LinkedIn is much more than just a platform for finding and recruiting new employees. It is effectively an online networking environment that offers enormous potential for business managers to promote their own and the company’s brand. For B2B operators in particular, the platform can be absolutely brilliant for building awareness and generating leads.
Related: Five ways to influence fellow professionals using LinkedIn
Here are some tips on how to use LinkedIn to your advantage:
Reach out to the right targets
The underlying purpose of LinkedIn is to facilitate connections between professionals and businesses that operate in the same or in related fields. As in the real world with traditional networking, it isn’t about making the most connections possible but making connections with the people your company most wants to work with or offer services to.
Get involved in LinkedIn Groups
Perhaps the best way to make valuable connections in the context of LinkedIn is to subscribe and contribute to groups focused on discussions around relevant subjects for your purposes. There are thousands of groups on the platform populated by professionals in specific fields. By joining them and contributing in a worthwhile way, via the comments sections for instance, you can build your own and your company’s profile quickly among your target audiences.
Contribute regularly
From the perspective of both company pages and personal profiles, when using LinkedIn to boost your brand, it is important to make regular contributions. There is no need to be prolific but adding links to interesting blogs or relevant news articles can help your pages garner a following and remaining involved in conversations can help raise your company’s profile.
Use InMails
InMail is a simple method of delivering messages to identified individuals who are part of the LinkedIn network. Messages are guaranteed to be delivered, though not necessarily opened or read. So there is clear potential for brand building as far as B2B operators are concerned. However, the difficulty comes in finding ways to persuade identified targets to actually open and read your messages. Personalisation here helps lend credibility to your outreach and increases the prospects of receiving positive replies.
Use sponsored updates
Sponsored updates allow companies to target identified demographics among LinkedIn users and ensure that their posts are featured in the news feed of these individuals.
Post shareable content
Having your company’s contributions to LinkedIn shared widely and (hopefully) within your target demographics is a fantastic way to raise your profile and boost your brand. This in fact is a worthy focus for any strategy deployed within the network.
Link LinkedIn to your website
If you are keen to see LinkedIn become a key weapon in your brand awareness armoury then it’s crucial to link your company profile on the platform directly to your website and vice versa.
Brand your company page
To take full advantage of the potential that LinkedIn offers as a brand awareness builder, you should give careful consideration to the way your company page is presented. You should also aim to make full use of the different sections on the page to inform casual visitors precisely what you’re business is all about and what services you offer. Using the most pertinent and relevant key terms in this context can also help your page be found by more people as they search for fresh content and company pages on the platform.
There are already in excess of 260 million professionals using LinkedIn and the platform is becoming ever more useful as an outreach and brand building tool for businesses. When used well, it offers very valuable potential as a means of getting key messages across to target audiences.
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