With 830 million active users, 58 million companies, and access to the world’s largest professional market, LinkedIn is one of the best platforms for creating consistent and compelling content so that your company can attract business-minded professionals. Unlock the power of LinkedIn for business in 2023 with our step-by-step guide.
With over 1 billion interactions every month, LinkedIn offers a platform to get direct access to your potential customers. However, on average, users only spend about 17 minutes on LinkedIn per month so it is important to understand how to target the right audience at the right time and build a credible network for your business.
With a plethora of information available online, it is important to know how and where to start, which can be time-consuming. So here we are, providing you with a step-by-step guide on growing your business on linkedIn marketing agency effectively.
How to use LinkedIn for Business?
1. Setting up a business account
- Open your LinkedIn account, on the top right corner, select the ‘Work’ tab, and go to the ‘Create a Company page’ section.
- Choose the right type of page from the options- Small business, Medium to large business, Showcase page, or Educational institution. Most of these options are self-explanatory except for the “Showcase page.” It is when you want to sub-categorize any of your products or service.
- Next is to fill in the basic company details like selecting the industry of your business, company size, business logo, tag line, and finally click on ‘Create page’.
2. Optimization
- To look distinct, upload a branded cover image, add a description, and fill in the tabs such as location, community, hashtags, featured groups, etc.
- Make sure not to skip any sections because a complete profile gets 30% more audience.
- Add a ‘Call-To-Action’ button which could either be Contact us, Learn more, Sign up, Register, or Visit website.
3. How to build your following
- Share your business page profile link on your personal page and ask your employees and other connections to follow that page.
- Ask your employees to edit the job description and link the new company profile with their profile. It will build credibility on the platform and will also help in getting more followers through your employees’ connections on LinkedIn.
- LinkedIn has a creative method for letting you invite people to follow your page while limiting spam. Each page gets a hundred credits that can be used to invite your personal LinkedIn contacts. Every time someone accepts your invitation, you can get that credit back to invite someone else.
4. Make a content plan
It is imperative to know when you should be posting, at what frequency you should be posting, and what should be the optimum length of each post.
- The optimum number of posts per week can be between two to five times but don’t post more than once a day.
- Short posts create a punch and long-form stories capture the reader’s attention. You want to balance them to cater to both kinds of audiences.
- And lastly, post during business hours.
Ways to Use LinkedIn for Business
1. Networking
LinkedIn is a perfect platform to broaden your professional community and if you are a business, looking to capitalize on LinkedIn, it is even more crucial to do networking the right way. What sets LinkedIn apart from other social media sites is the professional networking tools that allow you to make direct connections with individuals, with whom you can potentially do business. A survey done by LinkedIn revealed that 25% of a quarter of participants said that the site helped them establish a new business partnership.
2. Generate leads
When you are using Linkedin For Business, you would want to convert your network into potential leads. For lead generation, you can either take the help of lead gen form ads or send the leads directly to your landing page.
3. Thought Leadership
It is a way of presenting insights or ideas to spark discussions, and debates and inspire actions. As Jeff Ernst, principal analyst at Forrester Research said, “Business buyers don’t ‘buy’ your product or service, they ‘buy into’ your perspective and approach to solving their problems.” Hence, thought leadership is a great way to engage buyers at the strategic level.
4. Recruitment
LinkedIn states that 70% of its users are passive candidates, and if you are a recruiter looking for a database that includes a large percentage of passive prospects, LinkedIn is the best choice. Passive candidates are those who are not looking for a job actively but if a dream job comes, they will consider it. With a database, as extensive as LinkedIn carries, it becomes easier for recruiters to pick from.
Important LinkedIn marketing tips
1. Use hashtags
They are often used to add emphasis to your LinkedIn post. You want to strike a balance between relevant and popular hashtags by doing hashtag research on LinkedIn. Use a search bar to query a broad hashtag.
2. The 5-3-2 rule
While posting, you might want to follow what LinkedIn calls the 5-3-2 rule, which means for every 10 posts, 5 should be shared content, 3 should be original content and 2 should be fun content that gives your brand a character.
3. LinkedIn Analytics
LinkedIn offers an in-built analytics tool that measures the effectiveness of your strategies or ad performance. It helps understand your audience and gives an idea about what engages them the most. It tracks different social media metrics and reports back the success ratio.
4. Leverage LinkedIn Advertising
Consider utilizing LinkedIn’s advertising platform to target specific demographics, industries, or job titles. Sponsored content, sponsored InMail, and text ads can help increase visibility and generate leads for your business.
LinkedIn marketing tools
LinkedIn marketing tools can help, you grow your professional network and offer tons of benefits. Some tools automatically send out connection requests while others focus on providing an in-depth report to get an overview of your marketing efforts like:
1. Social Pilot
It is a LinkedIn marketing tool that takes care of your LinkedIn marketing requirements like bulk scheduling posts, collaborating with your social media team, discovering relevant content, setting up media campaigns, etc.
2. IFTTT
IFTTT stands for ‘If This Then That.’ This LinkedIn marketing tool automates specific tasks via third-party apps. It has predefined recipes that can be used for LinkedIn automation. With these commands, you can schedule your posts to the exact hour, share them on Facebook, share a tweet every time you publish a post, and so on.
3. LinkedIn Sales Navigator
It helps you find relevant leads for your business and offers insights to make the right decision. It provides leads and recommendations as per your target audience and needs and also helps you get results for complex search queries while updating you with real-time sales dynamics.
4. SalesLoft
It integrates with many sales tools and can be used by both beginners as well as professionals. It integrates different data types, aligns your workflow, and helps you have a better target audience. This enables you to personalize your strategy and provides data-driven results to tell you where your sales strategy should be going.
Wrapping up!
LinkedIn has grown from a website for job seekers to a complete social media platform that professionals use to boost their business, advertise their products or service, or obtain insider expertise from established experts. It helps you build a credible network, provides a direct reach to potential customers, and allows you to monitor and navigate your marketing strategies. With growing trends and a boost in social media, LinkedIn is certainly one of the best places to grow your business in 2023.
