Effective B2B marketing tips for LinkedIn

There is enhanced amount of networking when it comes to LinkedIn Groups because it becomes a forum where people from various industrial backgrounds discuss real issues pertaining to the workplace. (Photo: Shutterstock)

LinkedIn, being a professional network, has focussed all energies towards providing networking opportunities initially and has recently scaled onto allowing publishing features to cope with other social networks. B2B (business-to-business) marketing is in a league of its own, and brands need to be crafty, resourceful, and proactive on LinkedIn to leverage the opportunities that exist on this platform.

Here are a few strategies to improve your outreach strategy on LinkedIn, helping you connect with the right audiences and keeping them engaged towards performing an action.

If you want to create immense impact about your business, then your key focus should be on creating an alluring company page. Ensure the display picture is represented by the company logo, and optimise the use of the banner through what you wish to highlight regarding your business. Your company pitch should be a strongly-worded one, precise, and with crisp description. LinkedIn displays these lines very prominently hence it’s essential to remember that the first two lines of the description should be concise. It would be in your brand’s interest to highlight the value proposition as well as service offerings in the copy.

In order to attract your audiences, your content should be a fine balance between company news and progress, along with updates around your industry. With business networking at the core of LinkedIn, being seen as a key opinion leader is vital.

Create content that provokes the audiences towards taking the desired action. LinkedIn is great towards optimising your content and very few brands seem to leverage it. Relevant keywords on your company page are what will take people to your profile and additionally help you find the right contacts to broaden your network.

Your content should be a fine balance between company news and progress, along with updates around your industry. Build a content mix that allows for your page to be engaging and informative. Blog posts, images and infographics are known to show high interactions on LinkedIn. With business networking at the core of LinkedIn, being seen as a key opinion leader is vital.

Lead generation is something that brands depend on heavily, and LinkedIn is an effective platform for such needs. If your primary goal is to increase leads, then you should consider converting your company page into a lead generation mechanism. This should be done by structuring it in a manner that creates conversion as a click through to your website with all your communication. Showcasing specific deals and offers are known to help leverage click-throughs to the brands website. LinkedIn success stories claim over 80 percent of leads being generated only through the social network.

It would be a great idea to create showcase pages on LinkedIn to promote individual brands that are extensions of your company. This is perfect for segmenting the inbound LinkedIn traffic as it helps generate leads and develop long-term relationships with specific audiences. The showcase page consists of a large header image, update posts, and places to link back to your company. Showcase pages will help you divide your target audience and create customised pages for each department. It is the ideal way to your LinkedIn traffic. A great example would be Adobe, which has different showcase pages for designers, publishers, and marketers. There are other benefits to having a showcase page such as appearing more in search results, job postings and having a vanity URL.

While looking for leads, use search filters for enhanced targeting. Once you create a highly specific search, you can save it and use it later. What’s more, alerts can also be set up and managed for the same. If you have an upgraded version of LinkedIn, you can save more than three searches. Use the advanced options and narrow down the filters based on people, company, category, and language.

There is enhanced amount of networking when it comes to LinkedIn groups because it becomes a forum where people from various industrial backgrounds discuss real issues pertaining to the workplace. If you decide to initiate a group to increase conversation, then you must employ a moderator/admin to maintain quick responses and additionally oversee the page so as to increase post. It’s recommended to keep 80 percent of the posts about industry-related topics and the rest on your business offerings. Essentially groups enable the company to acquire a great deal of leads in a short time span. A group search on LinkedIn will lead you to as many as two million groups across various industries, and it is equally important for your company spokesperson to be active in them towards building your organisation and its representatives as thought leaders.

For every brand that leverages LinkedIn, a constant review and rectify strategy will ensure you are on the right path to success. View the analytics on your company page and measure how your objectives are being achieved, hence providing you success in your B2B Marketing strategy.