LinkedIn is one of the best places for businesses to make connections and generate leads. There are 690 million users on the social network platform, and 80% of them are people who drive business decisions at their company. It is also the number one platform for lead generation. But to be successful on the platform, you need to have the right LinkedIn marketing strategy. Here are five ways to step up your LinkedIn marketing game:
Optimize your profile
Your LinkedIn profile is like your digital calling card on the platform. It introduces you, provides information on your expertise, and lets your connections get to know you and your business. You cannot command attention and present yourself as an authority if your LinkedIn profile is incomplete, and that’s a wrong first impression to make. Here are a few things you can do to take your profile to the next level:
- Start with great photos – Start with a recent high-resolution profile picture. Adding a visually interesting or relevant background image will also help set your profile apart from those with the basic LinkedIn blue background.
- Add in a headline – Your headline is what everyone sees first, and other than your name, it is the only additional information that appears in a connection request. Make sure it shows a connection why they want to connect with you.
- Optimize your profile for search – Use relevant keywords in the About section, link to the page from your website, and continue to share relevant content on your profile
- Customize your profile URL – You can personalize your profile URL, so it’s easier to remember and easier to find. Here are instructions on how to do it
Don’t forget that your employees need LinkedIn profiles, but so does your business. Be sure to set up a business page for your company and apply the same optimization tips. Not only will an optimized business page establish your brand, but it’s also an excellent place for prospects to learn more about your company, your employees, and your offerings.
Share great content
You’ve optimized your LinkedIn profile, and you’re ready to go out and make the right connections. But to do that, you also need to bring something to the party and that something is great content. Regularly posting content that provides thought leadership and is relevant to your audience helps boost engagement. Publishing and promoting your unique content is a great way to promote yourself as a thought leader, but sharing great content from other connections is another way to continue to build your audience.
Make the right connections
We’re all on LinkedIn to network and find the right prospects, partners, and peers to build out our network. But if you’re not making the right connections on the platform, you won’t generate the right leads. Define your target audience and then search for connections that match that audience’s target traits and demographics. Upgrading to Sales Navigator can help you further refine and directly target precisely the people with whom you want to connect.
Encourage people to follow your page
You’ve connected with people either on social media, email, or your website. Keep fostering those relationships. Encourage them to follow your business page. Followers of your LinkedIn page will see your updates directly in their LinkedIn feed, helping increase your exposure and providing them with the opportunity to interact with and promote your posts. Here are a few ways to increase the number of followers.
- Use the follow button on your website or blog to encourage visitors to hop over to your LinkedIn page and follow you there
- Invite your connections to follow your LinkedIn page
- Have your employees follow your LinkedIn page and engage with posts
Measure results
You may think you’re doing everything right. But without measuring results, you’ll never know for sure. LinkedIn offers many ways to measure and analyze your audience’s preferences and behaviors. With LinkedIn page analytics, you can monitor and optimize your page performance. LinkedIn Campaign Manager can help you measure your campaign performance. Regularly measuring results and adjusting your strategy based on the data is the best way to step up your LinkedIn game.
LinkedIn is the social media platform for B2B marketing. Adjusting your strategy to strengthen your presence on the site is one of the best ways to build your audience, increase engagement, and generate leads. Of course, maintaining a productive LinkedIn marketing strategy means regularly spending time on the platform to carry out that strategy, not to mention a certain proficiency level to analyze, create, and run the right searches to find the right connections. Working with a digital marketing agency with the expertise to manage your LinkedIn marketing strategy can help maximize your results.
All the best,
JP Clement
CEO
