Whether you're a small business owner who looks after your own marketing or a marketing manager at a big company, knowing how to use LinkedIn for business and marketing is critical to getting the most out of your B2B platform. You can reach a professional audience, gather new leads, increase your website visits, and promote your business with LinkedIn.
Linkedin claims that small businesses can:
Reach new clients by showcasing your expertise and connecting with interested prospects
Build relationships by strengthening and expanding your professional networks that will help grow your business
Get advice by sharing stories, ideas and opinions with people in your industry
Increase credibility by establishing yourself as an expert or thought leader in your field
This article will give you the tools you need to get your company's LinkedIn presence up and running or to optimise it for your business objectives.
Pages vs Profiles
LinkedIn Pages and Profiles serve distinct functions in LinkedIn marketing. While Pages are open to the public and are primarily used by businesses, Profiles are private and used by individuals. Each of these works with the LinkedIn algorithm, but you can use various tools to expand your audience. However, if you are a consultant, work in direct sales, or want to take an individual approach to your business, you will want to have a LinkedIn Profile as well as a Company Page.
Unlike LinkedIn Profiles users can follow LinkedIn Pages without connecting to them first and waiting for approval. This means that when a user shares your Page with their connections, those individuals will be able to follow your Page and see your business' content right away, which has the potential for higher engagement.
But first, set up a Profile Page
You must have a personal Profile Page before you can set up your Linkedin Company Page. You can learn more about doing this here.
Set up a Company Page
Before you can create a Company Page, you must first meet certain prerequisites to ensure that LinkedIn recognises you as a legitimate company.
According to LinkedIn, you must:
Create a personal LinkedIn Profile that complies with the following requirements before you are enabled to start building a Company Page:
Your personal Profile needs to be older than seven days.
The information in your Profile has to match your personal information. When you create a LinkedIn Profile, you have to create it using your first and last names. Doing otherwise will not only prevent you from creating Company Pages, but it will also mean that you are in violation of LinkedIn policies.
Your Profile strength must show an “Intermediate” or “All Star” status. The Profile strength status is shown on the right side of your Profile and it ranks your Profile based on how robust it is. This status will improve as you add more information to your Profile.
Company Page administrators on LinkedIn are required to have multiple connections to demonstrate strong networking skills and to also show that the administrator’s profile is not fake.
You will be required to use an email address that is unique to your company.
You will be required to be listed as an employee in your company.
Now in the top navigation bar select 'Work' and click 'Create a Company Page'.
IMPORTANT: On your personal Profile update your work experience to link to this new Company Page.
Next, fill out all of the information fields. According to LinkedIn businesses with complete profiles experience 30% more views than those without. So take the time to fill out every field - not just the required ones - it could make a real difference to your business. You should be prepared to enter:
Business name
LinkedIn public URL - this is automatically generated as you enter in your company name for example https://www.linkedin.com/company/essbee-marketing-consulting Try to claim one that is the same as your business name, but be prepared to use an alternative if it is already taken
Website - if you don't have one (you should) put in your Linkedin Profile or some other social media site
Industry - you will be given a choice from the dropdown menu
Company size - choose from the ranges provided
Company type - public, self-employed, government, not for profile, sole, partnership etc
Logo - make sure it is sized correctly (you get six times more visits to your Company Page by adding your logo)
Tagline or slogan - 120 characters allowed to briefly sum up your USP or what makes you different from your competitors
Then hit 'Preview' and if all looks OK check the box and hit 'Create page'.
After this step you will then be shown the Admin View of your Page. There are still some important steps needed to complete an optimum profile:
Description - this is an About Us section of up to 2,000 words used to describe your business in more detail. This is the place to use relevant keywords so people can discover you through a search engine like Google or from the LinkedIn search bar. This section might contain information about why you started your business, who your clients are and what sets you apart from your competitors. Describe your specialities in clear and commonly used terms because this will help your page rank higher in search results.
Location - you may enter more than one
Cover photo or banner - again check the sizing requirements. This is the banner area at the top of your Page and should entice people to learn more about you
Hashtags - you may add up to three hashtags that are related to your business. Get more detail on using hashtags here
Year founded
Specialities
LinkedIn Groups you want to show on your Page
Call to action button - ask people to contact you or go to your website
Lead generation form - add a form for people to fill in to make contact with you
Create content for engagement
Now comes the work. LinkedIn claims that companies who post weekly see twice the engagement than those who don't. So what should you post? Here are some best practice tips from LinkedIn:
Include an image in your posts to get twice as many comments
Video gets five times more engagement with Live Video getting 24x more!
Upload documents like PDFs, slide decks, white papers, ebooks or long-form articles to be seen as a thought leader in your field
Put the spotlight on a client or employees with a shout out
Job postings - include relevant hashtags and publish to industry groups
Use the trending topic feature to find out what topics your audience is engaging with and share it directly on your Page
Reshare posts when you are @ mentioned employees, partners, clients etc
Use 3-5 relevant hashtags to your post about its key content or relevant to your business
Stuck for topics? Here are some suggestions from LinkedIn:
Inform your audience - announcements, awards, launches and updates
Humanise your brand - employee stories, CSR initiatives, diversity and inclusion initiatives, workplace issues
Deliver ongoing value - regular publications, news, recaps, insights
Build thought leadership - trends, research and reports, future insights, new ideas or opinions
Using hashtags
From LinkedIn: "Hashtags on LinkedIn help you discover topics and interests most relevant to you, and give you the opportunity to engage with them. All hashtags start with a # sign, followed by a keyword or phrase.
