How to Use LinkedIn Marketing for Business
In the last couple of years, social media has become an essential form of marketing. New social media channels appeared to support modern ways of communication and advertising. Companies now use them to connect with customers faster and easier than ever before. But the growing number of social media channels also brings a new difficulty. Leaders often get confused about which channel to use for marketing.
Fortunately, some renowned platforms still stand out from others as more-experienced and trustworthy. LinkedIn is one of the best business-oriented online services out there. It has almost 20 years of experience. The platform helps brands introduce themselves to interested professionals and other businesses.
As of 2022, this popular platform has 808.4 million global users, of which 66.8 million users are in the US alone. Still, LinkedIn often gets overlooked for promotional purposes. Many businesses fail to recognize it as a powerful marketing tool.
If you're not using LinkedIn for marketing, you're missing out on enormous potential. This guide will help you learn more about LinkedIn marketing and its benefits for your brand. It will also give you tips on using the platform for growing your organization.
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What Is LinkedIn Marketing?
If you want to thrive in this overloaded digital world, you'll need to grow connections. LinkedIn marketing helps you do that. The practice stands for using the platform for your promotional efforts. You get to build relationships and drive traffic to your website, among other things. Its primarily used for B2B marketing, but there is an argument that it can be valuable for small businesses as well. So don't count out Linkedin for your HVAC marketing, legal marketing, or plumbing marketing efforts quite yet. haha.
Above everything, LinkedIn marketing helps you make and maintain your brand image. The platform gives you access to helpful brand-building, content-sharing, and data-analytics features. You get to grow your network and enrich your content marketing strategy with ease.
LinkedIn Marketing Tools
Advertising your brand through LinkedIn is a great way to expand reach within your network. These are the different types of digital ads you can use on this platform to meet your unique business goals.
1. Sponsored Content
Each LinkedIn user sees different content on their feed depending on interests and the people they follow. The platform allows you as a brand to reach a highly engaged audience by promoting your posts.
2. Lead Generation Forms
LinkedIn allows you to collect potential customer information through pre-filled forms. This tool can speed up your lead generation process and increase conversions.
3. Text Ads
This condensed ad format includes a headline, a short copy, and an image. Text ads let you create and optimize your campaigns to appeal to a premium professional audience.
4. Sponsored Messages
LinkedIn also lets you generate quality leads by sliding into their direct messages. Since not many businesses use this tool, you can still get an edge out of it when reaching out to your prospects.
5. Linkedin Group
A Linkedin group can provide a great way to bring community to a broader topic associated with your business.
About LinkedIn
Launched in 2003, LinkedIn is now the largest online network for job seekers and companies globally. Over 20 years of existence, the platform has connected millions of professionals and brands.
LinkedIn is not your average employment marketplace. It's the go-to place to publish professional content and take part in industry talks. The platform allows users to share their professional stories through posts, videos, and articles. Its features range from job recommendations to professional training resources and industry reports. Also, LinkedIn offers handy marketing solutions to help businesses reach interested audiences.
Who Is on LinkedIn?
The platform connects professionals across all industries. The ones that could interest you the most as a business are:
- Potential employees
- Competitors
- Customers
- Industry leaders
Exposure to this public has turned LinkedIn into marketing-tool royalty. The platform allows you to put your stories, milestones, and other content in front of the right eyes. In turn, you grow your business and increase your sales. According to some studies, most leads generated by social media platforms come from LinkedIn.
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Why Do I Need Marketing on LinkedIn?
Many think that social media marketing is about platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. While these networks are a great place to start and should not get excluded from your digital strategy, they're not all there is to online marketing.
Social media users typically want one thing from the mentioned platforms: entertainment. Yet, they're more used to finding aggressive ads and promotional efforts from brands. LinkedIn users are more business-driven and access the platform with a different mindset. They make a better audience for marketing because they come online looking for work or products and services.
As mentioned above, this platform makes an outstanding lead generation tool. That's why it should become an essential part of your social media calendar. Let's explore the benefits of LinkedIn marketing in more detail.
Helps Build Authority and Grows Brand Awareness
LinkedIn is the ideal platform to show your expertise in your industry. It allows you to provide your audience with valuable industry insights. Giving advice through content on LinkedIn is the fastest route to becoming a thought leader. As long as you show potential customers you know your stuff, they won't hesitate to come to you.
Lets You Aim Your Content Towards Specific People
Launching and promoting your products or services on LinkedIn can help you attract the right buyers. LinkedIn offers you to create and share niche content. It also ensures your creations reach a unique audience.
According to data on marketing LinkedIn background, 4 of 5 platform members drive business decisions, and 95% of decision-makers like to feel connected with a brand before making a buy. So, your profile and content on LinkedIn can influence how people see your business.
LinkedIn's sponsored updates also let you reach more specific audiences based on:
- Age, sex, and location
- Company name and size
- Industry
- Job title
- Seniority
- Level of education
- LinkedIn groups
Boosts Website Traffic and Generates Quality Leads
Publishing valuable content on your LinkedIn Page can help you get more website visitors. It could spark consumer interest and motivate people to reach out and ask about your services. For example, you get to increase engagement with links to your landing page or blog posts. You can also chat with followers and so much more.
