If you have a business, LinkedIn can be a powerful tool for marketing and expanding your network of people in similar circles. There are over 30 million people using LinkedIn, and what sets this social media platform from others is that it specifically targets businesses, making it an ideal spot for growing your business. Follow this guide for steps on how to successfully create your LinkedIn business page and get the most out of your content.
Create Your LinkedIn Page
When starting on LinkedIn, it will ask you about the size of your business, then ask you to start building your profile, starting with your username. For business purposes, you will want your username to be the name of your business, which should also match your website domain and any other page you have on social media for business.
LinkedIn allows you to upload tons of info about your business directly to your profile. Add your URL if you have one, upload a picture of your logo, tag the industry you are in, and add your business address if you have one.
The More Detail the Better
Your profile should include as much information about your business as possible, once your page is created, you are free to customize it to your liking. A completed profile on LinkedIn ranks higher on Google (an added bonus), so in the description box of your profile, add keywords specific to your business that can boost SEO.
There’s also the option to add a Call to Action button. It gives you the option to add a direct link to your site, add a contact or sign-up form, or register for emails.
Share & Invite
Once your page is up and running, it’s time to tell the world (or at least your coworkers to start) about your business page. Share the link to your profile to your Facebook, Twitter, and any other social platform you are on to quickly gain a network of followers from people you already know.
If you have an E-newsletter, always include the link to your social channels as well. Whenever you do, however, be sure to include what your audience will gain. If its industry knowledge, business updates, or sales, and giveaways, you will want to add this info to any prospect.
Marketing on LinkedIn
With your page complete and shared, you can now take the time to create and develop a business marketing strategy for LinkedIn. You will want to ask yourself who your target market is, what are the demographics of that audience, and who are your competitors. If there is a budget you are willing to spend on advertising, you can add that to the mix of your marketing strategy.
Your competitors will likely already have an audience established. You can invite them to your circle, and you can also study the content your competitor puts out. What works for them may work for you. It’s a great way to study and get ideas for your own content down the road, as well as see what makes you stand apart from them. You have the upper hand; you have the option to go the same route as your business competitors, or you can branch out and do something unique.
Add Media
One of the upsides of using LinkedIn for Business versus other social platforms is the ability to post different types of media. You can upload images, videos, PDF’s, or presentation slides to your posts. A post with media attached performs up to 98% better than that of posts with just text. So if you are looking to add engagement, this is a great option.
Hashtags
Adding hashtags to your post is another helpful way to expand your reach. The LinkedIn algorithm uses hashtags to figure people’s interests. Add hashtags relative to your industry in every post to increase your chance of being seen by new faces.
LinkedIn Live
Another way to attract people is to host a live stream. If you have it pre-planned you can post reminders on your feed and share it with coworkers who can also share it on their feeds. There are countless ways to utilize this feature for your business, depending on the industry. Try-on hauls, webinars, interviews, or even the basic #mondaymotivation can all be done via LinkedIn Live, and have been shown to increase engagement as well, since people are more prone to watch live videos than pre-taped ones.
LinkedIn Analytics
Always improve your LinkedIn game by studying your post metrics regularly. There, you can see which posts performed best, what posts had the best engagements, and which posts you know never again to replicate.
In the analytics, you can also track similar companies, and how you rank next to them. If you are looking to get ahead of the competition, this can be a useful tool in comparing business pages.
LinkedIn is the #1 social media platform for business for a reason, and that reason is because of the tools given to you to study your competition, create a powerful profile page, and post powerful and engagement worthy content. For more social media tools, check out our other blogs all about social media.