LinkedIn Marketing Hacks to Grow Your Business
If you’re wondering why you should be marketing on LinkedIn, consider the following:
79% of marketers see LinkedIn as a very good source of leads.
LinkedIn is 277% more effective at generating leads than Facebook and Twitter.
LinkedIn accounts for 80% of B2B leads.
LinkedIn drives 46% of social traffic to B2B sites and is considered the most credible source of content.
91% of executives list LinkedIn as the top place to find quality content.
With 310 million active monthly users, LinkedIn is the largest resource to tap into to build your network and grow your business. If you’re not currently using LinkedIn, or are not using it to its fullest potential, it’s time to reconsider.
The following marketing tips will help you get the most from this social media platform.
Photo by Tracy Le Blanc from Pexels
Optimize your profile
Seemingly obvious, but easy to overlook. Optimizing your profile is crucial to help get you noticed and taken seriously.
LinkedIn’s algorithm rewards those with complete profiles, meaning you’re more likely to show up in search results with a complete profile.
Make sure you complete every section of your profile page, including
Profile picture. Upload a high-quality, professional photo for your profile image (headshots are perfect). Profiles with photographs get 21 times more views than those without.
Current job title. LinkedIn members with up-to-date positions receive up to 5 times more connection requests.
About. The ‘About’ summary section is often overlooked but offers valuable real estate on your page; you have 2000 characters with which to speak directly to your target audience. Don’t waste that opportunity.
Experience. One of the most important parts of your profile. List your relevant work history.
Education. List any higher education degrees you hold, including majors, links to dissertations, and honors and awards, if you wish. Don’t include high school.
Licenses and Certifications. If you have a key certification or important license, make sure you add this to your summary section.
Skills and Endorsements. Profiles with 5 skills or more receive 31 times more messages.
Accomplishments. But don’t let this be the first place you mention a big award; make sure it’s highlighted in your summary.
Interests. Showcase who you are as a person, and what you care about.
If you need more help, use LinkedIn’s guided Improve your Profile tool, which will walk you through the steps to complete your profile.
Publish valuable content
Quality content is essential on any platform, and LinkedIn is no exception. Publish relevant, timely content that adds value to your audience. Think about your target audience’s pain points and create content that speaks to that. Your aim is to inform, educate, entertain or inspire with every post, and to establish yourself as an expert in your field.
The more compelling your content, the more likely it is that people will interact with it. This means your content will show up in their feeds, visible to their contacts, thereby extending your reach and putting your business in front of more people.
For best results, utilize all of the main post types available on LinkedIn:
Write an article
Image
Video
LinkedIn Stories (20-second videos that disappear after 24 hours, exactly like Instagram stories, can only be done via the app)
Polls (via the app)
Finally, you don’t have to create everything you post. If you see a post that is relevant to your audience, share it! Including a mix of your own content and that of others increases your credibility as the go-to guide for your niche.
Involve your employees
Employees are 14 times more likely to share their employers’ content than other types of content on LinkedIn. As your best brand advocates, employees can play a vital role in expanding your company's reach and strengthening your brand on LinkedIn.
The more of your employees that create and complete their profiles on LinkedIn, the better.
Employee profiles should include professional photos, relevant work history that includes a description of what they do for your business, and professional connections.
If you have a company page, ask employees to follow it and share your content.
Encourage employees to participate in relevant groups to establish their expertise in the field.
Have employees send personalized InMails; Sales Reps can message prospects, for example.
30% of a business’s engagement on LinkedIn comes from employees. Boosting brand reputation via employee advocacy is an excellent strategy.
Join Groups
A great way to leverage LinkedIn to build your network is by searching for groups in your niche, where you can connect and interact with other like-minded professionals and stay current on trends and industry news. In addition, you can message fellow members of groups, even if you aren’t connected.
Start your own group
By now, we all understand the importance of engaging fans, and what better way to go about it than via your own, dedicated group? The ideal environment for interacting with prospects and customers, having your own group offers a number of benefits, including some pretty great community management features unique to LinkedIn (for example, LinkedIn sends a daily or weekly digest of all activities in the group to your members).
If you have a clear understanding of the target audience your group serves and provide regular value to your group members, you can build a strong, engaged community.
Send InMails
InMail is a great way for you to connect with people who aren’t already in your network. LinkedIn InMails get 3 times more responses than traditional email, however, it’s only available to paid, premium LinkedIn members.
Based on the recipient and their interests, send out personalized InMails including
Offers
Information on new products or services
New content - share a video, article, or photograph you’ve recently published.
Run ads using the Matched Audiences feature
Another high-return LinkedIn marketing strategy is running targeted ads on the platform. The Matched Audiences feature is a powerful tool that allows you to run marketing campaigns targeting companies and contacts. It also enables you to retarget people who have visited your website, or by those who engaged with your company page, viewed video ads, opened or submitted a lead gen form, or RSVP’d to a LinkedIn Event. Retargeting is an excellent way to give prospects a virtual “nudge”; reminding them of your product or service to bring them back to your business.
To grow your business using LinkedIn, establish your brand on the platform and build connections. Offer details about your business on your profile to help your audience understand your brand, and maintain an active presence on LinkedIn; post valuable, actionable content, join groups, and engage with your audience.