Aids in Increasing Social Proximity
The majority of social buyers are most likely to purchase from you when referred by someone in their network. LinkedIn can help you increase referrals. Your connections may introduce you to other colleagues and friends and raise your social reach. Once you get into their sight, you can show your attractive offers and services.
LinkedIn Is Great Social CRM
Believe it or not, LinkedIn makes a solid customer relationship management (CRM) tool. The platform gears you up to better understand potential customers. It lets you study your contacts' interests in real-time and learn more about their preferences and behavior. In the end, the insights allow you to provide a better experience to your followers and customers.
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8 Essential Tips on How to Use LinkedIn Marketing
Using LinkedIn marketing requires planning. You need to ensure you know what you're doing to achieve your goals and attract more customers. Below you'll find some suggestions on how to make the most of your LinkedIn marketing plan and outperform your competitors.
1. Understand the Difference Between a LinkedIn Profile and a LinkedIn Page
These two services have different purposes in a LinkedIn marketing strategy. A LinkedIn page is geared towards businesses and will let users follow your content immediately. They won't need to wait for a connection approval to interact with you. On the other hand, a public profile is typically for individuals. It lets you have direct, one-on-one conversations with your contacts.
Pro Tip: You can use both services to optimize your LinkedIn marketing efforts. It's only essential to keep a consistent brand identity across profiles and leverage tools each can offer.
2. Set Up an Attractive LinkedIn Public Profile
To attract more potential customers on LinkedIn, you need to stand out from the crowd. You can achieve that by creating a winning profile:
Customize Your URL
A good URL will automatically make your public profile look more professional. That's why you need to carefully craft your own instead of going with the default number string provided by the platform. Make sure your new URL helps you become more identifiable.
Use a Clean and Professional Background Photo
Adding a background photo allows you to showcase your company's personality. You can update the default picture with something brand-related. Make sure you use LinkedIn's recommended dimensions and formats for added quality.
Take Your Time Editing Your Profile
LinkedIn allows you to add, remove, and reorder sections in your profile. You can present only the most relevant information and do so in preferred order.
Use Search Engine Optimization When in Doubt
To attract the right customers, you need to make yourself as visible as possible. Optimizing your profile with relevant keywords will increase your chances of getting discovered by people. Use the keywords in every section of your profile, including your headline.
Add Portfolio Links and Social Networks
LinkedIn lets you add relevant links to your public profile to promote your content and business information. Interlinking opportunities can help you drive traffic and boost sales.
3. Reach Out to Customers
As mentioned earlier, LinkedIn lets you connect with all kinds of professionals. Use your public profile to introduce yourself to potential clients and customers and stay in touch with them. Find a way to communicate without being too salesy. You can send your connections monthly newsletters with valuable information about your brand and offerings. Providing people with value is the fastest way to their hearts.
4. Craft High-Quality Content
Your post on LinkedIn should always have a positive impact on your connections. LinkedIn users value information that helps them solve a problem or learn something new. Providing them with such content increases your chances of creating a meaningful profile people will want to follow and share.
5. Keep a Consistent Posting Schedule
Much like any other social media platform, LinkedIn requires consistent publishing for you to stay relevant. Believe it or not, people notice your posting schedule. Once you gain some popularity, your audience will expect to see regular content from you.
Pro Tip: You can adjust your calendar over time. Monitor engagement and use that information to create a posting frequency that makes sense to you.
6. Join LinkedIn Groups or Create Your Own
LinkedIn Groups are a hub for you and other LinkedIn users to share relevant content. They enable you to grow your network with high-quality connections and increase brand awareness. You can become a member of pre-existing groups or make your own. Either way, this feature will allow you to:
- Take part in industry discussions
- Inspire thought leadership
- Grow a community of advocates
- Contact members directly
- Create more first-degree connections
7. Trust the Data
LinkedIn provides users with trusting analytic and reporting tools. It allows you to assess your profile or page performance with ease. Keeping track of the data will let you know if and where you need to increase your efforts. It'll help you measure the effectiveness of your status updates, paid ads, and content. To make the most out of this information, start:
- Identifying which posts are giving you the best results and getting more interactions.
- Tracking connection data to see whether your following is growing.
- Examining data on impressions, reach, clicks, comments, likes, and shares to measure engagement.
- Measuring referral traffic to see how many of your LinkedIn connections end up visiting your site.
8. Complement Your Organic Reach With Paid Ads
If your LinkedIn profile or page is not performing the way you'd like, you can complement your strategy with paid advertising. The LinkedIn Ads feature will help you craft effective campaigns and introduce them to desired audiences.
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Advanced Suggestions for Making the Most of Your LinkedIn Marketing
Once you get the hang of the LinkedIn marketing basics, you may want to enhance your efforts. Consider doing these things when growing your profile on LinkedIn:
Keep an Eye Out for Network Updates
Once you create a profile on LinkedIn, you can't just sit and wait for results. Make sure to monitor the news feed to get a sense of what your network does and wants. Explore the content your connections share and answer their interests with relevant posts. Based on these insights, your content can attract more views.
