LinkedIn marketing strategy in 6 steps

1. Optimise your business page

The first thing to do to make sure that your LinkedIn marketing is as successful as possible is to optimise your business’s profile. It acts as the hub for your company on LinkedIn. People may also be able to find it in search engine results and it can sometimes appear in the rankings ahead of your own company site. It is not hard to get your page looking good. Fill in all the information about your company that you possibly can. When your page is looking good, you can use it to advertise jobs and share content. Encourage employees to list on their own LinkedIn profiles that they work there. With your employees on board, you can ask them to share your content too so that it reaches into their networks too.

2. Create content to post

Content is everything. It is not merely about the quantity of content that is posted onto your LinkedIn page, it is more about the quality of your content. One post that is very widely shared and read will be far more effective than posting many that only a few people read. If you are posting blog content from your website, for example, make sure that you do not simply post the link. Include an accompanying caption that outlines the article’s subject or an interesting fact related to the content. Use this as an opportunity to spark their interest so that they want to read you post.

3. Ensure your content is suitable for the platform

Infographics are an example of the type of thing that works well on LinkedIn. An illustration of a piece of information or trend in a colourful and visually appealing manner will do far better than something that has no accompanying visual; in fact, LinkedIn’s own best practice advice suggests that post with an image have a 98% higher comment rate.

4. Use LinkedIn groups

The idea behind this is a simple one. LinkedIn groups are formed of people who share a similar interest or profession and, therefore, make a good place to focus your marketing as you know that the audience is likely to be receptive to your content. What is most important about using LinkedIn groups for marketing is that you do not annoy the group’s other members. By using your expertise in group discussions, your credibility is likely to rise amongst your target audience, making it more likely that people will seek your professional guidance on a particular issue.

5. Make use of LinkedIn Ads

The nature of LinkedIn means that its members supply it with information that allows for the very specific targeting of adverts. You can pay for ads on LinkedIn and there are three types that you can list on the site. Sponsored content will appear in the newsfeeds of people that LinkedIn thinks will like the content. You can also have PPC text ads that appear on profile pages and group pages as well as elsewhere. The final type, and the one with which you may be the most familiar if you are a LinkedIn user, is Sponsored InMail. This is like email marketing but for LinkedIn. People are sent ads straight to their messaging inbox. LinkedIn only sends the to users who are active, making them more likely to be noticed.

6. Know how to access LinkedIn Analytics

Like other social platforms, LinkedIn has analytics that can be accessed by the page’s owner. LinkedIn’s own research has suggested that content posted in the mornings tends to receive the most engagement, followed by posts that shortly after business hours. Use this information to schedule your posts so that they can get the maximum number of people seeing them. In order to access LinkedIn Analytics form your company’s page, click the ‘Analytics’ tab where you can find information on all of you page visitors, updates and followers. This is a valuable tool as it allows you to accurately asses what types of posts are receiving the most engagement. Knowing this allows you to create content that conforms to what people want.

There is a fair amount to do in order to get a LinkedIn campaign functioning at full capacity but, when it is in motion and has continuous good content, it is a hugely powerful marketing tool.