Many professionals have already established a LinkedIn account and use it to connect with people they know (in their network) and find new people to be connected with. Outside of the networking, referral, recruiting and data sharing opportunities, there are real areas of interest to corporate marketers within LinkedIn. In particular, I recommend investigating the Event Application, which is available for free.
SETTING UP THE APPLICATION
You must first download this application, which can be found after logging in through expanding the "Applications" link in the left navigation of your profile page (see red circle below). Then you can opt to have the application appear on your profile page, so whenever you log-in, the event information is now a module on your page.
ADDING AN EVENT
The "Events" section of LinkedIn is a great outlet for attendees to network with one another in advance, or to promote a program you will be hosting or presenting at. You can "Add An Event" easily using the button in the blue box on the right rail — either virtual events or those held at a physical location can be promoted. There is no charge to do either. Once you request to add an event, the information you can provide is extensive:
For virtual events, make sure to check off the box indicated (see above in blue) so you aren't required to provide day and time data. There is also a link to "add more details", so be sure to expand that and consider those fields as well.
PROMOTING AN EVENT
Upon adding an event, the system will automatically promote it to your network (the people you are connected to in the first degree on LinkedIn). In the image below, you will notice that is Step #1. You will also be offered Step # 2 — which is to manually enter a contact (someone not in your network but who you have an email address for) to make aware of the event and Step #3 paid advertising options targeting a specific audience on LinkedIn (going outside your network of connections, via CPC/CPM fee-based, text ads).
Events in the LinkedIn system can now be viewed by other LinkedIn members based on their event setting preferences or search queries.
These include: Date or Geographic Location of Event, Type of Event or anything entered into search box.
Other ways to promote your event include:
- Start a GROUP for the Event and encourage attendees to join and network
- Update your "Profile Status" to reflect upcoming event details.
- Driving traffic to your LinkedIn Event page or Event Group from external sources, like other social channels, blogs, signature block in email, link dropping, etc.
This is an easy, free and effective tool for any marketer. The only requirement is establishing a LinkedIn profile/account — which you should have anyway. Interested to learn more? We offer Social Media Programs and consulting projects for all budgets. Email me. We also invite you to join MoreVisibility's Social Media Group on LI (search our company name under Groups) for ongoing dialogue and networking for all things Social!