Add an Edge to Your Content Strategy
Your connections won't always have the time to go through an extensive article or video. That's why you should include quick, short pieces into your LinkedIn marketing strategy. Finding a balance between long and short content will help you increase engagement and stay in your clients' minds.
It's worth mentioning that you can also enrich your content strategy with articles and blog posts from other relevant sources. You don't have to produce new content all the time. Just make sure to give credit when it's due if you're copy-pasting. Alternatively, you can tag the original author to involve them in the conversation. It may help you reach the author's audience too.
Use Hashtags and @mentions
Hashtags are a potent tool for social media marketing. When used right, they can help you get a wider reach and attract the right audience to your content. Just make sure you're not using too many. A good rule of thumb is including three to five on each post.
Another excellent method to increase the reach is by tagging other LinkedIn users. All you need to do is use the @ symbol before the user's name in your status updates to trigger a notification on their end. Tagging users may encourage them to interact with your post, which adds to engagement and brand awareness.
Pro Tip: Contrary to popular belief, lesser-known hashtags can increase visibility among relevant viewers. Hashtags with higher numbers could cause your post to get lost in an ocean of publications from other users.
Take Advantage of All LinkedIn Capabilities
If you want to use all LinkedIn can offer, explore the following features and put them into action for best results:
Jobs Page
LinkedIn is an exceptional tool for reaching new customers and engaging the existing ones. But it also works wonders for finding the right talent for your business. The LinkedIn Jobs page is well worth exploring, especially if you need new hires.
All you need to do is share a relevant and SEO-focused job post, and professionals open for work will find you. Another way is to use LinkedIn for passive recruitment and talent pool development, as you'll already have a built network.
"Who Viewed Your Profile"
Keeping tabs on who viewed your public profile is a must. It will help you identify potential leads and make sure you're appealing to the right people. This knowledge will allow you to tailor your profile to your captive audience. Alternatively, you could make it more attractive for your intended public.
LinkedIn Endorsements
If you open a LinkedIn profile, you can use endorsements to add validity to it. An endorsement feature allows people to come to your profile and endorse your skills with a push of a button. The action makes profiles more impressive and shows public support for individuals. It also increases trust with others and helps build authority in an industry.
Showcase Page
Showcase pages allow admins to appeal to a narrowed-down audience. This tool is for long-term campaigns that encourage LinkedIn users to build a lasting relationship with your brand.
Cross-Platform Sharing
You can add your Twitter account to your LinkedIn profile. It will allow you to share your status updates and bring your Twitter following into LinkedIn. If you put your content in front of a larger audience, you'll most likely generate more leads.
Give Your Employees a Face
Getting your employees to create and complete their profiles will also give you a competitive edge. An active company network will tell people more about your culture and value as a brand. It will also directly put your brand in front of more people and expand your network.
Customize Your Connections
LinkedIn allows you to tailor the way you build and maintain connections on the platform. You can add and remove people from your network based on the value they bring to your business. Additionally, you can limit who's able to see your existing connections to avoid competitors from stealing them.
Even more importantly, you can export your connections to your favorite contact management system. This tool will help you include potential buyers you've found on the platform into your sales pipeline.
Pro Tip: Reach out to third-degree connections to broaden your network. You can also import contacts from your address book and grow your relationship with vendors, colleagues, leads, and customers.
Avoid Hard Sells
The LinkedIn community heavily frowns upon aggressive sales pitches within the content on their news feed. Too direct approaches may disrupt the user experience and feel pushy and unnatural. To succeed in your advertising efforts on the platform, you'll need to make your content and ads feel natural.
Embed a Follow Button To Your Website
You can add a LinkedIn follow button to your blog or website to direct traffic to your profile. This way, your website visitors can become engaged LinkedIn connections and help you expand your network.
Keep Things Social
LinkedIn is a social network before anything else. Even when it can give exposure to your company, it's a connection-building tool. If you want your audience to engage more with your brand while on the platform, build and foster meaningful relationships with them. Don't overload people with content. Instead, listen to their needs and try to respond with adequate solutions.
Build your persona brand and be consistent
Over the last several years we have seen a shift in social away from brands to people having the impact. "Building in public" is a great way to share experiences and connect with others on how you are building your business. With insightful stories, you can start to build a following that then connects back to your company since you are an expert.
The key with building a personal brand is consistency. Even if its just one post a week, you need to build it into your schedule to make it happen and keep the momentum growing. Initially you may also need to comment on others posts or join groups to start to connect with others in your field.
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Get Started with LinkedIn Marketing
Although sometimes overlooked, LinkedIn is becoming the ultimate lead generation tool. The platform just offers an excellent way to capture and convert potential customers. As long as you use it in the right way and plan your actions, you'll get the best results.
If you need help in leveraging LinkedIn marketing, Scorpion can support you. We specialize in aiding small businesses to reach their full potential.
Scorpion brings in the best technology and experts to help you reach customers and build your brand image. We handle everything from content marketing and SEO to digital advertising and social media. At the same time, we take into account your unique business needs.
Contact us today and learn how we can help you gain a competitive edge in this highly-competitive digital era.
