Well over 700 million people around the world use LinkedIn on a regular basis, with the platform’s biggest markets located in the United States, India, and China. Of course, the big difference between LinkedIn and other social media networks is its focus on the professional demographic. In fact, studies indicate that a whopping 80% of social B2B leads come from LinkedIn!
We could go on for a while listing the many advantages that a strong presence on LinkedIn can provide — for instance, increased engagement with your audience, more conversations with prospects, and an enhanced reputation for your brand. However, the big question is: How can you use LinkedIn to grow your business? Here are 8 suggestions that can help.
- Post often (but not too often)
It’s important to maintain a consistent presence on your LinkedIn account — and that means posting new content on a regular schedule. If your connections can’t count on you for new insights week in and week out, then they’ll quickly move on to “greener pastures.”
At the same time, you don’t want to post too often. For instance, one study found that influencers who post between 30-50 times per month on LinkedIn see an average of 56 engagements, compared to only 26 engagements for those who post more than 50 times per month. The point is: sometimes less is more. Posting 2-3 times a week is the sweet spot for many businesses.
- Nurture your relationships
Once you’ve established a relationship with a LinkedIn connection, do all that you can to nurture that relationship. For instance, consider sending an automated but appropriate message to your connections after specific trigger events — e.g., they’ve updated their profile, been promoted to a new position, etc. Even if these messages don’t result in a personal response, they can help keep your brand top of mind for the recipient.
Moreover, think about engaging with content from your connections. Maybe you could like one of their posts, share it with others, or comment on it.
- Share video content
Internet users in general like to engage with video content. In fact, over half of consumers (54%) want to see more video content from marketers.
You can use this to your advantage by occasionally posting video content to your LinkedIn account. If you do, remember that LinkedIn users may prefer viewing content on the platform, instead of being redirected to an external site, like YouTube. Fortunately, LinkedIn will allow you to upload video content directly to your post.
- Always present a professional appearance
This one is a no-brainer, especially for a social network designed for professionals. Remember to have your company’s logo (or another on-brand image) as your official account’s profile pic. (For your personal profile, make sure you have a crisp, well-framed head-shot for your pic.) There should be a detailed company summary at the top of your brand’s profile page. In addition: always spell-check! The more typos your content has, the less credible your company looks.
- Post on the right days, and at the right times
Yes, there is a wrong time and a right time to post on LinkedIn — at least, if you want to get the most views and engagement from your content. While the perfect day and time will vary from business to business, research indicates that the best time to post on LinkedIn tends to be 9:00 a.m. on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. For companies that have audiences in both North America and Europe, 9:00 a.m. PST (Pacific Standard Time) may be the best time to post in particular: that way, pieces of content can catch North American professionals in the morning, but European professionals in the early evening.
- Use plenty of images in your posts
Research shows that LinkedIn posts with several images tend to receive a greater number of likes, shares, comments, and views. One study found that 8 images is the optimal amount that an article should contain, with one image at the top of the post to act as a “header.” Since posts with images may receive 94% more views than those without them, including visual content should be one of your top priorities when developing your next post.
- Share content from outsiders
Even on your brand’s official LinkedIn account, you don’t need to create and distribute your own content exclusively. Many LinkedIn marketers subscribe to the 4-1-1 rule: for every one “self-serving” post, they repost one relevant article, and share four pieces of relevant content written by others.
This approach can provide several benefits. For one thing, you’re demonstrating that the “not invented here” syndrome won’t get in the way of your brand delivering value to your audience. This strategy may ease the pressure on your content marketing team to develop new articles during busy times of the year. Moreover, you can always add your own comments to the content you share, and create more engagement that way. This could even promote your reputation as a thought leader in your industry.
- Never, ever send spammy messages to your connections
Finally, make sure you follow LinkedIn’s “rules of etiquette” when building and maintaining relationships across the platform. Most LinkedIn users don’t appreciate unsolicited, irrelevant requests from people (or companies) they don’t know — and the last thing you want to do is develop a reputation for “spamming” your connections. If you are going to reach out to a connection, make sure that you position your message as something that will benefit them, not you.
If you follow the 8 suggestions discussed above, you’ll likely see a significant increase in ROI from your marketing efforts on LinkedIn. Of course, there’s far more involved in developing an effective LinkedIn presence than what we could cover in this article. If you’d like to learn more about how to use LinkedIn to grow your business, or need some expert assistance to get started, reach out to us at Faster Solutions today to start the conversation. We’d be happy to put our years of digital marketing experience to work for you!
