When it comes to social media marketing, LinkedIn seldom forms a major blip in a marketer's radar.
The platform is one of the top places for job seekers and people who want to grow their network and business. It's also a hub for knowledge sharing involving professional and industry level news, posts and discussions.
For marketers in the B2B arena, LinkedIn is a must-use platform to market to their customers. Here are some relevant LinkedIn marketing statistics showcasing why the platform matters. You’ll also see that you need a different approach to marketing on LinkedIn.
Ninety-two percent of Fortune 500 companies are using LinkedIn. If you want to connect with and market to professionals, then this is the right place to be. Forty-five percent of this population work in upper management, which means that you'll reach decision-makers and people with influence.
Almost 50% of social media traffic to B2B websites is from LinkedIn. For B2B content distribution, this makes LinkedIn the most important platform.
Fifty-eight percent of B2B advertisers are happy with LinkedIn's ROI on ads. This shows that you'll get the best return on investment by focusing your advertising efforts here.
LinkedIn's InMail has a 300% higher response rate than traditional email.
One in three B2B marketers finds that LinkedIn generates revenue for them. This places LinkedIn above Twitter and Instagram when it comes to generating revenue for B2B companies
LinkedIn is a social media platform, but it's unlike its digital peers in many ways. Let's look at how marketers can leverage LinkedIn in 2020 to great effect and grow their businesses.
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Build your brand image
When people do research about your company or the people representing you, one of the first places they'll look for your presence is on LinkedIn. This makes it an essential area to develop your online brand image.
A great way to control how your company is perceived is to create a company page. Your company page can act as an official source of information for your audience and the world at large.
You'll be able to create posts, respond to comments, share documents and interact with hashtags just like on other social media platforms. The difference is that you're creating content for a professional audience, and you'll need to reflect that in your posts.
An added feature is the ability to create interactive content through the platform's live and events features. You can use these tools to host live video sessions, engage with users and get attention on the platform.
Aside from creating company pages, you can also create a "showcase" page, which acts like a child page to your main page. You can feature a specific aspect of your brand, such as a product or your charitable works. The beauty of LinkedIn is that you have several opportunities to build your brand image with written content and graphics. It's important to make use of its many options to create a solid and recognizable presence.
Create a following
Like Facebook and Instagram, you can build a following for your business on LinkedIn. Essentially, the same practices work: You need to create engaging and relevant content, post consistently and often, and respond to users in the comment section.
Here, too, you need to focus on creating and sharing video content. Videos are highly engaging and will only rise in usage because they are easily consumed on mobile platforms. The number of marketers posting video content on LinkedIn is predicted to grow to 65% in 2021. So, it's important to make video content creation a key part of your marketing strategy. As we go through the other sections below, you'll find more ways to boost your following on LinkedIn.
Showcase thought leadership
A significant feature that many people engage with on LinkedIn is the news. LinkedIn often highlights important trends and industry news and brings them to the attention of users. The platform also has Editor Picks, where it shares thought-provoking posts by different users.
This means that your audience receives notifications about key industry insights, and when they explore this, they see a series of posts by LinkedIn members that the editors have curated.
If you're featured in this way, you could stand to have thousands of people view your posts, recognize you and your brand, and follow you for more information.
Note that the editor picks feature draws on posts from people rather than brands.
What can you do to appear in such a feed?
There's no guaranteed way to do so, but the key is to post consistently, and to share unique and detailed insights into current trends in your industry. The more time-sensitive and profound your posts are, the more likely it is that you'll get showcased. And finally, make sure to use the right hashtags so that LinkedIn editors can find your content.
LinkedIn is the ideal place to build your thought leadership status. In becoming a thought leader, you differentiate your brand and stand out from the competition.
Work with LinkedIn Tools
LinkedIn's large membership means that they hold the key to an enormous database that can give you powerful insights. You can access this database primarily through their business solutions. These include hiring solutions, advertising and sales features, and learning platforms. We're not going to explore the tools themselves, but we will look at how you can leverage them to boost your overall marketing strategies.
Build a buyer persona.
Understanding your customer by learning about their interests, roles, and other details allows you to create more personalized content.
One of the best uses that you can make of LinkedIn's business solutions is to use them to develop a detailed buyer persona. Many of its solutions often include the option to send an InMail to a person. This is LinkedIn's equivalent to sending a high-priority email to a professional.
With this feature, you can reach out to anyone who's on LinkedIn, putting you in touch with C-level executives, business owners and potential customers.
Use LinkedIn Analytics.
An important tool at your disposal is LinkedIn's analytics. You can only improve what you measure and the platform will allow you to understand several important metrics, including:
- The engagement level with your content including shares and likes
- Your audience's demographics
- The number of views your posts and other content gets on social media, i.e., impressions
- Unique visitors on your company page
- Whether you have new followers
With the help of analytics, you'll be able to figure out what works and what doesn't. Such data plays a critical role in improving your marketing.
Leverage their advertising platform.
When advertising, you want to make sure that your content is reaching the right audience. Working with LinkedIn's advertising options helps you bring your brand to the attention of decision-makers and other professional movers and shakers.
Make sure to carefully refine your preferred audience while creating an ad. Also, create calls to action that help you achieve your goals. These goals can include driving traffic to your site, starting a conversation, getting people to join an event and more.
Conclusion
When leveraged correctly, LinkedIn can be a launchpad for your business's success. In this article, I've covered several helpful ways to approach this social media site for professionals. Work with the many features LinkedIn offers and be consistent with your efforts. You'll see rewards and growth as you build your presence on it and connect with your audience.