When you create an update to share with your network from your LinkedIn homepage, you can add your own hashtag by typing # and the word or phrase directly in your post. You can also click on # Add hashtag at the bottom of the share box and type your desired hashtag. Recommended hashtags will automatically be suggested when you compose your hashtag. Hashtags can be used anywhere in your post to share a video, article, or document."
Good simple hashtags are great for drawing in new audiences, sectors, and niches.
To strike a balance between popular and relevant hashtags, conduct hashtag research on LinkedIn. For example, if you're in digital marketing, start with a broad hashtag like #digitalmarketing to see how popular it is and how frequently it is used.
Begin with three that appeal to your target audience from here. It is not imperative to concentrate on the number of people following a hashtag, rather than the quality. The hashtags you use should appeal to your target audience rather than a wide variety of people. You may grab a more targeted, narrower audience with lesser-used and more specific hashtags. A good rule of thumb is to use two broad hashtags and one niche.
Be consistent
LinkedIn doesn't require you to publish content on a 24-hour schedule. It does need consistency, though. Your network will expect content from you regularly whether it's every day, every other day, or once a week. Choose a schedule that works for your company and stick to it for a month. Look at your analytics and then choose the days and times that produce the most engagement.
When it comes to sharing content on your Company Page, follow the 4-1-1 rule. For every one piece of original content you post about your brand, share one update from another source, and repost four other pieces of content. This strategy keeps your Company Page fresh without having to create brand content from scratch every day. Instead, you can repurpose blog posts, ebooks, webinars, and other resources to post strategically rather than impulsively or burning out by trying to post new content daily.
Linkedin recommends:
Post often (biweekly or monthly if possible)
Updates posted in the morning usually earn the highest engagement, with a slight bump occurring again after business hours. Experiment to see what works best for your company.
Re-share, tag, and add comments
If you attend a conference, share an article about the event and include a comment about your favourite session. Share photos from events, and tag other attendees. Ask them to share their highlights.
Start conversations, not sales pitches
People tune out overly promotional updates. When posting company-related news or product announcements, make sure they deliver a specific benefit to your followers.
Growing your Page's audience
Sometimes just posting great content isn't enough for people to find and follow you. LinkedIn's best practices for growing your audience are:
Boost a post - a similar concept to Facebook where you pay some money to have a post you have written be served to more of your audience targetted by demographics of your choosing.
Ask for Followers - invite your first-degree Profile connections to follow your business page and ask your team to do the same.
Notify employees of your most important Page posts so they can share, like and comment to boost organic reach and engagement.
Add a LinkedIn Follow hyperlink button to your website and other digital assets.
Comment, react, or share any post in your Profile feed from the perspective of your brand, exposing your name to a wider, relevant audience.
Use LinkedIn analytics, to determine what types of content visitors and followers prefer and create content to suit.
Find the right people to connect with
Find more contacts that could turn into leads. Linkedin suggests:
Use the search bar to find more contacts
Reach out with custom messages
Try to write a short, personal message when asking people to join your network – especially if you haven’t done business with them recently. It’s always appreciated. Be helpful - not salesy!
Continue to grow your network
Check the “My Network” tab to see suggestions of people you may know. Continue to invite contacts you meet – in a LinkedIn Group, via a comment, or in real life – to your network.
Refine your search with “All filters”
If you want to find a connection in a particular industry, from a specific school, or with a certain level of experience, open up “All Filters” in the search bar.
Advertising options
You can use LinkedIn to drive traffic to your website, promote your expertise through thought-leadership articles, expand your network, and advertise job openings and recruit new employees.
Using advertisements will enhance all of these benefits to increase their value for your business. There are four types of LinkedIn advertisements that you can employ to achieve various objectives for your company:
Sponsored content
LinkedIn displays customised news feeds on user Profiles. Sponsored content appears in the LinkedIn news feed and reaches an extremely engaged audience. In order to distinguish it from regular news feeds, sponsored content is denoted as 'promoted.' Single image, video, carousel, and event advertisements are all possible.
Sponsored messages
Only 48% of businesses use direct messaging to engage with potential customers, so there is an opportunity to do so. There are two types of message ads:
Message Ads - send direct messages to your audience to spark immediate action.
Conversation Ads - start conversations with your audience through a choose-your-own-path experience.
Lead gen forms
LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms make it easy for advertisers to collect quality leads using forms that are pre-filled with LinkedIn profile data. When a member clicks on the call-to-action button on a LinkedIn ad with an attached Lead Gen Form, the form is automatically filled with their contact and profile information.
Text ads
The LinkedIn right rail can also feature advertisements. These consist of text, spotlight, or follower ads. These are smaller, more condensed advertisements than sponsored content.
Wrapping up
LinkedIn will continue to be a crucial resource and platform for marketers, job seekers, candidate seekers, and other professionals, particularly in the B2B space. So set up your page and begin marketing on LinkedIn and let me know if you need any assistance.
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