17HOLISTIC THERAPIST 2013holistictherapistmagazine.com16 HOLISTIC THERAPIST 2013 holistictherapistmagazine.com

BUSINESS | JP’S SOCIAL MEDIABUSINESS | JP’S SOCIAL MEDIA

So you’ve setup a profile on LinkedIn, but when was the last time you logged in? If you haven’t used LinkedIn for some time then you’re missing out on some valuable business benefits that “the professionals’ network” can offer.

LinkedIn has been growing fast in the UK. It now boasts a network of over eleven million members, which include an extensive number of holistic therapists. There are many ways in which LinkedIn can help you and your business. You can take advantage by improving your profile and making more frequent, and better use of LinkedIn.

The Golden Rule is to ‘get active’. Everything you do on LinkedIn, from updating your website address to joining a LinkedIn Group is published across your network so ‘get active’ and get noticed.

The ten business benefits below will hopefully inspire you to get active on LinkedIn:

1 Keep in touch - LinkedIn is a great way to stay in touch with your network. You

can keep tabs on your patients, clients, and contacts by logging on to read your Home Page or opening your LinkedIn Weekly Update email. Staying in touch increases the likelihood of direct or referral business.

2 Network - Use LinkedIn to find suppliers and advisers from your

network just as you would do at a network meeting. People who you give business or leads to are likely to provide business or referrals in return. The Advanced Search on LinkedIn is a great way to locate professionals… simply type in key word(s) and your location.

3 Find contact details - Do you need contact details for a new prospect or

have you lost an existing client’s phone number? No problem! You can check LinkedIn profiles for contact information. In cases where an email address or phone number hasn’t been published, you can still contact people over LinkedIn by sending a message with a connection request. If you’re on one of the Premium Plans you can send what’s called an InMail. This is a really powerful feature that lets you send a message to any of LinkedIn’s 225 million members.

4 Obtain relevant news about healthcare - LinkedIn has a magazine-style

section called LinkedIn Today that you can customise to provide you with news and information that interests you. It’s

a bit like a personalised newspaper, providing you with a range of channels – including Healthcare and Influencers – that you can choose from. You can also join LinkedIn Groups such as Holistic Health and Wellness (20,000 members) to gain valuable insights and to find out the latest developments in your sector.

5 Obtain leads - Using Advanced Search you can locate prospective

leads in your area and then contact them by requesting an introduction from a shared connection or by InMail. When contacting a prospective patient, ensure that you stress commonalities – mention mutual acquaintances, have you worked for the same employer, do you share any interests? If the introducer is one of your patients, be sure to mention this in your initial approach, so that you’re effectively getting a recommendation.

6 Obtain recommendations and endorsements - LinkedIn

recommendations from patients and

colleagues provide credible proof of your credentials and can enhance your reputation. Endorsements are less powerful as they require less effort. However, they do help to highlight your Skills and Expertise and providing these endorsement to others will get you noticed. Don’t be afraid to ask your satisfied clients for LinkedIn recommendations.

7 Demonstrate your skills and expertise - An up-to-date and complete Skills

and Expertise section demonstrates that you are a fully skilled practitioner. Prospective patients can find you by searching for yoga, acupuncture, massage, psychotherapy and so on. You can further increase awareness of you skills and expertise by providing tips in Status Updates and taking part in LinkedIn

Group discussions. You can network with fellow professionals in industry Groups. To connect with potential clients join Groups in which your patients are members. You can use LinkedIn Search to find such Groups, or simply ask your exiting clients.

8 Connect with delegates after network meetings - Have you ever

got back to your clinic after a network meeting with a pocket full of business cards and wondered what to do with them? You can develop the connections you’ve made with people at events by connecting with them over LinkedIn.

9 Attract visitors to your website - With more and more people using

internet search engines like Google to find service providers such as holistic therapists, it’s vital that your website shows up well in search results. An up-to-date, complete and optimised LinkedIn profile is more likely to show up in search results. You can also help improve the position of your website by using your Contact Information section to publish your web links. Doing this will also encourage LinkedIn users to visit your website. You can add up to three links so be sure to include sites like Facebook and YouTube as well as your website.

10 Great recruitment tool - LinkedIn is traditionally associated with

the recruitment industry and for good reason; it’s a great resource for finding new staff. You can use LinkedIn Advanced Search to find potential local candidates, or if you have a budget you can place targeted adverts in the Jobs section.

You can obtain more social media advice, tips, examples and news from my blog at intranetuture.com/blog or call me on 01242 639023 for a quote to review and optimise your LinkedIn profile.

Social-networking expert,

Jonathan Pollinger provides ten top

tips so that you and your business

can benefit from using LinkedIn

DON’T BE AFRAID TO ASK YOUR SATISFIED CLIENTS FOR LINKEDIN RECOMMENDATIONSLINK UP