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LinkedIn's stock just keeps climbing. On Feb.7 the company announced its seventh-consecutive quarter of exceeding analysts' projections for both earnings and revenue.
In fact, just after the earnings call, LinkedIn tripled its IPO stock price of $45 in May 2011 to $135.45. While this is great news for investors, what's important for communicators is the social network’s usage numbers. Last month the company reported more than 200 million users—recording per-quarter growth of 10 million-to 15-million users each quarter in 2012.
Alternately, while Facebook dwarfs the professional social network, with 1.06 billion monthly active users, two studies released last week cited considerable "Facebook fatigue" and disinterest in Facebook brand pages among Millennials (read the PR News blog post).
Which means it’s time to evaluate how to leverage LinkedIn's soaring fortunes. Here are four tips from Bill Corbett, president of Corbett PR, on how to make the most out of this growing social engagement tool.
- Make sure there’s a connection from your LinkedIn page to your blog. “People can read your profile, but a blog is really where they get to know you,” says Corbett.
- For better SEO, ensure that your organization’s profile is filled out to 100%, and that you’ve included keywords in the profile.
- If you’re putting on a live event, consider forming a LinkedIn group that addresses the event topic.
- Use LinkedIn’s InMail as well as regular e-mail to pitch reporters. Corbett finds InMail to be very effective in reaching the media.
Follow Scott Van Camp: @svancamp01