Creating a system and plan of action is the most important thing you can do on LInkedIn to drive business. If you don’t, you will spend all your time answering questions that are irrelevant to your business objectives and end goals.

As an Insurance Agent you are faced with a different set of regulations than most other professions. Your brokers social media policy will dictate to a large degree, you ability to market yourself widely to the market. Your strategies must be different, unique, and specifically tailored to your needs and industry.

The following 7 steps are necessary for you to optimize your business opportunities through LinkedIn:

1. Know your objectives: ie how many new clients a month do you want/need?
2. Identify your Target Market and the Titles they Hold
3. Master the Search Process to Find this Market: Join their Groups
4. Create compelling content for your market & post articles on sites such as www.Ezine.com
5. Share the URL Link from your articles in the News Features in applicable groups in your Licensed Region
6. Master Networking Events in Your Area Through LinkedIn Events
7. Begin Your Own Networking Events

These 7 steps will help you engage your community and provide you the opportunity to meet new prospects and ultimately close more deals.

Remember, being social is about building relationships. You can’t do this with a “What’s in it for Me” mentality, true relationships begin with giving; this is the starting point of creating real success on LinkedIn or any social media program.

For more information on LinkedIn, join us for our complimentary LinkedIn Power User Strategies Webinar

****************************************************
Post by Guest  Contributor~ Nathan Kievman
CEO, DemingHill
Founder, Linked Strategies (#1 LinkedIn Strategies Group)

Hummingbird How To Videos, Learn how to use an automated twitter following software that is intelligent. Growing a targeted twitter following is an art and a science and these videos along with the software will explode your twitter account.

Learning how Social Media for Business works is really like re-awakening to the practicality of personal and business relationships and the actions that foster those authentic relationships.

You already know how to engage, you do it everyday outside of being online. So why should it be vastly different? It shouldn’t, the only things you need to catch up on may only be the every changing fast social platforms and applications available for your business.

When we talk about engagement in Social Media, the same rules that apply in a in person networking setting or sales call still apply. Such as you can’t be pushy, you don’t just come right out and do a two minute commercial, instead you get to know the prospect. You engage and learn about their needs and desires in order to eventually sell them something.

The parts we really struggle with are technology, measuring results, time, and just simply what works?

I have two resources this week that can help you learn Social Media for your business:

Social Media Advisors Group on LinkedIn:
This group has seen significant growth. This group has both experience Social Media users and newcomers creating a great environment to learn. You will find great discussions and the ability to ask your most pressing questions. You can join with the group here.

Next, I have written a short guide on How Your Business Can Profit from Social Media. It’s a very practical guide made up of only 17 pages. You can grab it here.

If you have any resources or tips you would like to mention, please do so.

So you know LinkedIn is a powerful business tool, but you’re not sure how to capitalize on its business capabilities. LinkedIn can be used for some many reasons such as business development, sales, marketing, hiring, recruiting, advice, job hunting and much more.

I have put together some practical resources that will help you in learning some key LinkedIn strategies:

• LinkedIn Questions and Answers Section of the LinkedIn site, you can get expert advice from people around the world right at your fingertips.
• Linked Strategies Group on LinkedIn this groups membership is in the tens of thousands for one very good reason. You learn very practical LinkedIn strategies. You can join the group here.
  
• Linked Strategies Webinar, this is a complimentary webinar that teach power user strategies you can learn in a ninety minute presentation and live Q and A.  Currently this webinar happens every Thursday at 4pm EST with playback for those who can’t make it. You can grab your reservation here:

If you are considering paying for expert LinkedIn advice then I recommend you get the book on the upper right of this page, you may find all the answers you need right their.

If you have a great tip or tool please share.

Google today launched a Crisis Response and Person Finder in response to the earthquake in Chile.  The person finder allows you to quickly connect those looking for missing people in Chile and those who may have information. 

Googles ability to quicky launch this program shows the true value of information sharing.  This person finder was also used during the Haiti earthquake.  Currently the database has over 4900 records at 5:27pm EST.

