LINKEDIN MARKETING
5 Quick Ways Your Business Can
Leverage the Power of LinkedIn
WRITTEN BY JACK BARRON | NOVEMBER 11, 2020 | 7 MIN
If you’re a B2B business, then we bet your customer acquisition strategy is an ode to traditional paid channels like PPC. We don’t blame you, though – PPC is predictable, the customer journey is more intricate, the analytics are reliable, and it’s easier to track end-to-end, so you know exactly where your precious budget is being poured into.
And if you’re a little more adventurous, you might spend a portion of your time and money on doing hardcore long-tail research, link building, and other types of organic SEO. Right?
But what about pulling opportunities out of other digital marketing channels, like social media? Why are so many businesses hesitant to add Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to our lead generation strategies?
Probably because it’s unconventional and risky, and they’ve likely had bad returns on investment from not doing it right, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Not if you know how to leverage them properly anyway.
LinkedIn as an Effective Lead Generation Platform
LinkedIn is especially effective when it comes to social media marketing, given it has tonnes of prospecting tools and is a community of professionals already in the business mindset.
HubSpot reported that LinkedIn is 277% more effective at generating leads than other social media sites, so don’t go tarring them all with the same brush just yet. So! If you’re looking for a new platform to help generate a new breed of leads and further increase your brand awareness, LinkedIn might be the social media channel to add to your strategy.
Enter the era of social selling, where the process of finding, nurturing, and converting leads is 57% faster.
#1: Optimise Your User Profile
LinkedIn is THE social media channel for business professionals. And though there is certainly a trend of users starting to let their hair down and share more personal information with connections, it still remains a place to show the best version of yourself. This is especially true if you’re representing your business or brand on LinkedIn.
So, if you’re looking to increase your chances of getting noticed on the platform, optimising your user profile is a good place to start. Here are a few ways to optimise your user profile on LinkedIn:
- Complete your profile fully
Sounds like a basic one, but it makes sense. Take the time to complete your LinkedIn profile fully, making sure each section reflects how passionate and experienced you are at what you do.
What’s more, LinkedIn prioritises completed profiles – otherwise known as ‘All-Star Status’ – by shooting them high up in search. Also, stats show that your profile will receive up to 14% more views with a professional profile pic, and connection requests will multiply by up to five times if you list your current work position. Worth it, then?
- Remember to be Professional
LinkedIn may be a little more lax to network on now, but it still helps to act in a professional manner wherever possible. We know this sounds a little university lecturer-esque, but it’s so important to protect your own image because it does and will affect your brand reputation. Remember to use a smart, high-quality pic of yourself and ensure you only share posts which are free from typos, swearing, and controversial or political opinions.
- Provide Value
While your profile is certainly a good opportunity to impress prospective customers and prove that you’re knowledgeable in your field, it shouldn’t JUST be about you. Aside from coming across as bragging, people just aren’t that interested.
Think of the expression WIFM…What’s In It For Me? Because your customers are every time they answer the phone, view your website and look at your LinkedIn profile.
Make sure that you clearly state what you can do for them, not just what you have done. Offer value without any expectation of a return, be that in the form of a free download (without the requirement for their email or information), LinkedIn articles or even including your top tips in your summary.
#2: Automate Your Content
LinkedIn thrives on content. But since only 1% of its users share original content, there’s a massive opportunity to get seen if you partake.
Of course creating and sharing content is time consuming, and it can be difficult to remain consistent when you have so many professional and personal commitments…but it is worth it.
Automating content to post on a daily basis will help to increase your visibility on the platform, and will give you the ‘soft sell’ approach you need to survive in the world of social media marketing. Pre-schedule your content so that you know there’s a steady stream of informative content that positions you as an authority and keeps you at the forefront of your prospective customers’ minds.
#3: Don’t Forget Your Keywords
Like any social media channel, LinkedIn has gone through peaks and troughs of showing interest in keywords. Though keywords are not the only way to discover content and – alas – user profiles on LinkedIn, they shouldn’t be discounted as a lead generation technique. Keywords are an oldie, but a goodie!
Include keywords associated with your business or services.We could write a whole blog post on using keywords on LinkedIn, but we’ll just keep it concise and simple… think of the keywords your customers would use and try to include them naturally throughout your profile. Don’t stuff them in or let it affect how you present yourself, you will do more harm than good.
#4: Try LinkedIn’s Sales Solutions Tools
As a business-first social channel, it’s only right that LinkedIn has some excellent prospecting tools. If you’re an experienced social media marketer, you could try the Sales Navigator tool, which is one of LinkedIn’s Sales Solutions tools.
We use it extensively to identify prospective customers for both Invoke Media and its clients. By entering demographic and firmographic data, based on established customer profiles, we can quickly generate and refine lists of ideal customers, ready to be engaged.
#5: Join a Group
A quick search on LinkedIn will likely reveal a plethora of groups available for you to join. Think of the types of groups your prospective customers will likely be in, be that local business networking, industry specific or otherwise.
By joining the group you not only gain access to a list of prospective customers for you to engage, you gain valuable insight into current topics, concerns and trends within your target audience, meaning you can tailor your approach, content and marketing messages in real-time.
Jack Barron, Director
Jack is passionate about marketing and helping small to medium-sized businesses thrive. As Director of Invoke Media, he is responsible for overseeing the planning and implementation of every campaign, getting stuck into the execution of successful at every opportunity.
