LinkedIn used to be just a social connection platform.
Today, it's a massive referrer for company pages as well as a significant source of business content.
While the power of connection is still there, LinkedIn now has a lot more to offer than just a list of professional relationships.
As a significant source of business content, LinkedIn has the power to help you convert leads into sales.
Content is still king.
But the major question today is...
Where do you post your B2B content?
People are actively looking to use social media to generate B2B sales. According to Neil Patel's blog, 97 percent of social media B2B leads come from LinkedIn.
Overall, social media is a pretty new landscape for B2B. People are still figuring out the social media landscape for this area.
But if there is a leader in social media B2B leads, it is LinkedIn.
Here are some of the main reasons LinkedIn works for B2B.
Not every platform has content as its primary focus. LinkedIn is a great place to read about professional news.
The newsfeed is a unique type of personalized professional news that is hard to get anywhere else.
A bonus for businesses that publish on LinkedIn is that they can promote their content.
Quality content is shareable, and the networks are not only broad on LinkedIn, they are already targeted by virtue of relationships.
LinkedIn allows people to publish text and video ads. You can also put an ad in a direct message.
LinkedIn has enough features and users at this stage in the game that marketers can create a real strategy using the platform.
Groups are a favorite strategy of Neil Patel's. Join them, browse them, start them. Whatever you choose to do, using groups is a highly effective strategy.
A major bonus of using groups is that they are always quality connections.
You never know whom you will meet. But with LinkedIn, you are sure to expand your professional circle in a meaningful way if you use groups.
You can leverage more than just groups, though. Try direct messaging or advertising on the platform if you're new to strategy to see what works for you.
You can also build brand visibility as an influencer. Influencing is not just for individuals! It works great for companies too.
Adobe is a great example of an influencing brand on LinkedIn.
As anyone who's started a search on LinkedIn knows, you can do a lot with this feature.
It's a great tool for expanding your network, but it's also a great tool for creating targeted marketing campaigns.
Just remember to save those advanced searches once you get them going. They're a lot of work!
Search capabilities at this level mean that you can really find market niches based on profiles. If you're not leveraging this tool yet, give it a try!
LinkedIn doesn't just give you a tiny blurb about your brand's statement. Whether your brand is large or small, everyone has multiple shots a great branding on LinkedIn.
First, there is your company page. Neil Patel advises using this as a lead generation page.
These can contain a lot of content, but you've still got to write a great value proposition and pitch for your prospective clients.
That word count gets used up quickly!
Next, there is the Showcase feature. Businesses with subsidiaries or smaller brands inside of the larger business can use Showcase to shine a light on the brand within a brand.
This is especially helpful for large companies, but it works for smaller ones too!
Lastly, there is the header image on your company page.
This is a chance to show different content from the copy and images that exist below the header on the actual page body.
LinkedIn has grown a lot since its inception. According to the company, there are over 63 million decision-makers on the social network.
That's a lot of people!
While it's near impossible to reach everyone on that market (unless you're LinkedIn), you can reach a ton of people in your target audience.
Business to business or b2b sales can be much easier with a large audience.
But in reality, you don't need a huge audience.
If that amount of promotion isn't possible given your content abilities or budget, you can achieve success by reaching a smaller audience that is highly targeted.
Either choice will work if you have great content and branding combined with relevant connections.
Business to business or b2b advertising can really benefit from video.
We live in a multimedia age, and people love to experience brands rather than just read about them.
While video still has some limitations as far as customer experience, you can do a lot with this type of media on LinkedIn.
Video capability is a great feature for this platform, and it's something that not everyone has.
The sprinkling of videos, among other forms of communications like blog posts and messages, makes the LinkedIn interface intriguing and attention-grabbing.
You can read, view, and write on LinkedIn for hours if you want to!
Overall, LinkedIn is hitting the right note when it comes to marketing for B2B.
While there's always room for improvement, the platform offers a lot of benefits for businesses who want to network.
Even though it started as a professional network for individuals, LinkedIn is branching out well. It is a powerful social platform with a great visual interface.
Built inside of it are enough features to stay interesting and relevant in the current social media landscape without becoming cumbersome.
Social media marketing for business is taking off, but there isn't a ton of tried-and-true methodology for marketers to draw from.
If you want to reach more B2B customers, LinkedIn is worth a try.
LinkedIn is known as a great way to get traffic to your company website.
If you haven't updated your site lately and want to get started with B2B marketing on LinkedIn, you may find yourself with extra traffic sooner rather than later!
It's worth some time and money to refresh your site and create great landing pages.
Want to become a Linkedin pro? Check out this masterclass here.