LinkedIn could be the tool you need for your SME marketing, Australia set to announce investment in Papua New Guinea power infrastructure and how to ace a networking event. Readings from around the world on business, leadership and management.

Make the link to marketing success

SMEs might benefit from a LinkedIn marketing campaign.

Forget Facebook and Instagram for your SME social marketing and head straight to LinkedIn, that’s the message from Entrepreneur Asia in its recent post 8 Lessons in Using LinkedIn for Marketing.

The posts reminds us that there are 500 million members on the business social networking site, 40 per cent of whom are daily visitors, so it is a huge source of potential big-ticket leads.

Entrepreneur offers some tips on how to succeed at LinkedIn marketing including keep messages as short and as personalised as possible; senior profiles perform better, so use a decision makers profile as your base; and be patient, campaigns might take a couple of months to show dividends.

But make sure you are not missing out on an obvious channel for marketing your SME.

Australia stepping up to help PNG

The Yonki hydropower facility in Morobe Province.

ABC News has reported that the Australian Government is set to back Papua New Guinea’s electrification program as part of its Australian Infrastructure Finance Facility for the Pacific. This was first announced at APEC 2018 and we’ve been wondering about progress.

The money comes as part of the A$2 billion (K4.5 billion) ‘Pacific Step-Up’ funding that has been put aside to help the region and will be a big boost to regional business currently having difficulty accessing cheap and reliable power.

Australia, New Zealand, the US and Japan have all committed to helping to power PNG in the past but there were no concrete details. Australia is expected to announce the extent of its investment in the energy sector when Minister for International Development and the Pacific, Alex Hawke, pays a visit to Port Moresby later this month.

How to ace a networking event

Networking at the 2019 Business Advantage Investment Conference last year. Credit: BAI

After a disastrous networking event where she did not hand out a single card, Jen Glantz, CEO of Bridesmaid for Hire, made up some strict rules. She tells Australia’s Business Insider website that she can now leave a conference or lunch in 25 minutes or less having achieved her networking goals.

Glantz’s tips are often common sense (position yourself in the middle) and practical (keep your pitch short) but well worth a read so you are not left with a pocketful of business cards when you visit events … say the 2020 Business Advantage Investment Conference in Brisbane later this year.