Below are additional update resources:

Post by  Guest  Contributor~ Nathan Kievman
CEO, DemingHill
Founder, Linked Strategies (#1 LinkedIn Strategies Group)

One of the most frequently asked questions we get about LinkedIn from over 10,000 submitted questions through our webinars, in posts, or directly by email is:

How do I maximize my use of LinkedIn?

In many ways this questions resonate  throughout the social platforms, but for today, let’s focus on LinkedIn.

To answer the question “How do I make the most of LinkedIn?” I would like to share with you a new way to look at LinkedIn. I propose that you should look at this platform as a small version of the internet. Meaning LinkedIn is its own world. Your webpage is your profile, the leading companies are the groups, the people are in the answers and questions sections as well as in the groups and so on.

To master this new world, you have to understand it’s 60 million members behaviors, attitudes, rules, language and etiquette. You also have to master your own voice, message, ability to communicate, processes, and rules. The following list will give you the outline needed to truly start building your LinkedIn presence the right way.

***Grab This Complimentary eBook to specifically see how to begin***
to engage, capture, and create buzz around your company
Grab our complimentary eBook:
How Your Company Can Begin to Profit Using Social Media

The 7 Stages of LinkedIn/Social Media Mastery

1. Assess your Assets and Capabilities – Opportunity
2. Identify your Social Media Strategy – Clarity
3. Lay your Social Web – The Foundation
4. Optimize your Presence – Get Found
5. Build Your Communities – Become a Leader
6. Develop a Marketing Funnel – Lead People
7. Integrate Business Process Outsourcing – Don’t do it Alone

Applying these Stages will certainly ensure you are moving in the right direction on LinkedIn and that you are creating proof along the way.

If you enjoyed this article, join us for upcoming Live LinkedIn Power User Strategies Webinar at no cost on Thursdays at 4pm EST. Grab your spot here, can’t make it?  Go ahead and register for the playback.

Here are five initial guiding steps to establish a Business To Business Social Media Strategy. This is not a complete guide, nor is it meant to be. I believe these are the first five things a company should be thinking about when they realize they should be engaged in the Social Space.

1. Your Message
Just to confirm you don’t need to change your message, value proposition, or qualifying questions. You just need to list them in concise “smaller” formats in order to getting your message out. So collect your key messages and great one-liners you use everyday. These will be great for status updates.

2. Identify The Key Social Platforms
As you begin the process of starting you need to identify which Social Platforms your target market will be on. I can almost guarantee if your B2B then they will be on LinkedIn, next you will find these same people on twitter and facebook as well. So in reality the Big 3, you will more than likely want to engage in.

***Grab This Complimentary eBook to specifically see how to begin***
to engage, capture, and create buzz around your company
Grab our complimentary eBook:
How Your Company Can Begin to Profit Using Social Media

3. Identify Your Internal Company Resources
Who do you currently have putting together and drafting your marketing pieces. This should be the person handling the day to day initiatives of your Social Media Strategy.

Read more about Aligning Your Companies Social Media Strategy Here:

4. Answer who should oversee your Social Media Strategy
At the end of the day who do you currently trust to generate business for your company who are the people who are ultimately responsible for sales? Your response is your answer to this question. More than likely you have an EVP or VP whom is responsible for sales company wide. This person should give final oversight to this department.

Read more about Who Should Manage Your Companies Online Message Here:

5. Create a Preliminary Social Media Policy. ~ASSUME NOTHING~
This initial policy should be to identify the processes for engagement approval. Who and or which parties will need to approve your final message(s) you are communicating, such as legal. I would not establish to many others until you are involved in it. Create policies before you ever get the opportunity to review every scenario would be a bad Social Media Strategy. In addition, don’t through initial ideas or strategies out the window based off your assumptions on how things have worked in the past in other marketing efforts or dealing with customers. Take the time to learn and review the processes behind each strategy. ~ASSUME NOTHING~

***Grab This Complimentary eBook to specifically see how to begin***
to engage, capture, and create buzz around your company
Grab our complimentary eBook:
How Your Company Can Begin to Profit Using Social Media

*TAKE A MOMENT AND RE-TWEET OR SHARE THIS MESSAGE TO YOUR BUSINESS CONNECTIONS.