It’s no secret, LinkedIn has changed the way we communicate and do business.It is estimated that LinkedIn boasts more than 115 million members, and that number is growing daily. In fact 90% of U.S. companies are registered on LinkedIn. This means that you can directly reach out to your colleagues, customers, and service providers. It’s all about networking!

Establish a LinkedIn Brand
It is not enough to put your profile on LinkedIn; you must have a strategy. If you do it right, you can develop and build your brand. You can expand your professional network and have a conversation with your target audience.

Become “Top-of-Mind”
Using LinkedIn can increase your web presence and “footprint.”  You can also establish yourself as an expert and a leader in your field. This means that you will be “top of mind” with your customers.

Where to Start
Start with your LinkedIn public profile. A LinkedIn profile includes a list of past and current employers, along with a brief description of your job titles, responsibilities and accomplishments. Similar to a resume, a profile lists dates of employment, education, training and certification, and skills and expertise. It also includes a professional photo like the one that’s on your real estate business cards.

What’s a Good LinkedIn Profile?
Visit LinkedIn to get a sense of what a good profile should look like. The site will tell you what is missing from your profile. Hint: if it says 100% next to the name, it means the profile is now complete. If you are still at a loss, there are many free and low-cost workshops you can take on how to use LinkedIn.

Build Your LinkedIn Connections
Once you establish your profile, you want to build your LinkedIn network. How? First, reach out to your current and former supervisors, coworkers and colleagues. Then, go through your contact list and add service providers, mortgage brokers, real estate lawyers, home inspectors, and other real estate industry professionals.

How Many Linkedin Connections Should You Have?
How many LinkedIn connections should you have? Start with about 100 people. That may seem overwhelming, but you’d be surprised at how quickly you can reach this number. As your LinkedIn connections grow, others will likely reach out to you and request to “add” you to their professional networks. Accept those invitations!

“Follow” Companies
As a real estate professional, it is recommended that you “follow” companies. This allows you to track both your competition and the companies that you respect and admire. Companies will post updates about their activities and events. In addition, experts report that about 90% of LinkedIn companies will use it to post job openings and recruit qualified candidates.

Join Groups
Another feature of LinkedIn is the ability to create and join groups related to the industry. This could mean real estate associations, school alumnae groups, networking groups, and so on. By joining these groups, you automatically expand your reach and your network tenfold. Many of these groups boast thousands of members.

“Warm Leads”
As members of the same group, you’ve already got something in common. When you request a professional connection, identify yourself as a group member. You might even want to write a short but personal note saying something like, “I see that we are both Realtors® who specialize in luxury real estate and I’d like to get connected on LinkedIn.” This is what’s called a “warm lead.”

Get (and Give) Recommendations
LinkedIn offers you an opportunity to post recommendations from happy customers, coworkers, and supervisors. You can also recommend others. You should aim for about 2 or 3 professional recommendations on your profile page.

Don’t Just Sit There, Participate!
As the saying goes, “Lead, follow, or get out of the way.” It’s not enough to be on LinkedIn and join groups; you must participate in discussions. You can do this by participating in a conversation, sharing a relevant news article, posing or answering a question, and sharing recent accomplishments.

Powerful Branding
As you brand yourself and a business, you can engage your target audience in a way that you could not do with traditional media. Plus, everybody in your network—companies and real estate professionals alike–hears your message. Talk about branding!

BestPrintBuy.com provides print and marketing solutions for real estate agents and their franchises. We offer online design and print solutions for business cards, postcards, postcard mailing and marketing, folded note cards, door hangers, note pads, bookmarks and several other products to real estate agents.