If lead generation and increased brand awareness are what keep you awake at night, LinkedIn is your answer. As the world’s largest professional network, LinkedIn counts over 722+ million users in more than 200 countries and territories across the globe – and it’s still growing!
Another thing you should know is that LinkedIn is especially helpful if you’re B2B. In fact, B2B marketers reported that 80% of their social media leads come from LinkedIn!
Feeling out of your depth? Here are 5 simple tips you can use right now to grow your Linkedin presence.
1. Increase traffic: Make sure your company profile is fully completed
As a professional networking and career development tool, it should come as no surprise that legitimacy and professionalism are critical for a successful LinkedIn profile.
With complete profiles receiving up to 2x more visitors than those with incomplete information, the power of a fully-filled profile should not be underestimated. In other words, a complete company profile won’t just make it more helpful, legitimate and professional, it brings in more traffic.
2. Create the right first impression: Update your profile image and banner
We’ve been told you can’t judge a book by its cover. But the fact is, if a cover isn’t inviting, people aren’t going to open that book to read what’s inside. Make a good first impression by not just uploading a profile image and banner but by making them look professional. (Did you know that company pages with branded profile pictures get six times more visitors than those without?! )
Choosing an appropriate profile image is straightforward: take your company logo (the same one you’re using on your other social media channels) and resize it to fit LinkedIn’s requirements.
We encourage you to use a designer to make your imagery harmonious with your brand, but if this isn’t achievable for you right now, as a basic rule try to keep them consistent.
3. Convert them with your words: Write a compelling “About Us” section and include relevant keywords
Now you can hook prospects with your carefully-selected images, this is where you use your words to reel them in.
Optimising your “about us” section is easy: Create a tightly worded paragraph (2,000 characters or less) telling visitors everything they need to know about your company. Use simple, accessible language informed by keyword research to outline your business goals in words anyone will understand.
While you shouldn’t overload readers with too many words, remember to be engaging and inject your brand’s unique voice in there to connect with them. If done right, your “about us” section will not only boost your discoverability on search engines but inspire readers to find out more about you. (Which reminds me: Make sure you link them back to your company website and give them something to do with all this new, compelling information.)
4. Is your business targeting more than one persona? Think about a showcase page.
You’ve likely already heard that if you have diverse target audiences, applying the same kind of marketing techniques to all of them is not the best strategy. If you want your LinkedIn to reflect your company’s true capabilities (across all of the products and/or services it has to offer) LinkedIn Showcase Pages are a great solution.
Not heard of them? Essentially these allow your business to have your main company page linked to separate “Showcase Pages” which feature the different products or services you would like to shine. Even if you have just two, these are a great way to target different personas, build your branding and increase inbound traffic.
If you’d like to learn more about how you can create an Impressive Showcase page visit here.
5. Stay relevant to followers: Post, Post, Post
The LinkedIn algorithm has two primary goals: 1) to prioritize relevant content, and 2) to promote engagement. If you want your company page(s) to be successful (and stay that way), ensure they’re regularly populated with articles, videos, pdfs, and any other content that provides your followers with significant, long-term value. In turn, these are the pages that LinkedIn will promote.
Create a consistent posting schedule and master the art of planning content so followers will know what to expect from you, engage with you and then the LinkedIn algorithm becomes more likely to favour you. Remember, the more clicks, likes follow and shares the better.
Where to from here?
With more than half a billion users, LinkedIn makes the whole world a prospect. Beyond credibility, your LinkedIn company page offers a huge opportunity for you to establish your brand and increase lead generation. If your company hasn’t started your LinkedIn journey it’s time to get going!
If you would like some advice on how to take advantage of your social media, let’s book a conversation.
