21 Apr Harness the power of LinkedIn to grow your business
LinkedIn is a social media platform that enables business professionals to connect with one another, build relationships, share business ideas and strategies, while promoting their company and brand. It enables the professionals to establish relationships with other businesses, employees, and to reach potential clients and partners. With an estimated three quarters of a billion users, 40% of whom use it on a daily basis, LinkedIn is the world’s largest social network for professionals.
South Africa is among the top 20 countries with the highest number of LinkedIn members and is set to power up the league table as it becomes the preferred social media channel to grow business. With about 10 million South African LinkedIn users as of early 2022, according to Statista, and an estimated four of every five of these are individuals who can potentially drive business and commercial decisions, the platform is increasingly a place to reach key clients – both at home and worldwide.
The platform’s evolution
While LinkedIn started life as a professional networking community for job seekers, it has rapidly evolved as a business to business (B2B) brand awareness and lead generation platform. This transformation into a powerful marketing and sales tool is behind the explosive global expansion of LinkedIn membership to more than 810 million, as well as its US$10 billion annual revenue contribution to parent company Microsoft.
In recent years, many advertisers have shifted away from Facebook, with the B2B sector moving in favour of LinkedIn. A recent Digital Vidya survey indicates that nine out of 10 B2B leaders today consider LinkedIn to be their most effective social media platform for business development.
More B2B Leads
Reasons cited for this include that more B2B leads are generated through LinkedIn than any other platform and a significant volume of corporate website visits are also initiated on the platform. As much of the world, changed by the pandemic, has become used to doing business online, more B2B marketers have chosen to build relationships and share ideas and strategies through LinkedIn.
Another significant development is that the platform has become highly appealing to younger people – and looks likely to become more important for businesses that are targeting professionals with higher disposable income and influence in the workplace. As at January 2022, nearly two of every three LinkedIn users were in the 25 to 34 age category and about 20% of the social network’s base were between 18 to 24 years old, says global data provider Statista.
Just how do you reach the right people on LinkedIn and generate a return on the time and resources your company spends on the social media channel? SWM Communications can help you to harness the power of LinkedIn and other social media platforms to grow your business.
Harnessing the power of LinkedIn
LinkedIn has a large, diverse suite of tools on offer. These range from the ability to post thought leadership pieces and publish specialist newsletters to building communities through groups and running advertising campaigns.
Most LinkedIn products are designed to take advantage of the ability to target important customers with precision. Instead of focusing only on building awareness of your business, you are aiming to reach a select group of people who are likely to have an interest in your offering and a greater chance of becoming loyal customers or partners.
We advocate a careful selection of methods, focusing on quality content rather than quantity. This is because LinkedIn members are ultimately on the platform to gather valuable, actionable information and insights that will help them excel in their careers and generate returns from business activity.
Our approach involves creating meaningful conversations with appropriate audiences relevant to your company’s objectives. This approach is informed by evidence of the best ways to unearth the right information and tailor your messages, using effective LinkedIn products and services, so that you stand out as a market leader.
We base our recommendations on a thorough analysis of your unique business requirements, the competitor landscape, profiles of your ideal customers and on macro trends. We also identify specific LinkedIn techniques, publishing times and a tone of voice suited to your marketing objectives. We adapt as we analyse data from your social media and other digital channels to maximise your investment in content assets.
LinkedIn for business growth
There are many options to consider as you develop communications to underpin your marketing strategy. Note that all your plans flow from your branding and corporate identity, which should be consistent across LinkedIn. Here are three helpful tips on how to get started with LinkedIn and grow your network:
- Setting up your company page
This page is the equivalent of your shop window on LinkedIn, so setting it up and getting it right first time is your first priority. To improve engagement and ensure your company is properly branded on the platform ensure:
- Your branding and corporate identity are clear throughout the profile and your brand images, particularly your logo, and business information are up to date. Use these brand images in posts, your profile picture and your header/banner.
- Optimise your page for search, using relevant keywords as you would for your website.
- As the LinkedIn Profile Description has a 2000-word character limit, it is important to tell your audience/prospective client who you are and how your company can assist in resolving any challenges they may be facing right up front. It is particularly important to include business-related keywords in the first 150 characters, as this is what will appear in the Google preview of your company page.
- To create links to your page from your other digital assets, such as your regular email newsletter, website etc. This can help boost your LinkedIn visibility.
- Content development
Add content to your company page that demonstrates your industry expertise and provides your audience with useful information that encourages them to investigate your products and services in more detail. Make sure the information tells an interesting story about your business and isn’t just a list of facts and figures.
The aim of your content is to increase brand awareness, reach potential clients with your products and services, improve communications with clients, drive potential clients to other platforms such as your website and ultimately grow your business.
- Create and share content that your management, employees and followers will be interested in and proud of, and will want to spread so that your networking efforts gain traction.
- Content can include case studies, announcements about achievements, thought leadership pieces, engaging product and services posts, competitions, industry news, and news on the latest developments at the company. Posting content regularly boosts your LinkedIn presence and keeps followers interested in your business. LinkedIn recommends one post per weekday, but you can aim to start with at least three a week.
- Include calls to action in every caption and include lots of rich media as opposed to posts that are just text. Rich media is images and video, which people are more likely to engage. Videos and podcasts add variety to the marketing communications mix and can appeal to individuals who are at an advanced stage of decision-making in the purchasing process.
- Building your network
Build your network from the inside, out. You can achieve more rapid growth in the number of your contacts through the following:
- Ask your employees to follow you so that you can build your presence among their first-degree followers. Also encourage them to engage in the comments under posts. This gets conversations going and builds deeper connections with your LinkedIn contacts. If an employee adds their position at your company to their profile, your page will be linked on their profile and, in turn, their profile will appear on your company page. But first, create uniform company banners for employees to use on their profiles and get professional photographs taken for your staff members, so that it is easy for them to help maintain your visual identity. Tip: 1128px x 191px is the recommended size for LinkedIn profile pictures.
- Remember to tag key connections where relevant to help your business stories spread across the LinkedIn network.
- Make sure to follow people within your target audience as this will draw attention to your page and assist you to grow your following quickly.
- Your CEO or other senior employees can send personal messages from their profiles to invite their followers to follow your business page.
- Consider cross promoting your LinkedIn account by advertising it on other platforms. You can also add a LinkedIn tab to your website and include the address on your email signature.
- Encourage engagement through prizes for monthly/quarterly engagement.
- Monitor your LinkedIn analytics monthly to determine what posts are working well and what your ideal target audience is that you should be engaging.
We hope that this provides you with some tips to getting started with LinkedIn. Should you like further information on how to use LinkedIn for your business, we provide some further reading below. Alternatively contact us at SWM Communications for assistance in designing a social media strategy that includes a content plan and calendar for you to use LinkedIn effectively in order to grow your business.
Resources and further reading
https://neilpatel.com/blog/linkedin-marketing-tips/
https://www.hostpapa.ca/blog/social-media/linkedin-tips-small-business/
https://www.lyfemarketing.com/blog/linkedin-tips-and-tricks/
https://www.digitalvidya.com/blog/why-b2b-marketers-should-use-linkedin/
How to Use LinkedIn for Business in 2022: A Step-by-Step Guide