LinkedIn, Really? Yes LinkedIn!
This is an all too familiar conversation I have with new and potential clients.
Not only is it important for professionals to have an updated profile it is equally important for businesses to have a company page. These two things are separate and often confused so I feel it is important to mention the difference.
LinkedIn is an easy platform to ignore and companies often do in favor other channels like Facebook and Instagram. Yet, there is a fantastic opportunity here to connect with other professionals and business. It will only help your brand!
Before you get too anxious and start thinking “oh no! Yet another thing I have to do on top of everything else when I have a small business.” That fear is exactly why I started Grape Girl Media. My goal is to minimize the time you would spend thinking about it, or providing resourceful content to help build your business.
In this post I have listed my Top 3 Reasons to reconsider the advantages of using a LinkedIn page as another layer of promotion for your winery, tour company, independent wine educators, importers…well, you get the idea.
#1 Create a Summary or Company Message
Make sure you have a clear statement about your business and detailed summary for your professional profile. This helps other businesses and professionals have a clear understanding of who you are and how you can potently help one another.
#2 Share your Content
Post product knowledge, jobs and customer stories. Read and share relevant articles about the wine industry. How was the release of the new vintage? Was your company featured in any publications? LinkedIn is channel this should be shared on. It will only help your brand. Your company page or profile serves as a sort of portfolio that you can look back at and feel proud to have created.
#3 Tag people and invite others to connect with you
Who do you already have an established working relationship with? Tag them in your posts.
Do you employees? By creating a company page they can add it to their profile or you can create a company page just for you if you are running a solo operation right now.
Social Media can be overwhelming and changes fast. But LinkedIn has remained consistent in being a tremendous tool in building partnerships and successful B2B marketing. It should be a priority for everyone who considers themselves a professional.
I am going to share a personal story about LinkedIn. Upon arriving in France I had very little French language experience and was not sure what the job market would be like for me. This made me uneasy to say the least however, there were two skills I had down; extensive French wine knowledge (#winenerd) and a native level of English. We all have to start someplace, right?
I decided to spend sometime on LinkedIn researching wine tourism and wine professionals in order to gain more insight into my new city.
I reached out to other professionals in hopes to join a advanced sommelier tasting group to further my studies. I missed the wine community I had in Seattle. My messages were clear, friendly and my intentions were honest. I was soon invited to interview with one of the largest wine tourism organization in Paris and two days later began working for them as a sommelier and facilitating French Wine courses in English. My original intent wasn’t to look for work but to engage professionally and socially with other wine professionals in Paris. However, due to my presence on this platform I landed my first big gig.
Before you finish this post I would like to leave you with some facts to consider; There are more than 260 million active users on LinkedIn. More than 40 million users are in decision-making positions, and more than 61 million are senior-level influencers. B2B (business to business)
My name is Emily Lester. I am the face behind Paris Wine Girl and the Founder of Grape Girl Media. I am a social media account manager and strategist.
Follow @ParisWineGirl and connect with me on LinkedIn
•schedule a discovery call to learn more about how I can help you create social strategies for your business
•Read more about my wine adventures in France on my blog www.pariswinegirl.fr
