Social media is such a powerful tool in today’s society and so many businesses are embracing these new platforms to promote themselves and their services. LinkedIn is one of those platforms. Currently, there are more than 675 million active LinkedIn users around the globe with an increasing growth rate of 3%. Just imagine the extensive outreach your company can have! The majority of B2B companies already have LinkedIn integrated within their core digital marketing strategy, however, more and more B2C companies are jumping on the bandwagon, due to the unique propositions the platform has to offer. LinkedIn provides professional companies with “unique targeting capabilities” and audience reach. Not only, “LinkedIn has a unique context for its users because it’s a network of professionals. This, in turn, offers a unique value proposition for brands when they consider how LinkedIn fits into their strategy”. So, how can you use LinkedIn to further promote your business and increase audience engagement? Below are some useful tips you can follow and help get you started.
10 Helpful Tips for Getting Started on LinkedIn:
1. Use photos and videos in your posts –
Use photos and videos in your posts as they receive 98% more comments than static posts and it’s the best way to grab your audience’s attention. Consider video collaborations with others on LinkedIn.
2. Do not overdo it –
You want your posts to be short and simple, otherwise you risk losing their interest. If you do decide to write longer posts, make use of bullet points or paragraph breaks to make it easier to read
3. Use Hashtags –
Hashtags are extremely important with expanding your target reach and your search engine visibility
I would recommend using relevant hashtags for each post (at least 3)
You want the hashtags to target a niche segment
It increases your chances of popping up first during an engine search. If you use hashtags that are too broad or general, you risk losing yourself in the crowd
4. Follow and participate in external LinkedIn groups:
These groups will not only increase your outreach but can potentially result in future collaborations or partnerships!
Recommend posting at least once a week on these groups: For instance, you can post about upcoming events, inquiries you have about the industry you operate in, or even just general business-related questions
5. Make use of LinkedIn polls –
It’s a great way to obtain customer feedback and increase engagement. It also goes to show that your company cares about your audience’s opinions and seeks to curate content based on their likes/preferences
6. Provide timely responses –
You want to show that you are available to your customers and care about their concerns. It’s important to take the time to answer questions (within a timely manner). Again, it goes to show that customer experience is one of your main focus and that you’re a trustworthy brand.
7. Timing:
Recommend posting every two days. You want to stay relevant and keep your followers hooked on your company.
Best times to post on LinkedIn are: 7:45am, 10:45am, 12:45am, 5:45pm
Best day to post for B2C brands are Mondays and Wednesdays
8. LinkedIn Analytics should become your best friend –
This is an extremely useful tool! It gives you a better understanding of how your posts are performing and the level of engagement on your page. With this data, you can tweak your SME social media marketing strategy by eliminating or modifying posts that underperformed.
9. LinkedIn marketing tool (for organic targeting) –
LinkedIn offers the opportunity to target your posts based on follower profile data, industry, job, seniority, geography, organization size, and language preference. This is super useful! Allows your post to be specifically seen by your target audience. However, you need to first have 300 followers before you could do so!!
10. When posting about a webinar or event:
Make sure you use call-to-action words. Using strong action words can help ‘pressure’ the individual to sign-up.
For instance: “Shop”, “Sign up”, “Discover”, “Try”, “Watch”, “Start”
There are a number of different strategies you can implement to increase your company’s social outreach. Listed above, are just a few of those tips you should take into consideration when getting started! LinkedIn has enormous potential as a professional social media marketing tool…. and we HIGHLY recommend making the most of it.
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