Using LinkedIn as a research tool can help you in your BD process. The tool can be used in many ways: 
Join Groups. LinkedIn groups come in all shapes and sizes. Identify groups with members who are prospective clients or influencers in your industry. Get involved in the group by creating content that features subjects relevant to the group’s membership and exploits your talent and expertise. This establishes your brand as the industry leader and promotes your products and services.
Another way to establish you as a trusted resource is to contribute to group discussions. People who contribute to discussions get many more profile views than those who do not. In LinkedIn, profile views are golden. Simply put, this can increase inbound leads for your business.
Start discussions to gain information from your peers, competitors and customers regarding what pricing the market will bear as well as industry trends. Be careful not to “spill your candy in the lobby” by giving too many of your trade secrets away. Start the discussion with a carefully crafted question to get the ball rolling. You can participate in the discussion to continue manage the direction of the discussion to gain the information you are looking for. This will also show you the expertise your competitors have in the market.
Be of help to others, answer questions that members post. Direct them to resources that can help them solve the issue. Being someone who lives by the “give first” principle is attractive and helps build trust.
Post status updates. Being strategic about your updates can drive people in your direction. If you blog, insert the title and a “shortened” URL link (use www.tinyurl.com as a resource) to one of your recent blog articles. Show your audience that you are always looking to improve yourself and stay on the cutting edge by inserting the title of an article your read and found valuable. Do the same with newsworthy items, quotes, links to interesting industry related YouTube videos, etc. Press releases about exciting updates regarding your company, employees, etc. can get attention. If you have recently completed a project, share links to your website along with a brief success story.
Your Profile. Prospects use LinkedIn as one of the primary tools for researching their vendors, suppliers, prospects, etc. Your profile should not be a duplicate of your website verbiage. It should not conflict either. Having a rock solid profile for every member of your company is a necessity. Any conflicting and or confusing information can cause prospects to move on.
The same holds true for Company Pages/Showcase Pages. You can increase your chances of being found inside LinkedIn by creating the Company Page. Showcase pages (pages attached to the company pages) can be used to show projects, services, etc. You can upload photos and videos inside these pages to tell the story in “3D.”
“3” Degrees of Separation. We know this typically as the Kevin Bacon Rule, 6 degrees of separation. My network is HUGE, I can pave the way to many decision makers by using the introduction features. I have 5,364 current 1st degree connections and that means there are 21,932,236 people that are 3rd degree connections. What does this mean to me? That means that I have the ability to get introduced to any one of those nearly 22 million people through introductions. I don’t have to cold call anyone by using LinkedIn.
Build the Organizational Chart. Use this tool to build the organizational chart by searching LinkedIn. You can find out who works there currently, their titles, years of service, backgrounds, etc. All useful information before your ever reach out to them. You can also find out who used to work there and use your network to talk to them.
Any way you can use the power of your LinkedIn to gain leverage in your projects and deals can give you the slight edge over the competition. There are a host of blog posts, articles, websites, and YouTube videos that will give you even more ways to use this BD tool.
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