Using social media like LinkedIn.com is a great way to promote your small business. It’s amore buttoned up version of other types of social media like Facebook. LinkedIn.com is more like being involved in a “business after hours” event than a party like Facebook is. It’s a place to show only your professional side and connect to people who are serious about business. To use LinkedIn to promote your small business try the following.

1. Create a Company Profile — Separate your business from your personal profile by creating a company profile on LinkedIn.com. To create a company page first you must have an individual profile. Then under Interests you’ll see Companies. When you click on Companies, find the link that says Add a Company and follow the prompts. You’ll need to use a confirmed @yourbusiness email address.

Add in video, images, and other details to your company profile to make it stand out. Ensure that you choose the right industry as that is very important. Your industry choice can make the difference between someone locating you or not so look through all your choices before deciding.

2. Ask for Recommendations — One you’ve got a company page created, ask your connections for recommendations by looking under services, then clicking Request Recommendations. Don’t send out one mass email to everyone, instead personalize each email to help remind the person exactly what you did for them and why they should recommend you. This will provide a nice template for them to write an excellent and telling recommendation for you.

It might make you nervous to ask for recommendations, but these are key to success with LinkedIn. Since no one is anonymous on LinkedIn.com recommendations are taken very seriously. If you can get everyone you’ve ever worked with to write a recommendation your profile will look very impressive. Spread out requests over time to keep new content going up often.

3. Leave Status Updates Often — It’s important to provide status updates at least once a day. An update can be a link to a great article you read with some commentary from you about the article, or it can be something you wrote yourself. It can even be a question to help you with research on something you’re currently working.

Don’t put up unprofessional status updates about your kids, your spouse, your cramps or anything personal. Keep it completely professional while considering your target audience for each update.

4. Participate & Create Groups — Join a few relevant groups and create your own niche specific group. Then, be sure to participate often by answering questions, contributing to discussions, and being open and honest with the information you share freely within the groups. You don’t want to appear as if you’re spamming so make your participation count.

Consider joining groups that consist of your target audience and groups that consist of your competitors. You’ll end up with a well-rounded group of contacts that you can turn to when you need them. Remember to frame your sharing in each group based on what the group wants and needs. Always remember that it’s about them, not you.

5. Advertise — Once you have a company page there are many things you can do, one of them is to advertise your company. Ensure that your profile is totally and completely filled out for best results with images, videos, and more before you start creating advertisements. Then, look under edit, and at the bottom you’ll see the option to create an advertisement.

Follow the prompts to create an advertisement within your budget. You can use text, text with images and even video advertisements. You can also super-focus the audience in which to target using the tools available while setting your own budget that works for your business.