Socially, LinkedIn is known as a useful site for employees to find new jobs and connect with other professionals, but it can be just as beneficial for the businesses. From creating connections with potential employees to posting job openings and company news, businesses can create an entire community and generate a professional reputation through their page. Unlike other social media platforms, the goal of LinkedIn is to create professional relationships and make connections with a different audience comparatively.
A simple option for businesses is to have a company page on LinkedIn and connect with employees and other businesses. By following marketing tips, businesses can network and take full advantage of the platform in order to grow their company off of LinkedIn, as well. Simple marketing strategies can go a long way. This list will compile some of the most successful tips for businesses to take their LinkedIn game to the next level.
Connecting with Customers
- Target your specific audience and make connections
- LinkedIn is unparalleled in its ability to narrow into a specific industry, job title, location, etc. Take advantage! Connect with professionals within your industry and who would typically be interested in your service or product.
- “The targeting on LinkedIn is unparalleled in the realm of digital advertising. Small businesses can zero in on the exact industry, company size and job role [of the people] that they know typically would buy their product or service. For example, if you are selling customer support software to small businesses in the United States, you can set your advertising campaigns to only be showing to businesses [that have] under 100 employees, based in America – and within that grouping, only to executives at those companies with a customer support title.” – Tim Peters, vice president of revenue operations at Doxim
- Create a connection with your email marketing list
- Email a letter to connections on LinkedIn thanking them for being connected and offer to add them to your email marketing list while letting them know what they will receive by joining the list.
- “I highly recommend everyone on LinkedIn write a crafted letter [to each connection], saying thank you for being connected on LinkedIn, and that you invite them to be part of your email marketing list. Do apologize for the lack of personalization in the email. LinkedIn lets you message 50 people at a time this way. I added about 300 people to my email list with this method. Include in your email a direct link for the email signup. It is imperative that you have reciprocity in the message: Tell them what they will receive by signing up for the email list, and offer to look at something of theirs, which is a fairly noncommittal method to garner goodwill.” – Bradford Hines, founder of YumDomains and HungryKids.org.
- Add and advertise employees
- Show that your employees are real people! Make sure that employees have completed their profiles on LinkedIn with a profile picture, descriptive and relevant work history, and professional connections. Offer to help employees with completing these tasks if necessary. When employees reach goals, get awards, or complete a large assignment, post about it! Show that you are proud and you run a healthy work environment.
- Be active in LinkedIn groups
- Join LinkedIn groups that are relevant to the business’ industry and their target demographic. This gives the business an inside view on what the audience is talking about and searching for and also allows the business owner to interact and connect with other professionals. This creates connections and grows the business’ audience.
Grow the Audience Size
- Publish engaging content on your company page
- New, fresh and engaging content is what drives members to a LinkedIn page. Whether it is from a company account or personal account, it has to be insightful but not to salesy. This will boost your chances of engagement.
- Use rich media to increase engagement
- Did you know that images will receive 6 times more engagement than posts with just text? Tailor pictures or graphics so they are relevant to what you are posting about.
- “Good content can be highly targeted and should accomplish two goals. First, it should teach others how to solve a problem or how to do their job better, and it then establishes you as a thought leader in that space. Each aspect naturally leads to more business if you offer them real value. It’s basic psychology, and it gets real results.” – Michael Riley, co-founder of Boxter
- Highlight your companies best content
- By highlighting the companies best content will allow members to see what is important to the company. This could be anything from awards to company culture. The more personal the better!
Keep Content Up to Date
- Announce Company News
- If you ever want to find the latest news from a company, odds are it’s on LinkedIn. They post news on there to keep members and connections up to date on that company.
- Announce Notable Wins
- Posting positive news for employees when they win awards help boost engagement for your company. Connections will repost and like the post especially if pictures are involved.
- Use of Personal Accounts
- Establishing your expertise and role is key when you are using your personal account. You need to make sure you have the correct heading in your profile so others know who you work for. This will drive members to not only your page but company pages as well.
- “Get as many of your employees as possible to create and complete their profiles on LinkedIn. These should include appropriate photos, relevant job history that includes a description of how they help your business, and professional connections. My current company is putting together a LinkedIn Day when we’ll have a photographer available to take profile photos, and we’ll help employees set up their accounts.”– Tam Frager, marketing and communications consultant
Following these simple tricks will help businesses to achieve their goals faster and better than possible before. Businesses should take full advantage of all possible mediums to grow and reach their audience and meet higher goals.
Teaching Social Media 