As we know, people are spending more time online during the pandemic. This inspired some marketers to ramp up their social strategies. You likely noticed interest in TikTok influencer marketing explode 325 percent. And before the pandemic, Instagram’s ad revenue doubled as a percentage of Facebook’s. On the other hand, LinkedIn has gone largely unnoticed.
LinkedIn was created for individual professionals. As a result, companies may overlook its potential. Instead of employing cohesive strategies, they limit themselves to company or employee pages. This makes it challenging to balance company- and employee-level interactions (and, ideally, customer interactions).
In addition, some marketers lack the capacity to work on LinkedIn. Admittedly, LinkedIn can seem intimidating, which could be why some marketers downplay its value or hand the reins to an agency and hope for the best. While this can work, it means in-house personnel will not fully understand the platform’s business benefits.
Building a LinkedIn Strategy
LinkedIn provides an ambient brand experience. Look at it this way: If ads are movie trailers and prospecting emails are billboards, then LinkedIn is a pop-up event, like a book signing or networking happy hour.
LinkedIn encourages interactions with individuals, which makes it more immersive. You can leverage this power to promote a company to a relevant audience, show off your knowledge by engaging with your peers’ content and learn what prospects are interested in–all with a single post or interaction.
LinkedIn’s lead conversion rate is three times higher than other major social media platforms, so there’s a lot of potential for marketing.
Regardless of your goal–building awareness, driving referrals or sales–you can use several tactics to make LinkedIn work. Here’s how:
1. Leverage Your Newsfeed
To make the most of your newsfeed, interact with posts, share interesting articles and promote company success stories.
Post frequently, but not too often. Influencers who post more than 50 times per month average about 26 engagements per post. Those who post 10 to 30 times monthly see more engagement. Moreover, maintain a consistent cadence while providing quality content.
2. Explore Company Pages
Investigate who works at companies you are targeting. Research what they are posting about, find mutual connections and reach out to them. You’ll want to build credibility before reaching out, however, so seek opportunities to share their content or mention potential prospects.
3. Promote Professional Skills
LinkedIn is primarily a networking tool. So, be generous with skills endorsements. Find customers and co-workers you’ve collaborated with and promote their relevant skills. Endorsing skills on your connections’ profiles builds goodwill. Plus, it fosters positive connections and opens the door for you to eventually ask for referrals or favors in return.
4. Add Recommended Connections
Using LinkedIn’s recommendations to build relationships and find people connected to someone in your network. This is a great way to introduce yourself to a company or individual you want to work with. Remember: build a relationship before messaging someone directly.
So, get courageous and move beyond the intimidating aspects of LinkedIn. It’s one of the best platforms for B2B communicators to connect with prospects. If not, you’ll miss out on LinkedIn’s business benefits.
TJ Macke is SVP of strategy at Sapper Consulting