The following is a five step LinkedIn Strategy that contains techniques and recommendations on how your business can effectively leverage LinkedIn.

I'm assuming that you already have a presence on LinkedIn profile and that you are seeking ways to enhance your visibility on the site through ongoing monitoring and increased participation. 

Small companies should replace "your employees" with "you"

Step 1: Identify Buyers and Conversations

It is important toidentify people with whom you are looking to connect, and then determine if, and where, they are active on LinkedIn. Do this by using the Advanced Search facility with keywords and geographic data if appropriate.

Step 2: Select Employees to Lead Participation

Designate a few employees to be internal LinkedIn champions. To be most effective, these individuals should be social-network savvy; knowledgeable about your products, services and brand messaging; and have a desire to engage with target audiences.

Step 3: Have Employees Optimize Their Profiles

Encourage your employees to optimize their profiles. Be sure that all individual profiles are completely filled out — including the Summary, Specialties and Job Position sections — with keyword-rich descriptions. Also, include links to Twitter profiles, as well as optimized links to your company website and blog, if applicable..

Step 4: Set Up a Monitoring System

LinkedIn Answers and Groups provide the most opportunities to connect with prospects, customers, vendor partners and peers. For this reason, it's important to monitor these sections on a regular basis, and contribute meaningfully to discussions.

When commenting, it is perfectly acceptable to share relevant blog posts and content pieces your company created. However, aim to be helpful and not overly self-promotional, and abide by group rules.

Step 5: Participate & Engage in Conversations

On an ongoing basis, encourage employees to actively participate in priority groups and respond to relevant LinkedIn Answers queries. In addition, employees should update their LinkedIn statuses often.

Employees should also be encouraged to proactively request connections with business contacts, and to continuously work to nurture those relationships.

Ian Hudson is the owner of www.IanHudson.org which run 2 hour internal LinkedIn workshops

He runs PING Harlow (www.Pingharlow.com) – a monthly business networking group.

He will be delivering aBusiness Briefing on LinkedIn at Harlow College on Feb 23rd (5-7pm)