XING - Recommendations and tips for the business platform

The Business platform XING is mainly used in the DACH region and is represented here by over 18 million people used. For comparison: LinkedIn has "only" 14 million members in this region.

Almost half of all XING users are managers and decision-makers. As a Hamburg-based company founded in 2003, XING is therefore number one when it comes to this group of people, particularly in German-speaking countries, to maintain professional contacts, to win new employees and to attract attention as a company.

Functions of XING - Basic and Premium Account

The functions of the platform include similar capabilities to those of LinkedIn. You have the choice between a free basic membership or a premium account with costs. For a professional corporate presence the free version is of course sufficient, but the premium membership offers some advantageous features.

Features of the Premium Account
For example, the statistics show you who has visited your profile and you will get more information about the profile views. You also have the option to share blog posts automatically with all your contacts via RSS feed. The portfolio creation options are much more extensive in the Premium version, which means you have more room for image files and even videos. In addition, like LinkedIn, you can send messages to non-contacts and you have better search and filter options compared to the basic membership.

ProBusiness and XING Marketing Solutions

The ProBusiness package, a tool for strategic customer acquisition, can also be booked. It also uses the so-called XING Marketing Solutions to place targeted advertising with added value. A company presence on XING makes sense in any case, because you strengthen the awareness of your brand and position yourself as an expert and attractive employer in the market. You increase your reach and communicate with your target group.

Joining and founding groups

On XING, you also have the opportunity to join groups or create your own - take advantage of it! It's the professional exchange that creates valuable contacts in the B2B sector. By sharing your knowledge with your community, you'll also build a good reputation.

A few tips for your digital business card on XING

• Think about which content offers your target group a high information content and limit yourself to content of this kind.
•  Do not only create your own contributions, but also share  and recommend content from other users. This increases your perception and you maintain your network.
• Feel free touse your content for other social media in which you are active - especially visual material ensures a high recognition value  
• Important news and events can also be easily published on the platform.
• Somewhat general, but still important: Create a plan for your activities that defines when you post content on which social media platform and distribute it accordingly.
• When creating your plan, you can consider the following: On XING, most people are active on weekdays during regular working hours, while Instagram, for example, is mostly used after hours and on weekends.

This is an overview of the entire blog article series on the topic of "Social Media - a small guide to your marketing success".

• Social Media - a general introduction
• Facebook
• Instagram
• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• XING
• Useful Social Media Tools