Using LinkedIn for social media marketing is quite different to other popular social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter, and Google+. LinkedIn definitely offers a wide rage of advantages for sales professionals and digital marketers. Knowing what you can do on this professional social media channel will let you expand on your network, get to know new connections, research, sales opportunities, and help you to get into touch with decision makers.
If you are targeting a business to business (b2b) audience, you are in luck because LinkedIn is the ideal network to connect with them. LinkedIn is an excellent social media channel if you want to market to professionals and businesses with almost any demographic. How do you start using LinkedIn effectively for digital marketing purposes? Here’s a couple of tips on using this platform in your initiative.
LinkedIn Marketing tips
100% complete profile: Complete your profile on LinkedIn to be 100% complete. If you have an incomplete profile, it will encourage people to not trust you. This is true especially when you are trying to reach new people to connect with. Complete your profile so that it displays your professional story and that is easy to read.
Keywords: Research and create a list of keywords your target audience is busy using on LinkedIn. Include their positions, industry, company, associations, and interests. You can also use the advanced people search tool on LinkedIn by using your keywords.
Connecting: Connect with as many people as possible that you would like to connect with. If your intention is to market services and products, it makes sense to have a large list to work with. If you are looking to grow your own network strategically, connect only with people you would like to sell to. You can also target contacts in other industries if you want to connect with the people in their networks. The possibilities are endless.
Introductions: Ask your network to introduce you to people in their network you would like to connect with. Using LinkedIn for marketing purposes gives you the opportunities to strengthen your relationship with your own contacts while they are helping you to expand your own network.
Local connections: When you are travelling around, search for LinkedIn members in the area you are in. You can plan a LinkedIn get together and invite them for a meeting.
Though leadership: With LinkedIn you can become a thought leader and the expert in your niche. Use LinkedIn Answers to ask and answer questions that your target audience will find interesting. Asking questions is a nice way you can begin to start engaging with people and it can grab the attention of the people who are interested in the topic. Share your expertise on LinkedIn and position yourself to your network as a valuable resource.
Join groups: There are various groups that you can join on LinkedIn with members you can connect to. You can use LinkedIn groups to participate in discussions. Use the group’s member section to browse through the profiles of all the members. When you interact with any of the group members, be concise and clear. Let them know what you have in mind and that you want to connect.
LinkedIn ads: With these ads you can target specific categories of LinkedIn members. These ads on LinkedIn may cost more than the ads on other social media channels or even traditional display ads, but these ads are targeted and can be displayed in front of the demographic you specify. This demographic can be people who earns a good income and that also consist of high level professionals that you want to target.
With LinkedIn marketing it is very important to connect with the right people. Do your research first on how you can start using this professional social media channel to your advantage.
Yes – In particular, my LinkedIn profile
rates higher in searches for my name than any (except Google+) of my other profiles.
And that despite the amount of inactivity on my LinkedIn profile and the
relatively small amount of connections I have compared to Facebook for an
example. And that by itself should give a good indication of the value
that LinkedIn can offer to you or your brand. Linked.in Also has the ability to
grow your profile professionally and allows you to focus on Business aspects in
a Social way of Communicating and advertising. I’ve also found that the value
of ads on LinkedIn is of much greater targeted value than some of the other
Social Media Channels.
What’s your take on
Authority Anton, Which one of your Profiles rates the Highest compared
to the amount of effort and exposure one puts into it?
Definitely LinkedIn.
LinkedIn is also one of the channels that drives the most traffic to my site/blog and other social media profiles.
I do agree – Though I must say, I’m openly
admitting to the Power of LinkedIn – Now I must just practise what I preach and
be more active on my LinkedIn profile.
Hi Anton,
thanks for putting this list of pieces of advice together. Linkedin is often referred to as an untapped goldmine. I am sure it is true but I know I haven’t used its full potential not even remotely. Time to redesign my strategy with the help of your advice.
Take care
Oliver
Thanks Oliver. I’m glad you found it useful.
Hi Anton,
I’m starting to get tons of traffic from LinkedIn all of a sudden so I joined a few groups over there. I’d loved to hear more about the ad targeting, it sounds like something I’d be interested in. Thanks for these tips. I’d better make sure we are connected over there too.
Thanks Ileane. Most of the traffic to my blog is from the LinkedIn groups that I belong to. I will definitely be blogging about the ad targeting on LinkedIn in the next few weeks.
Anton, can you suggest a good blogging or social media group for me? Please add me to a group if you can. Thanks!!
Will do. We need to connect on LinkedIn first. I’ve sent an invite to you.