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| 7 Effective ways to grow your business using LinkedIn. |
A successful Story with effective 7 ways to build your business using linkedIn:
According to James Filbird-
owner of JMF International Trade Group, said,” If you can’t make money on LinkedIn,
you’re deaf, dumb and blind”. He builded this business using the help of
LinkedIn.
Filbird is the owner of JMF
International Trade Group Ltd., a
company he established to $5 million in revenue largely through his efforts by
the help of website like LinkedIn, this is the only major
social media platform that is not blocked by the Chinese government. This
company beginning their business in China, and performed well. Here is an
overview of this company:
Organization Name: JMF International Trade Group Ltd.
Social Media Handles & Stats:
- Website Name— JMF International Trade Group Ltd.
- LinkedIn—over 1,600 connections
- Twitter—1,583 followers
Highlights:
- LinkedIn member since 2004
- Featured with 100 members highlighted on LinkedIn’s 100 Million Members page
- 80% of business attributed to LinkedIn activity
An American in China
Filbird moved to China in 2006, here he spent nine
months working on a manufacturing venture that eventually fell down. He planned
to stay at least a year in China, when the deal went wrong, he performed some soul-searching.
He said, “I had a little money in my pocket then. Usually it’s the Chinese dream
to go in America for leading their life better, but I did it the other way
around.”
At last, he decided to stay
in China as a business consultant & contract manufacturer, and tried for
looking some source there, unlikely he found LinkedIn as a way to connect with
potential business.
Early
Adaptors
As an early adopter of LinkedIn, Filbird joined this website in 2004 as one of the first one million members. He didn’t use LinkedIn as much, thought that it is as a resource for job-seekers. But the end in 2006, when he began to build his business in earnest, it seemed to be the only choice for serious professional prospecting. He said, “I don’t like Twitter or even Facebook because of there were no professionals to speak of that I saw on MySpace.
LinkedIn has remained the
only platform accessible without a VPN inside China. And never been blocked by
the Chinese government except for one day,” Filbird said. Moreover Twitter, YouTube and Facebook have
been blocked for the last four years.
He completed 100% user
profile & joined the maximum allowable 50 groups & spent up to two to
three hours daily on the site engaging in group discussions and looking for
people to connect with them.
Then he used his strategy
on LinkedIn to grow JMF International. Within one year, he earned between $3.5
million & $5 million in annual revenue. Filbird said. “There are a lot of
really good people on LinkedIn networks”, “They’re used to be professional,
courteous, friendly, funny, a wealth of information & they are super-smart
as well. That’s why I’ve been able to promote most of my business from
LinkedIn.”
Building an International Business using LinkedIn
Here are Filbird’s seven ways to utilize successful
business relationships using LinkedIn, whether you live in
China, Chicago or New York.
1# A clear review of your Profile
Before engaging or
communicating with others, utilize
your time using best practices to fill out your LinkedIn profile-
A first impression to employers as well as others.
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| LinkedIn James Filbird Profile |
2# Join at least 50 Groups with your specific fields
Filbird said, “If you’re
not part of any groups, you’re not using the biggest resource using on
LinkedIn,” “That’s where the gold is—people looking for help with specific
groups.”
Filbird finds groups to join by searching for specific
keywords with industry you like in the Groups Search function; you
can see your related groups here. Although the explosion in the number of
LinkedIn groups means there is also a lot of spam & self-promotion, he
insists this practice that separating the wheat from the chaff as well as time
consuming practices.
To measure the health of a group before
joining, always look at the Activity tab in Group Statistics as
well, which can be available on the Group Profile page even for private groups.
Just look at the ratio
of comments to discussions. The best way to understand the well
performed Groups is that If you find more comments than discussions indicates that
highly engaged members to a specific topic, whereas many discussions & few
comments indicate a group with little but real activity and lots of
self-promotion as well.
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| LinkedIn digest setting |
3# Dedicate for the Group Digests
According to Filbird, “By each
& every single group I join, I received a daily notification from each
group, that’s the gold to me.” Filbird used to spend approximately two to three
hours searching for discussions that looked interesting. “When get up in the
morning, I’d check my email & go thoroughly each of 50 different news feeds.”
Filbird considered this as a part of his daily work schedule of prospecting for
business.
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| LinkedIn group digest Notification |
As his business gained in a effective manner, Filbird
cut down his time which groups were important to him, but still reads daily
digests for 25 of the 50 groups he belongs to.
4# Try to participate in Discussions with specific Topic
What do you think after
joining the groups through the digests? Is your task over? Exactly, NOT. So, the
next task would be find
a discussion that looks interesting, break in through conversation and become
part of the conversation.
Always try to make your
comment attractive to people & something that offers you a lot of value. If
somebody likes what you say through conversation, they’ll go to your profile
and they’ll connect with you. By participating discussions that generate
comments, you can also be recognized as a top influencer in the group’s sidebar
as well.
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| Top Influencers Graph |
5# Always Connect with Professionals
From 2006, Filbird mostly has
grown his connections of 1,600 most of whom he has met through groups or found
through mutual connections for his business. “They’re all hand-picked,” he
said. “I’m not a LION (LinkedIn Open
Networker).”He also talks LinkedIn’s improvements which allowing members to
find more relevant
connections.
“Most of the time I look
for people whom I might potentially want to work with, engage them there on
LinkedIn and if they show an interest, I move them over to Skype to get better
output.”
6# Move the Conversation Offline
Once Filbird realized that
the discussion will more exclusive if we using conversation offline with
someone from groups. He also said, ‘I would like to talk to you about how I’m capable
to help you—do you use Skype?’ [They reply,] ‘Sure, here’s my
Skype ID.’ Boom up, we’re talking in the next couple of days. I’ve developed
business partnerships, client relationships & friendships that way, through
using Skype.”
According to the estimation
of Filbird is that for every 10 people he connects on LinkedIn, one of them
will develop into some kind of relationship. For people he connects with on Skype, one in three
results in some kind of business.
7# Reevaluate groups or others
Filbird’s group memberships
are constantly developed as he reevaluates those who still have value to him. Moreover,
he is always a member of 50 groups, only three or four out of the original 50
he joined five years ago.
Now craft LinkedIn Strategy in brief:
What if you don’t have one
to two hours a day to read daily digests? How can you apply these techniques to
leverage LinkedIn for your business? Try
this strategy or modify it to fit your situation:
- A clear review of your Profile.
- Join at least 50 Groups with your specific fields.
- Dedicate for the Group Digests: 5-10 groups.
- Spend more than one hour weekly participating in discussions of interest.
- Always Connect with Professionals in discussions.
- Ask alternative connections if they would like to connect by phone or Skype.
- Each & every three months, reevaluate group memberships and weekly digests.
Filbird said that LinkedIn
is a phenomenal tools as well as a resource for building a business. I was lost
all of my money & I had to rebuild as well, and I’ve done it with
LinkedIn.”
What is your
opinion to use LinkedIn to grow your business? Is it helpful to create business
relationships overseas?
Share your opinion with comment.
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