizing LinkedIn as another marketing and business development tool. The business-to-business transaction landscape is changing and with LinkedIn being the 3rd fastest growing social network, it makes sense for business professionals to join the network. Josh also shared a pretty useful list of the benefits of creating and sharing content through LinkedIn:
1. Brand Awareness
2. New Client Opportunities
3. Staying Top of Mind with Existing Relationships
4. Educating Audience on Important Issues
5. Customer Retention
LinkedIn isn’t about one opportunity or one new client, there are multiple benefits, both tangible and intangible. You don’t see any of the benefits though, unless participate. So get sharing.