If you're trying to figure out the value of LinkedIn, picture its primary users.
LinkedIn hosts high ranking executives, opinion leaders, professionals, influencers, and college graduates. 10% of the people here hold decision-making positions in their respective industries.
Compare your LinkedIn page to a meeting teeming with professionals from the entire globe. Whether you're an entrepreneur or a doctor, you will find like-minded individuals.
You can either chat with your colleagues or engage new people but within your interests.
In short, it's a social media site set for individuals who are serious about their careers or businesses.
Content sharing focuses on value addition instead of amassing followers or trending. Professionals pour down their knowledge, while brands educate their prospects and customers.
But that's only a sketchy outlook of LinkedIn's role. You need to know about its vast features, benefits, and how to maximize its potential.
Understanding LinkedIn
At a glance, LinkedIn may look modest. Surprisingly, it ranks as one of the top three social media sites based on the number of active users.
Even so, most brands are yet to exploit the powers ingrained into this marketing tool. Few users post content consistently. Nevertheless, reports show most users are on the lookout for industry insights. This shows there's a slot for your brand to explore.
LinkedIn also comes with features that can expand your marketing power. For example, you can post quality content and attract high quality leads to your business.
Meanwhile, any sold prospect can reach out to you for partnerships or to seek an alliance.
Getting Started With LinkedIn
Your LinkedIn journey kicks off with a personal account and an updated profile. Given it's so much about marketing and branding, your profile must stand out.
Remember, you're competing against other brands. And so you must impress with your profile from the onset.
Most of the time, the basic account won't hack it, especially if you're serious about LinkedIn marketing.
This is because it limits your search power and insight views. For the best results, go for a premium profile.
What Is a Premium LinkedIn Account?
Upgrading your profile is like ditching bows and arrows for guns in a hunting spree. It increases accessible features and widens your marketing scope.
It also enables you to see more profile views’ insights and enjoy advanced features.
The premium account entitles you to message any user. Thus, you can identify the right prospects and send tailored messages to increase your leads.
Plus, you'll be able to sponsor company ads on your page to boost distribution.
Who Should Use LinkedIn?
In this article, we have focused highly on LinkedIn for businesses. And as an individual, you may feel left out. But let's face it! Everyone on this dais is on the lookout for value, new networks, and opportunities.
Professionals tussle for the cream job openings in their industries. And brands strive for space to impress the millions of users.
In the meantime, everyone scoops some knowledge from the high-value content on display.
It's a win-win platform for every user. So, anyone can use LinkedIn to brand themselves and build their professional outlook.
All that said why should you use LinkedIn? Let's find out.
Using LinkedIn For Your Business
Content Marketing
Content marketing calls the shots whenever there's a pool of avid readers. No surprise, it works excellently on LinkedIn.
The platform comprises a collection of devoted readers. Studies shows 67% of LinkedIn users consider themselves news enthusiasts.
What's more encouraging for marketers, shared content on LinkedIn has no limits. It branches out to any user on the platform as long as it can cater to their interests and industries.
People from anywhere in the world can read your posts and redirect to your website. You can also expect higher content visibility compared to your blog.
Most people search for useful content to improve their careers and businesses. And if you can craft valuable content, you can count on tons of shares and high engagement.
Boosting Brand Awareness
If you want to expand your reach or create brand awareness, LinkedIn is still in the right place. Your content reaches a focused audience knowledgeable in their needs. Meanwhile, LinkedIn marketing can display your brand beyond the limits of your followers.
Not to forget, published posts on LinkedIn can accelerate to users.
The site is highly optimized for mobile search. And that helps to speed users’ access and content sharing. Through its app, you can receive recent notifications and jump straightaway to read.
Publishing relevant posts can boost your marketing and save you a lot of struggles. LinkedIn enjoys high SERPS’ credibility that you can capitalize on for brand awareness.
Their domain enjoys high value and authority that can help to raise your rankings.
Build Your Network And Niche Following On LinkedIn
Like Facebook, LinkedIn comes with a group building feature. The groups enable you to learn from other professionals and build your network.
They are more potent because they link you to people beyond your immediate circle.
Sometimes you may want to create a unique forum for your audience. What's inspiring is you've got the license to create and lead your own LinkedIn group.
Unfortunately, you won't bombard your members with ads. Instead, you will share engaging posts that help you to build authentic relationships.
Once you create your account, think of a relevant title for your group. Create a group that can enable you to build a community of your followers.
Also, join the existing groups in your industry. This will give your brand a leeway to connect with an active and expectant audience.
Analyze Your Competitors
There's no better place to analyze competitors than LinkedIn. A quick search of your rivals and a review of their profiles can unearth vital information.
For instance, you can track their employment rates and predict their focus based on their growth rates. A competitor who has recently hired new staff may have plans to expand.
Also, the kind of staff employed can help you establish competitor’s objectives. New staff in the operations team can signal steps to introduce new products or an overhaul of processes.
Following a competitor can help you to find news feeds about their strategies and corporate info. You can then visit their website and compile a bunch of insights that can help you tackle competition.
To note, always remember to switch your profile to the private mode when viewing competitor pages. This can help you to cover your footprints and prevent competitors from tracking you.
Your profile is also another advertiser’s hunting track.
So it's best to limit who can see your connections. The setting helps to prevent advertisers from viewing your contacts.
Remember, you've spent sleepless nights to grow your network. And you don't want snoopers to enjoy your marketing efforts without a sweat.
Targeted Advertising
Unlike most networking sites, LinkedIn thrives through user segmentation. They collect the most useful marketing information that can help you to set precisely targeted ads.
Most user profiles comprise places of work, industry, profession, skills, and so forth.
The pinpointed targeting guarantees value for your marketing spending. You're confident your ads will hit prospects interested in your products.
For instance, if you're selling a hospitality app, you can target hotels and resorts in the desired regions. You can then refine your ad to reach the procuring decision-makers.
How To Use LinkedIn Effectively
With an optimized profile and membership to groups, you can do wonders for your business. However, more benefits can come your way if you can implement the following tips.
Tips For Using LinkedIn
- Unleash your creative side and use industry keywords when crafting your professional headline. This will increase your visibility when prospects search for identical brands. Keep in mind, the bio section is your mini elevator pitch, and so it must impress and captivate viewers. Plus, use unique logos and photos that bring out the visual cues about your brand.
- Maximize the social selling aspect to generate qualified leads and strengthen your brand. Focus on the right connections and share helpful information.
- Emphasize your brand's strength with relevant recommendations and endorsements. You need testimonials to prove your expertise and gain credibility. Ask your loyal clients to recommend you. They can talk about your customer service, skills, or any positive aspect in their mind.
- Create engaging posts
In 2019, the top LinkedIn pages were Teleperformance, Hays, and Deloitte. You should be all ears up to know what was so unique for these brands to win the accolades.
LinkedIn reports, Teleperformance used native videos to share short and snackable trending content. Hays shared quality PDF content, original research, and promoted appealing emotional tags.
Bonus Tip
The ultimate aim of using LinkedIn is to grow your brand. What you need to know is that LinkedIn users are particular to their needs.
For the best results, join the content creators' bandwagon. Create high-value content that you're sure will solve the problems of your audience.
Setup Your LinkedIn Account
See, you have got a whole slew of reasons to use LinkedIn. If you want valuable relationships to take your business forward, it's worth every coin.
What's more, it takes you closer to leaders and decision-makers that can give your business new deals.
To become a LinkedIn master, be sure to check out this checklist with all the best tips and tricks.
