With over 500million users, Linkedin has already proved to be a pivotal social networking site. Targeted for businesses and Business professionals, Linkedin has mostly been eclipsed by Twitter and Facebook in recent years. However, there are still a greater amount of users or audience in Linkedin which makes it a thriving website for businesses.

Starting a business page in Linkedin is the first step of marketing. However, this isn't all.

Here are some of the tips for promoting your business in Linkedin

Create a Company Page

The first step in sending a word out to the world is to create a company page. Without a company or business page, your marketing approach will be very limited to only a few. It helps you separate your individual profile from your business by creating a page that includes essential information about your business, its whereabouts, principles, services etc.

2. Use LinkedIn Polls

Online polls are one great way to entice the audience into offering their choices which can prove to be useful for your marketing, sales or development goals. LinkedIn Polls lets you create polls and distribute them to your networks you want to hear from. You can view and analyze the results.

3. Answer a Question

Q&A forum is another great way to indulge your audience or potential customers into interactive feedback. You can also share your knowledge or expertise. Share your business knowledge and expertise, and help others find solutions to their problems.

4. Join Groups

Joining groups help to find a niche group for your business on Linkedin. You can leverage your membership by participating in discussions and indulge in finding more ways to share your voice. Each time you participate, your basic bio is shared with other members of the group.

5. Create a Group

Create a company-branded group for your clients and/or colleagues to facilitate discussion about your industry. A collaboration-based group, created and managed by your company, can be an excellent way to get your company name out there and recognizable.

6. Post Status or Updates

You can freely use the status updates to post your thoughts, views, news and useful posts with your followers. This helps to send out the word to the mass.

7. Ask for Recommendations

You can ask your users to drop in their recommendations or testimonials. These reviews help to highlight your business profile to target new audiences. Recommendations can be a great “proof of excellence” tool.

8. Advertise

One essential Linkedin tool is advertising. You can target niche audience by promoting advertisements which help to attract their attention. You can target your ads based on geography, job function and seniority, industry and company size, and gender and age.

9. Post Job Opportunities

You can fill in positions by hiring professionals through Linkedin. It is a goldmine of potential professionals which helps to cut cost on finding or hiring talents.

There are many other great ways to use Linkedin to fulfill your business need. The possibilities are endless.