How to use your LinkedIn business profile for marketing

Many brands continue to overlook the potential of LinkedIn, but this platform can be an effective one for the B2B market

Social media has dominated the marketing landscape for the past few years. But while brands scramble to make their presence felt on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter – and to keep up with their ever-changing rules and formats – many continue to overlook the potential of LinkedIn.

Around 91% of executives rate LinkedIn as their number one for value gained from their social marketing initiatives, which indicates how well the platform is considered by those at the top. Top-level regard for the platform is reflected in the demographics of the site: 45% of LinkedIn users are working in upper management.

Despite this, many small businesses have held back from establishing a company LinkedIn profile, perhaps because the concept feels like it is neither quite the responsibility of the marketing team nor the management team. Indeed, the truth is that LinkedIn can be used for marketing and networking, or more accurately a sophisticated blend of the two. For this reason, it is beneficial for marketing and upper management to discuss carefully the balance you’re looking for and work on a strategy and even the day-to-day maintenance together.

The first priority of your LinkedIn strategy is to build industry prestige and a must-listen voice. Your crew is experts in whatever it is you do from your precise position. You have something to add to the conversation. Publishing company content regularly is a great way to make professional connections while raising your profile as a brand.

Some of this content may be industry insights or even ‘how-to’s.’ In fact, how-to and listicle format articles receive the most attention on this platform. You will want to balance confidence with humility and avoid the big sell. Many brands find it effective to alternate industry content with product or service showcases that get their network thinking about what they do. Your audience might consider themselves potential customers or collaborators. LinkedIn is also an effective recruitment platform and a great place for your HR team and potential applicants to find out about each other.

The content you share on LinkedIn may be cross-posted from your blog. This can be effective if you’re running a series of articles, for example. You might not want to double all of them up on LinkedIn, but pushing one dispatch as a teaser will deliver traffic to your site to read the rest of th series. In fact, half of all B2B traffic that comes from social media begins on LinkedIn.

Being a ‘professional’ platform, it is important to remember that other users log in to LinkedIn in a work state of mind. Catch their attention with your unique take on the most pressing issues in the trade. Never miss the chance to report back from a seminar or big conference, but be wary of treading on other people’s toes or breaching privacy protocol. Think about what you can add that is particular to your perspective. Work to become essential reading; the logo every LinkedIn user in your industry loves to see!

Perhaps more than regular social media, professional networks such as LinkedIn pose a risk of appearing to boast about your accomplishments. It’s good for your business (and probably for your soul) to approach the platform with humility and generosity. Think about posting positive stories about your employees and even other brands in your trade if you value what they are doing. You can encourage your staff members to write and signposts on your business profile too, to expand the sense of what/who your business is. You can also chip in on the conversations others are having, by leaving comments and supportive feedback when other businesses share similar content.

Creating content consistently like this is the tough part of having a company LinkedIn profile. Setting it up in the first place is not much complex than establishing any other social media profile. To help things go smoothly, the people at Headway Capital have put together this new step-by-step small business guide infographic to LinkedIn. What are you waiting for?