In all social media, LinkedIn is the most suitable for a B2B marketing strategy. This platform concentrates the highest number of companies and professionals looking for business opportunities and, consequently, it is the ideal place to find potential customers or improve brand reputation.
But LinkedIn Marketing does not just mean creating a showcase page in which to share content already posted on other social networks. A specific strategy based on analysis, planning and measurement is needed. In this article we, therefore, explain how to define this strategy, deepening the tools, contents and measurement metrics.
The key principles of LinkedIn Marketing
Unlike other social networks, LinkedIn has a qualified audience made up of companies and professionals, so it allows you to create a network of contacts based on strategic relationships. What you share makes the difference, because users are looking for quality professional content. So it's no wonder LinkedIn has become a key channel for B2B marketing. And to take this path, here's how:
define objectives by exploring potential opportunities, so that marketing efforts are not thwarted;
create and expand the network of contacts ;
interact with the network and cultivate relationships through a strategic sharing of contents;
monitor activities and gather insights.
The importance of Content Marketing on LinkedIn
While LinkedIn was once primarily a job search tool, today LinkedIn is primarily about sharing valuable content. However, many people and companies still use this channel in the wrong way, underestimating its specificities and importance in the B2b field.
The communication on LinkedIn should be informative, professional and less aggressive than the traditionally reserved for the end consumer sales techniques. In this context, we do not address a "mass" audience, but a selected group of users. Therefore, as part of a LinkedIn marketing strategy, it is necessary to create, share and promote relevant quality content for the target audience, at times and in the best format, analyzing its performance and identifying which content to amplify to optimize ROI.
In particular, here are two essential requirements for the content to be of greater value to users in the decision-making process:
Variety in formats: among the most relevant are reports, case studies, white papers, webinars and e-books;
Variety in topics, through a content mix that includes different contents with different purposes (e.g. entertaining, educating, informing), with topics that can range from sector trends to best practices, from information on products/services to employee opinions.
The steps of a LinkedIn Marketing strategy
Now let's see in detail which steps to follow for a truly effective strategy:
Identify the objectives (e.g. promote products and services, increase leads and sales, increase brand awareness);
Define measurement metrics (e.g. number of followers, number of connection requests, number of views)
Identify the profile of the ideal customer (person or company) using the buyer personas model, according to filters such as company function, skills or sector;
Define the editorial strategy, identifying different types of content to be shared in different spaces (eg posts on professional groups, comments on other users' content, status updates on their company page);
Choose the types of content (eg videos, articles, white papers), which must not only be interesting but also in line with the needs of the buyer person based on his or her stage in the funnel;
Plan contents with an editorial calendar using social media management tools;
Measure the results of your activities through metrics such as views, likes and shares of posts.
This process, despite requiring constant planning and monitoring, is essential for building a quality audience, giving value to people's needs.
Attract and engage LinkedIn Followers
Marketing on LinkedIn has the intermediate goal of engaging the right pool of followers for your profile or company page. An effective LinkedIn presence that truly attracts people is based on 3 concepts: create, attract and engage.
1. Create
First, you need to create an optimized Company Page, which tells your values and the benefits of your services/products for customers. Added to this is the Showcase Page (extension of the company page that allows you to highlight a secondary brand, business unit or initiatives) and a Career Page where you can promote professional opportunities and describe the company as an employer.
2. Attract
The second point consists in attracting people, encouraging employees to become brand advocates - encouraging them to promote and comment on company updates -, promoting the company page (e.g. through links pointing to it on the company website) and using targeted Follow Ads. to acquire followers among your ideal audience.
3. Engage
Engagement is cultivated, as anticipated, by sharing the content of value for the audience - pushing interactions and word of mouth -, investing in sponsored content towards a targeted audience and gathering insights on performance through measurement.
Some best practices
Online, you only have a few seconds to grab the attention of your readers. With tons of content on their smartphones, people are inundated with promotional or irrelevant messages, while they would rather focus on companies sharing informative, interesting and relevant content.
Relationships matter more than ever, and only companies that are truly committed can build stable relationships and engage their customers. And with LinkedIn's many engagement features, don't just ask yourself why you need to use LinkedIn but also what are the best practices for optimizing your LinkedIn content strategy. Here's how to exploit the potential of this channel through content:
Write targeted texts, enriched with rich media,
personalized hashtags and with an immediate CTA;
Create long text posts (LinkedIn offers the possibility of writing up to 1300 characters), using emojis and formatting that simplify reading;
Encourage the direct upload of videos as a status update over-sharing links to videos on YouTube;
Encourage dialogue through provocative questions (eg about the future of certain technologies) and comments ;
Show your human side by sharing thoughts that are not just about business;
Plan with the editorial calendar but promptly respond to occasional events;
Extend your coverage by sponsoring the best content;
Test different formats, times and frequency of publication (the 7-10 am time slot is ideal for many businesses and do not focus so much on the quantity as on the quality of the posts, to prevent followers from feeling overloaded with information).
Lead Generation: get qualified leads
Another element to consider in the LinkedIn Marketing strategy is the Lead Generation process. Given the type of LinkedIn users - professionals looking for business opportunities and valuable connections -, for a B2B company this platform proves superior to other social networks for Lead Generation objectives. To acquire qualified leads on LinkedIn, you can follow two complementary methods: the inbound approach (being found by potential customers) and the outbound approach (searching, finding and connecting with potential customers).
With the inbound approach, customers are attracted to the company profile and require a connection (plus an eventual appointment), while in the outbound approach it is necessary to earn customer trust through actions such as Social Selling to gain customer trust.
To learn more: What is Lead Generation and how to do it with LinkedIn in 5 steps
Invest in advertising campaigns
Once again, given the specificity of its audience, LinkedIn is ideal for creating targeted advertisements for an audience segmented according to specific parameters (eg geographical area, professional role, sector). The platform is also considered safer and more consistent with the interests of the public than Facebook or Instagram and is now an essential component of the marketing mix of large B2B companies.
More specifically, thanks to LinkedIn Ads it is possible to define, manage and measure an advertising campaign to achieve different objectives (brand awareness, consideration, conversions), through different formats (e.g. short text ads or sponsored emails) and with metrics for measurement results (eg CTR or conversions).
To learn more: LinkedIn Advertising, how and why to advertise on LinkedIn
Measuring the LinkedIn Marketing strategy
Performance measurement on LinkedIn is another key point to consider if you want to invest in this tool. Only by regularly monitoring performance is it possible to gather insights and plan for improvement actions. For this purpose LinkedIn Analytics - which can be integrated with third-party analytics platforms - offers access to a series of metrics on traffic, trends and users of the company page, to be interpreted according to one's objectives. Here are some examples of metrics
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