How to Become a Local Expert Using LinkedIn

How to Become a Local Expert Using LinkedIn:
LinkedIn is one of the most underrated Social Networking site out of the big three, essentially the black sheep. Many people use LinkedIn with little to no result and some are being too general with what they want out of the platform. A great suggestion I offer to my clients is targeting only their local market.
Using LinkedIn to become a Local Celebrity is something many do not thing about but we will be talking about it in this article. When I say celebrity, I do not mean Brad Pitt or Tony Romo type of celebrity but I mean a business celebrity. LinkedIn has over 130 million users so the odds of you finding local people interested in your services are very good.
Becoming a Local Guru
Most people used LinkedIn in a broad or global way . One of many strategies or things you can do with LinkedIn is to become a local Expert in your chosen market. You can do this by focusing only your target local market. You can start by searching local groups in your industry and becoming an influence or create your own circle of influence. Once in the group look to connect with people that you can help and resolve their problems. Becoming an influencer in your local group gives you instant credibility and exposure. Take advantage of this , when you see someone with an issue send them a private message answering their question or connecting in a free phone call or even going to coffee. We are trying to build Our Brand on a local level so taking relationships from online to offline is a great way to build real rapport and close more deals.
Also , you can use the local groups you are in and create localized events catered to that group or industry. An example would be me finding a real estate group locally and getting involved, becoming an influence , researching their issues and then going in the group and announcing a specialized workshop (free or paid) catering to solving their specific issues.
Ads
LinkedIn Ads are another great way of targeting your local market. You can be very specific when creating ads and can target by:
● Job Title
● Job Function
● Industry
● Geography
● Company Size
● Company Name
● Seniority
● Age
● Gender
● LinkedIn Groups
Now what you can do is use all the information above and combine it with LinkedIn Ads. You can be an influencer in a group and target that group for ads to your service or product. The targeting options allow you to narrow your message to a specific type of person. So if you want to target Doctors in your locale with a small firm then you can with ads and by connecting in the groups.
Searches
Lastly is to do local searches and appear in those search results. I do branding and marketing so when people search Orlando Marketing or Orlando Branding I will pop up. I was able to do this by simply setting up my profile with my keywords and adding in the city and state that I am in. Many people do not do this and therefore are not as visible when people search locally. You can also search for people you can connect with locally, message them and start to build a relationship that you can take offline after you have chatted a few times.
Use LinkedIn to do research on your target market , see what competitors are using it , how they are using it, what kind of content your industry is sharing on LinkedIn and what issues are they facing. If you learn to use LI as a research tool and a branding tool you can be the talk of the town and grow your business increasingly!