LinkedIn is the world’s most popular business social network. Every day, over 600 million professionals use it to make personal connections, discuss their industries, share knowledge and develop their careers.
Here you will find seven (7) powerful LinkedIn tips (applicable for 2020) that will grow your business.
Just like with any marketing initiative, it’s crucial to identify your goals. The usual B2B marketing goals for LinkedIn may include:
>> Increasing your brand profile and authority
>> Generating, nurturing and capturing leads
>> Driving relevant traffic to your website
>> Promoting event appearances.
Once you know what your goals are, it’s easier to formulate a marketing plan that works.
On LinkedIn, your company profile will always be the heart and soul of your online brand. As people search for your business online and get to know more about your products and services, it’s imperative to have a rock-solid profile.
Here are some tips for filling out an excellent company profile:
>> Make sure you complete 100% of your profile. Don’t leave any gaps!
>> It almost goes without saying, but – no typos or grammar mistakes
>> Look at the profiles of your competitors. What can you do to make your business stand out next to them?
>> Always include a link to your company website. If people like what they read on your profile, they will want to find our more
Finally make sure you make use of the banner space provided. Use this wisely: perhaps you have certain campaign messaging you want to push here. Think of the banner as your online store front and make it work for you.
Completing your LinkedIn profile is vital, because it allows you to be found in searches, and gives you a fantastic opportunity to wow potential clients. It gives you the credibility you need to convince new prospects to reach out to you on LinkedIn and start a conversation.
Insert keywords into your company profile. The keywords you choose must be relevant and descriptive of your business and what you provide.
Unsure about which keywords to use? Start by asking yourself which words or phrases a prospect would type into Google when looking for your product or service.
Once you have your profile set up, it’s time to start creating content.
Content marketing is crucial to any social media platform, and LinkedIn is no exception. In fact, content marketing on LinkedIn can be more successful than on any other channel.
With LinkedIn, you have a captive audience of professionals who are hungry for knowledge and information – 91% of executives’ rate LinkedIn as their first choice for professionally relevant content.
Take advantage of this by sharing blogs, webinars and videos based around topics that are relevant to your target market. Focus on quality – if you can, reach out to thought leaders in your industry who are active on LinkedIn and ask them to contribute. Share your content often and you will soon build up an audience that comes back to your page every week.
Don’t think that content marketing requires a huge budget! There are many free tools you can use to create graphics and videos. Here are some notable providers:
LinkedIn’s algorithm rewards posts without corporate links, so occasionally – particularly from personal accounts – write engaging post copy and put the link in the comments.
Content marketing is one way to gain new followers. There are other things you can do as well. Try a combination of these 5 methods:
>> Make sure all your employees follow your company page and like your posts. They’re your biggest brand advocates, and the most likely to share your content.
>> Invite your customers and partners to follow your page. Promote your LinkedIn presence on your blogs, email newsletters and press releases.
>> Share other people’s content – if you see a blog post or article that you like, share it! Especially if it’s relevant or by an influencer in your industry.
>> Tag connections in your content promotions, if you think they’ll find it useful.
>> Ask your successful customers to write recommendations and testimonials for your company page. It’s good social proof. Write recommendations for others, as well!
When you’ve mastered the basics of LinkedIn marketing, it’s time to diversify. Experiment with posting at different times of the day or week. If you find that a particular type of post gets more engagement than others – do more of it!
Again, look at your competitor’s pages. How effectively are they using LinkedIn? Is there anything they’re doing that you do? Or conversely, is there anything they’re not doing that you can do? Seek out the gaps that exist in your sector and see if you can fill them.
To get better at data driven marketing on LinkedIn, you need to analyse your efforts regularly. Most social media schedulers include a reporting function as standard. If you’re not using one, don’t worry! LinkedIn’s own analytics pages can give you an enormous amount of insight.