With over 900 million active users present on LinkedIn. It is one of the go-to platforms for lead generation and many other aspects which a business might use. LinkedIn is a highly regarded social media platform for businesses, despite not receiving as much attention for marketing purposes as other platforms like Facebook and Instagram.
Many companies maintain a great presence on LinkedIn, and it is also widely used by professionals and thought leaders. This makes it a valuable platform, especially for firms operating in the B2B sector. Be it driving sales to B2B businesses or just maintaining the presence on the platform, LinkedIn can serve many purposes. Senior-level executives, management professionals, and C Level executives favor LinkedIn as their go-to social network. They prioritize thought-provoking posts shared on LinkedIn over Facebook statuses, Twitter tweets, YouTube videos, or Instagram images.
In this blog, we will be looking at 8 ways you can use LinkedIn to favor it as one of your channels in your overall marketing strategy.
Tip #1: Define your target group
When creating your LinkedIn marketing strategy, it’s crucial to address these three fundamental questions:
- Who is your ideal customer?
- Which connections are necessary to generate leads and conversions from LinkedIn?
- What kind of content will engage the right audience?
Taking the time to identify your target audience is an indispensable step. In the beginning, I made the mistake of connecting with anyone and everyone on LinkedIn, from CEOs of furniture companies to small business owners running funeral homes, and even interior designers.
I thought LinkedIn is not a platform for me, however, I was wrong. Initially, I struggled to identify my target audience on LinkedIn because I had not defined my niche and the clients I wanted to work with. However, once I gained clarity on my ideal user, I updated my LinkedIn profile to reflect this message.
As an SEO content writer and strategist, my target audience comprises content marketing managers and heads of SEO departments in SaaS and tech companies in the United States. This is because these companies have a high awareness of SEO and the budget to pay my rates.
It’s essential to understand who will hire you for the skills you provide, and the more specialized your skills, the clearer your target audience will be.
Tip #2: Define your LinkedIn presence goals
When it comes to marketing on LinkedIn, the process is similar to marketing on other social media platforms. To begin with every new campaign, it’s crucial to define your goals. You should question why you’re using LinkedIn and what you hope to achieve from it.
It’s essential to ensure that your goals are SMART, which stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely. This means that you must select appropriate metrics to measure the success of your campaign.
Typical goals for a LinkedIn marketing campaign, expressed generally (not fully SMART), include:
- Boosting brand awareness, which can be best measured using data on LinkedIn Page analytics.
- Building relationships with others in the same domain as you are.
- Engaging with your target audience, can be measured both tangibly through LinkedIn Page analytics and intangibly through participation in LinkedIn Groups.
- Indirectly selling your product, which is less common on LinkedIn but still possible once you build your personal brand.
Tip #3: Optimize your LinkedIn company page
Similar to other social media marketing platforms, LinkedIn has two types of pages – personal pages where individuals list their professional achievements, and company pages. A company page is created automatically when any employee or manager adds your business as a place of work. However, if you don’t add content and complete the necessary details, your company page may appear abandoned and neglected.
An informative and visually appealing company page is critical for any business on LinkedIn. It’s likely to be one of the first places your target audience will visit on LinkedIn. Think of it as a virtual storefront, whether you’re selling products or using LinkedIn to enhance brand recognition.
Your LinkedIn company page is an ideal platform to showcase all the positive aspects of your business. You can use it to highlight your team and any accolades or recognition your company has received. As LinkedIn is primarily a network of people, it’s essential to feature the individuals who make up your organization.
Prospective clients or anyone interested in your business on LinkedIn will likely search for your company page. It’s one of the most common ways people research your company, including what you offer, your products, locations, and senior management.
Your LinkedIn company page should be consistent with your overall branding by including your logo, colors, fonts, and website URL. To anticipate potential customers’ questions, you should also provide answers on your page. It’s crucial to use relevant keywords in the copy you use on your page, like all your online assets.
However, updating your company page regularly is equally important. If you want to establish your brand as a serious contender on LinkedIn, you need to publish engaging and informative content consistently.
Tip #4: Create valuable and engaging content
To be successful on LinkedIn, you must actively engage with your audience. Simply having followers isn’t enough if you’re not interacting with them. Unlike other social networks, LinkedIn has a more professional tone, and irrelevant content may not be well-received.
