Through social media, we can build genuine customer relationships that are sustainable and have a measurable business impact. Remember that social media is conducted by humans. Connection, relatability, and entertainment are huge when it comes to social media. That applies to LinkedIn too.
When people think of LinkedIn, they think of job postings and stiff business-type content – this is not true at all! More and more people are turning to LinkedIn to add to their marketing strategy. That’s where a lot of customers are – don’t miss the opportunity to build relationships with them!
When posting content on any platform, whether you’re a business or an individual, choose quality over quantity. You don’t need to post every single day just to post something. Create content that resonates. More content doesn’t equal more LinkedIn conversions.
Businesses on LinkedIn:
4 out of 5 LinkedIn members are business decision-makers, so B2B companies – you NEED to be on LinkedIn! It’s evolved from being just a job board/online resume into a community where business professionals consume content.
If your company is new to LinkedIn, start with the goal of creating brand awareness and establishing a consistent presence on LinkedIn.
Utilize this list of content to try and see what performs best with your audience:
- Text-only questions or polls. Polls are an amazing way to get direct interaction and feedback from your customers. Ask your customers for product tips or try understanding their pain points.
- Document posts. The carousel-like experience of an embedded document is an underrated feature of LinkedIn.
- Native videos have a built-in benefit because they autoplay in-feed, which saves users a click compared to embedded YouTube videos. Post a video directly on the platform about new products or a teaser video of an exciting announcement.
LinkedIn tips for businesses:
Create internal brand advocates. These are people within your company who like, comment, and share your business’s social media posts. They show support on posts and spread the word about your company. Those individuals are vital to a business’s social media success. Have your own people be your biggest cheerleaders!
Engage in the comments. Even if it’s just to acknowledge someone else’s comment, it lets people know there’s a human behind your company handle. Remember that on LinkedIn, “community lives in the comments”! Engage in the comments AND outside of the comments. This way you can leverage those comments to get more eyeballs looking at your content.
If you’re running out of content ideas or when you want to see what’s working on LinkedIn, follow LinkedIn‘s LinkedIn page.
Always focus on the benefit. Work on ways to captivate the audience with how your product or service helps them/changes their life for the better, instead of emphasizing “buy this because we’re telling you to do so.”
Individuals on LinkedIn:
Keep your profile fresh and updated. Don’t just post when you get a new job position – that content is great but if you want to actually connect with your connections, be creative, be human. Create posts that spark conversation.
Start by revamping your personal LinkedIn profile:
- Make it clear how you help people.
- Have a headline on your profile.
- Have a compelling about section. Make the first sentence strong and enticing for the person to click “read more”.
- Add featured media. This could be websites, blog posts, or portfolio links.
- Add an audio introduction to your profile. Record a short one sentence about you, how to correctly pronounce your last name, something short yet personable.
- Add a cover story video – this is a chef’s kiss to have a nearly perfect page. This gives your connection a personal touch when they visit your profile. Video is obviously everything – so make it part of your LinkedIn profile!
LinkedIn tips for people:
- Share content with your prospects that would be relevant to them and their interests. Be strategic when doing this. It’s a simple and quick way of staying top of mind and provides value without asking for anything else in return.
- Similar to a previous tip for business pages – nothing is more powerful than another human being on camera and telling a story on how a product or service made their life better. Experiment with video content for your personal LinkedIn posts.
- Turn your comments into your own LinkedIn post! Stumble across a thought-provoking post you want to expand off of? Share that and start the discussion with your own connections on your feed.
Getting specific:
When interacting with content on your LinkedIn feed make your comment at least 2 lines long.
A rule of thumb to follow is to post at least 2 times a week on your LinkedIn profile. Make your posts at least 150 words with three to five hashtags (no more or it looks a bit gimmicky).
Big Corner Creative
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