The B2B Marketer’s LinkedIn Playbook
LinkedIn is the most popular social network for B2B marketers and salespeople. It's a place where you can network with like-minded professionals and build relationships that will help you grow your business.
With over 850 million members and 58 million companies listed, there are plenty of opportunities to connect with potential customers. The only problem? It can be difficult to know how best to use the platform and stay up to date with new strategies and developments.
Luckily, LinkedIn is one of our favourite topics! We've written lots of articles that will help you make the most of this powerful social network. In this article, we've compiled our best advice in one place so you can easily reference it whenever you need it.
This post is a living document. We'll keep it updated with new content as we publish it, so be sure to bookmark the page or check back every once in a while for more LinkedIn marketing tips.
LinkedIn Profiles
Why should you care about your team's LinkedIn profiles?
Imagine if staff from every level of your business, from the interns to the CEO, all had professional, optimised profiles. What if they were all present and active on the world's largest professional networking site, and posting regularly?
How much bigger would your company's profile be online if they were sharing your posts? How many more talented job seekers could you attract? How many more high-quality leads could you reach?
If you want to boost your visibility, build your influence and authority, and increase your brand awareness (among other benefits), then you need to read this post: How Professional LinkedIn Profiles for Your Team Benefits Your Business
In it, we look at the benefits of having a co-ordinated LinkedIn strategy, and offer tips on how to use the platform more effectively.
LinkedIn Company Pages
As well as mobilising your team to amplify your social impact on LinkedIn, your company needs its own company page.
LinkedIn is no longer a stodgy, boring business networking site. It has evolved, and offers a sophisticated set of marketing tools to help you connect with exactly the right people.
This is an opportunity to tell your story, showcase your team, and share relevant content with your audience. You can also use it as a platform for posting jobs, generating leads, employee engagement, and promoting events.
By the time you've finished reading this post, we hope you will have a clearer vision for how your company can—and should!—use these pages in creative ways.
Content Marketing on LinkedIn
So, you're all set up. Your team is on side and your company page is looking great. What next?
LinkedIn is not just a place for job seekers and recruiters. It's a great platform for businesses of all shapes and sizes to showcase their expertise, share industry news and trends, attract new customers, and build brand awareness. In other words: it's an amazing tool for content marketers.
But what kind of content should you be sharing? Educational content? Company news? Opinion pieces?
Read this post. It offers lots of tips on using LinkedIn as an effective content marketing channel and links out to some brilliant resources.
Hashtags on LinkedIn
We often find that business owners and marketers underestimate the power of hashtags when using the platform.
Suffice to say, if you're not using them, then you're missing out on an opportunity to reach new audiences and build your brand.
From discovering ideas for content, to targeting your audience's interests, and engaging with relevant people to your business, there are lots of reasons to find out more.
Start with our primer on hashtags to learn the basics. In our follow-up article, you'll learn what we discovered when we researched the most popular hashtags on the platform.
Understanding The LinkedIn Algorithm
You're posting valuable content. You're using hashtags. But you're still not seeing the results you want. What's going on? The answer may be simple: LinkedIn's algorithm.
Like all social networks, LinkedIn uses an algorithm to determine what content appears in your feed and how much it gets seen by others.
Lots of variables are at play here, and the algorithm is constantly changing. But we try to keep on top of what's hot and what's not!
There are things you can do to help your posts get more traction on the platform. Read this article, and you'll gain some valuable tips on how to tweak your content strategy and get more traction on the platform.
Live Streaming
Live video streaming has taken off in recent years, and LinkedIn has kept up with developments. The platform has its own live video broadcasting tool that has been a big hit with individuals and brands.
But what does it take to really get results from live streaming?
We wrote a series of articles on social live streaming that can help you get started. The first article helps you to understand the opportunity. The second looks at the choice of platforms available (including LinkedIn Live). And the third offers some great examples to inspire your own live video strategy.
LinkedIn Newsletters
Did you know LinkedIn offers an email marketing option?
Your marketing team can now create a newsletter to send to LinkedIn users.
The tool is easy to use, but there are some considerations you should keep in mind if you want to get the most out of it. Our article covers everything you need to know about this potentially powerful tool in your B2B marketing toolbox.
Lead Generation and Prospecting on LinkedIn
You cannot grow your business without a solid strategy in place to attract and nurture quality leads for your sales team.
One of the best places to start is with LinkedIn. The platform offers a variety of tools you can use to generate leads, including native ads, sponsored content, and other paid opportunities. The challenge is choosing the right ones for you.
We've written several articles on the topic to help you understand your options. Start with our articles on lead generation strategy. Then, discover how you can use tools like Campaign Manager, Sales Navigator, and InMail to drive more traffic and build relationships with your ideal customers.
Account Based Marketing on LinkedIn
LinkedIn's user profile and sophisticated targeting capabilities make it a powerful tool for account-based marketing (ABM).
With it, you can reach the right person at the right company with the right message at the right time. You just need to know how to use it effectively.
Our guide will show you how LinkedIn can help you implement ABM as part of your B2B marketing strategy. You’ll learn how to find your ideal customers on the platform, as well as how to reach out to them in a way that builds relationships and drives sales.
LinkedIn Advertising
For most companies, a strong organic strategy is an excellent way to build visibility and awareness among potential customers on LinkedIn. However, many businesses want faster growth and to generate leads immediately.
In that case, advertising can be a very effective way to reach your target audience and get results fast. Especially when the new LinkedIn Business Manager platform makes it easier to get a comprehensive view of both your organic and paid marketing efforts.
LinkedIn is Constantly Evolving
LinkedIn is changing rapidly as a social platform and as a business sales and marketing tool. Our most recent roundup covers some of the exciting new and improved features on LinkedIn for B2B marketers that we think are most significant.
And Finally…
We hope it’s clear just how enthusiastic we are about the opportunities presented by LinkedIn for B2B marketers. However, no matter how great the platform is, it shouldn’t be your sole marketing channel. Or even your main one.
Find out more in our article on building a bridge between your social media activities and your own online platform.
Stay Up to Date
Want to keep up with the latest developments? We regularly post platform news on our Smart Thinking blog. Bookmark this page and sign up to our newsletter to be the first to learn about LinkedIn marketing strategies and new features.
Get your whole team, from the CEO down, involved in social sharing on LinkedIn to grow your audience and build your brand’s authority. Well-executed posts by more than just your marketing team will reach the right people, create great first impressions and build your reputation.