Last night I braved the rush-hour traffic and bitter cold in downtown Toronto to attend an event hosted by the Professional Independent Communicators (PIC) – part of IABC Toronto – featuring local social media trainer and guru Jaime Almond. Jaime introduced us to the social media marketing potentials of Linkedin and how the site can benefit small and large businesses.

Really a network and marketing virtuoso with extensive experience in social media, Jaime educated the sold out crowd of communications experts, sole proprietors, and freelance writers on the importance of developing a Linkedin strategy. More like a bio than an on-line resume, Jaime showed us how to use Linkedin as a beacon to “create an environment that leads our target market right to us.”

Here are 4 steps to getting the most out of Linkedin for business:

1. Improve your profile

The number one most important thing to get right on Linkedin is, in Jaime’s words, a “kick-ass profile” (She says it with an Australian-Canadian accent so it comes across as charming, not crass!).

A great profile should include:

• a professional headshot photo (no cropped shots from the bar last weekend),
• a detailed headline – did you know the headline allows 120 characters? Jaime suggests you put your name, title, target market, their main problem and the result you deliver – which, I’ll admit, is hard to do in 120 characters,
• a video – she taught us how to imbed videos into Slideshare,
• great recommendations – to achieve a Linkedin rated 100%-completed profile we need at least three recommendations. Jaime’s idea is to have a writing buddy interview your clients/colleagues and write recommendations for them to approve and then send through their Linkedin account to you. This way you get stronger, results-oriented recommendations, and it’s easy and convenient for your client – clever! Suggested interview questions are available on her blog.

She also noted that increasing your recommendations increases your likelihood of turning up in Linkedin searches (visible in the lower right side of the screen). It appears that 12 recommendations will more than double the probability of your name  or business turning up in search results.

2. Make connections the right way

The next step to help promote your business on Linkedin is to be deliberate in how you invite people to connect.

Jaime reminded us to approach social networking like you would any networking opportunity: start by asking people about themselves and never, ever, try to “sell” in the introduction stage.  And this is where the video comes in. Create a brief video describing yourself and what you offer. Then invite people to connect so you can learn more about them. She also talks about offering a “free gift” in your video … I’ll get to that in a minute.

3. Always respond to new connections

Always respond to any invitation you receive to connect with someone with a question about that person. A simple “tell me about yourself” is all you need to get the conversation started. In most cases, the contact will finish their overview of who they are and what they do with a question about you. That’s where you can add value (see below).

4. Seek ways to add value for your contacts

Whether it’s displaying your latest blog post, contributing to a group, or answering a question, you can demonstrate value to people who visit your page.

Jaime advised us to present an invitation for “free gifts” – before you think Jaime wants us all to offer perfume samples on our Linkedin pages… hear me out. I’ll be honest, some of us thought this was a bit off the wall when we first heard it but Jaime made us quickly realize that a simple tip sheet, free webinar, white paper, or how-to resource is simple to produce, demonstrates your leadership in a given subject or field, and offers tremendous value to others. I’ve been brainstorming all day on what my free gifts will be.

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Jaime touched on ways to increase traffic, including adding people from your existing network, searching names/companies in your target market and inviting key personnel to connect, hosting and promoting events (or your attendance at events), joining and creating groups, and more. What’s important to remember with your Linkedin strategy is it’s not the number of people you’re linked to, it’s the quality of the relationships and the value you provide that will make the difference for your business.

Jaime did a stellar job demonstrating how Linkedin is a key component of our social media marketing practices. My first step after the event was to update my headline. I’m still editing it but I already feel better about it. Next I’m going to work on increasing – and improving the quality of – my recommendations.

What will you do to maximize Linkedin for your business? Do you have any other tips for capitalizing on Linkedin for business?