It can definitely be a great place to connect with interested individuals. For example, if people are following your business page, chances are they want to keep up to date with company news, job openings or just see what you post about.

If your company page is followed by other businesses, those may be companies looking for strategic alignment efforts with you, just watching the type of content you share or perhaps even your competitors keeping tabs on you.

I think LinkedIn could be a good place to advertise if you are in the Business to Business (B2B) space. I don't see it being as powerful for connecting with consumers.

LinkedIn is getting to be a very noisy space. Can't say I have ever clicked on a paid ad within, so it may be worth finding some stats on conversion rates in your industry compared to others PPC advertising options.

LinkedIn is an excellent networking tool and opportunity to connect with potential clients or others in your field. 

We have found from clients that LI has not provided the success with advertising as other forums, such as Facebook and personally I have never clicked on an ad. 

LI has become one of my favourite forums but it is really about forming meaningful relationships where you are helping people,  sharing your knowledge and taking part in meaningful discussions. 

This is a trend I have noticed of more influencers moving from other social media forums across to LI to make their mark. We will have to wait and see how this turns out in the long term.

One strategy I am liking on LI at the moment is a trend of people providing a short story (up to 1300 characters) around a key message or theme. 

I use LI as a tool to locate potential people who I consider appropriate to network with and form business relationships with.

For me, advertising on there doesn't do that, simply because I see it as a networking site rather one of "selling". As with Steven, I have never clicked.on an ad.

Every new customer I have got from LinkedIn has been through contact, discussion, imparting knowledge etc. All things that consisted of personal time and effort, rather than placing an ad.

And, although I am including my experiences only, I have found that the more time and effort the better the reward. As soon as I slacken off, so does any result, sometimes significantly.

Great question Nitty! I have used LinkedIn for sales outreach, networking, and thought leadership. I'll have to admit that I don't find their advertising very compelling.

What goals are you looking to accomplish through the platform? I'm happy to provide suggestions from my experience based on what you're trying to achieve.

It can be difficult to cut through the noise to decision makers. There are three key principles that I teach my clients to achieve this:
- Be different
- Be valuable and relevant
- Be commercial yet relational

Striking the balance between all three is challenging but possible!