LinkedIn: A Must for B2B Marketing

I once read a quote that said “We spend time on Social Media, but we invest time on LinkedIn.” I don’t think this could be more true.

We use LinkedIn for business purposes, to find vendors, partnerships, new leads, you name it. If it has to do with our career, we are more engaged. There’s something about LinkedIn that makes us have an entirely new mindset that is different from when we are on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.

You have your audience’s undivided attention, so why not take advantage of it?

Hit your Target Audience

Both ads AND organic posts on LinkedIn allow you to target specific audiences. Ads of course let you target by a number of different categories, making it fool-proof to show your content to the exact audience that should see it. On top of that you can do the same for organic posts (just at a higher level). Maybe your post for Monday is meant for someone in the automotive industry, whereas Tuesday’s post is meant the aerospace industry; LinkedIn allows you to show the post to the exact audience you want.

Then we can dive into the analytics and see who is following our page. View your followers by job function, seniority, industry, company size, employment status, or geography. If you see a category that is lacking, maybe it’s time to run an ad to hit target that audience you’re looking for.

Unique ways to Generate Leads

Across the board, groups on social media are proving to be effective. LinkedIn’s professional groups allow businesses to provide insight and information on services to help other members of the groups. Each group has a specific focus, and communication is more personalized thus creating trusting relationships (that hopefully turn into leads). If you find you’re communicating more often with a specific contact within the group, maybe it’s time to send them a message to get the conversation going.

As you begin to become more comfortable interacting with different groups, you may find an opportunity for a new group. This is your chance for your business to design a new group. When you become an owner and moderator of a group, you’ll naturally gain leadership and recognition, making your company even more recognizable.

LinkedIn Showcase pages are another great way to connect the right customers with the right information. Create different showcase pages for different customer segments. This could be by industry, service, product or any segments that make sense for your business. By segmenting your showcase pages, you’re delivering only content that is relevant to them rather than a high level business overview that you’re doing on your main LinkedIn profile.

Recruitment

Having a hard time finding the ideal candidate to fill a position? LinkedIn has multiple solutions for recruitment.

• Search for specific skills or job titles to find qualified candidates
• Direct message these candidates to find out more about their career paths in a more personalized way
• Share your job opening on your company profile
• Post a Job Ad

Get to know your competitors

Just like any other marketing efforts, know your competitors. Follow their main page and showcase pages, see what they are posting and how their followers are engaging with their content. Hopefully this will spark some ideas on how to take your LinkedIn content to the next level.

LinkedIn Advertising

Advertising on LinkedIn is beneficial for many aspects of your business. New product launches, ebooks, filling a position, special offers, upcoming events, and more. You can really get down to the nitty gritty to target the exact person you need to, even as specific as the company they work for. Then use matched audiences to run remarketing ads after they have visited a certain section on your website.

LinkedIn can be a full-time job in itself, so start small and become familiar with the platform. The first step is creating your page and posting relevant content. As you continue to navigate the platform you will naturally find new business opportunities along the way. If you need help getting started, you know who to call!