Instead, focus on sharing informative & valuable blog posts and articles that showcase your expertise and establish you as a thought leader in your industry. Don’t forget to actively engage with your audience by responding to comments and messages.
While it’s possible to share links to your blog posts on LinkedIn, research suggests that the platform’s algorithm prioritizes content published directly on the site. That’s why it’s beneficial to use LinkedIn’s Publishing Platform, which enables users to write and publish articles on the platform itself, rather than linking to external content.
This feature allows you to create and share content directly on LinkedIn, which can increase the visibility and engagement of your posts.
Creating original content for every LinkedIn post is not necessary. You can share articles and content from other sources that you believe will be valuable to your target audience. It’s important to keep in mind that the ultimate objective of your LinkedIn account is to provide value to your target market, and sharing other people’s relevant content can help achieve this along with your original content.
Tip #5: Collaborate with influencers in your domain
Influencer marketing is huge!! So, why not use it for your personal brand or product? Influencers are people who have a large following on LinkedIn and are seen as experts or thought leaders in their field. By partnering with these individuals, you can tap into their audience and credibility to increase your visibility and reach on the platform.
One of the main benefits of collaborating with influencers on LinkedIn is that it allows you to build relationships with key players in your industry. By working together on the content or other initiatives, you can establish a rapport with them that can lead to other opportunities down the line.
For example, if an influencer shares one of your posts with their audience and it performs well, they may be more likely to collaborate with you on future projects or refer you to others in your industry.
Also, if you are doing SEO, working with influencers can help you build backlinks to your valuable content. With many backlink-building strategies, you can use this tactic to gain more quality links.
To find and connect with influencers on LinkedIn, you can use many LinkedIn scraping tools to extract information from their profiles. This information can be used to create a targeted list of influencers in your industry who you can reach out to for collaboration opportunities.
When reaching out to influencers, it’s important to approach them in a professional and respectful manner. Explain who you are and why you are interested in collaborating with them, and be clear about what you hope to achieve from the partnership. Make sure to highlight any relevant experience or expertise you have, and provide examples of your previous work to demonstrate your capabilities.
Tip #6: Be active on LinkedIn groups
Engaging in discussions on LinkedIn Groups is another effective way to demonstrate your social presence on this platform. By joining relevant groups or creating one, you can interact with other professionals in your industry and build your network. Being strategic with the groups you join will allow you to engage with your target audience and participate in meaningful conversations.
Creating a group is also an option to attract your preferred audience, but you should be prepared to dedicate time to moderate and keep the conversation going. This will ensure that the group remains active and valuable for its members. You can easily search for relevant groups using LinkedIn’s search bar.
Tip #7: Use LinkedIn Ads to your advantage
To improve your brand’s performance on LinkedIn, you have the option to purchase ads, which is a common practice on most social networks. LinkedIn provides a broad range of targeting options, which enable you to direct your ads solely to the intended audience.
There are several types of ads that you can purchase on LinkedIn, including sponsored content, text ads, and sponsored InMail.
- Sponsored content involves paying to increase the visibility of your shared content, expanding your organic reach.
- Text ads are pay-per-click ads that appear on LinkedIn pages, such as the home page, profile pages, search results pages, and Group pages.
- Sponsored InMail allows you to send personalized messages to LinkedIn members, similar to email marketing but conducted entirely within the LinkedIn platform.
Tip #8: Use LinkedIn Analytics to your advantage
As we discussed earlier, when setting goals for your LinkedIn marketing campaign, it is important to make them SMART, with the “M” standing for measurable. It’s crucial to monitor your progress toward achieving those goals, and LinkedIn Analytics can provide valuable data for your company page.
Understand what your user do, and how they perceive your content. Getting potential users down in your funnel is one key aspect of your LinkedIn media strategy.
Try to link to your web pages with your content, and use behavior analysis tools to understand how your users are reacting to your content on your website. By analyzing visitor information engagement with your content, you can gain insights into your campaign’s effectiveness.
Final thoughts
The key to successful marketing on LinkedIn is to prioritize giving rather than taking. This means optimizing your LinkedIn profile to attract your target audience, requesting recommendations from satisfied customers, and sharing practical advice to establish your authority in your field.
Additionally, incorporating personal stories can help you connect with your audience and demonstrate your more human side. Ultimately, it’s important to remember that LinkedIn is a platform for human interaction, so don’t be afraid to showcase your authentic self.
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