Like any professional service executive, you’ve spent your career building a practice and expertise that serves your clients well. Throughout the ups and downs of the economy, you have become a trusted advisor who solves complex business channels and has much to offer other leaders and executives in their respective businesses.

However, similar to our industry (integrated marketing and communications), your business is growing ever more competitive. New players are in the game and you need to expand your network to find the next set of challenges – challenges that only someone with your experience can only foresee.

While your business is still done through in-person conversations and handshakes, you only have so much time in the day. How do you develop new professional relationships at the speed of business, particularly in today’s digital society? How do you create a pipeline of new and exciting opportunities that promotes your brand and your organization’s brand? How do you engage and activate the decision makers?

Here are some tips to be an innovative thought leader in your industry using LinkedIn:

• Invest the time in LinkedIn: As the most powerful, professional social networking tool around, LinkedIn is where business gets done online. Build out your profile, showcase your experience and share the types of trends and insights that will be valuable to your clients.
• Be the media: Don’t want for the Boston Globe to call you for your opinion. Be the Boston Globe. Create your own branded content for your website and your LinkedIn profile that promotes your expertise, trends, insights and other future-looking information that will be of interest to your network.
• Engage your prospects: Digital tools like LinkedIn will allow you to have quick engagements with prospects via groups, shared articles and company pages. Like, comment and share content that is produced by your prospects and/or the companies they represent.
• Take it outside: LinkedIn can get in the door, but it’s still important to shake hands. Leverage the social network to line up meetings, coffee introductions, phone calls and the like. The power of LinkedIn as a sales tool will present itself in the time you put into it – as well as the time you put into nurturing those online engagements into real-life engagements.

We would welcome the opportunity to talk to you about how these timely and effective tactics and strategies, as well as other ideas that can quickly move your business forward.