Are you using LinkedIn? Chances are good that the answer is yes. LinkedIn has continued to grow year after year since 2017. Because it continues to serve as a resource for job seekers, it continues to be a strong avenue for networking.
The better question to ask is: Are you using LinkedIn to its full potential? Chances are you're not. So, let's look at what the social media platform has to offer and how you can use it to build your brand.
What LinkedIn Has To Offer
LinkedIn started primarily as a job seeker's platform, but it's grown beyond that. While job searches and networking are still key components of the site, it has placed far more emphasis on content distribution in recent years. Because of its professional focus, it's the perfect place to build your brand image, share industry knowledge and demonstrate expertise in your chosen field.
Building Your Brand On LinkedIn
Of course, you already know what LinkedIn has to offer—that's why you're here. What you probably want to know is how you can tap into the platform's potential.
Here are some ways:
Sell yourself. Both your individual profile and your company pages should show your best professional side. Create a compelling headline and summary for your profile. Choose a clean, focused background and an eye-catching profile picture.
Use concise language in your profile that incorporates keywords relevant to your industry and expertise. The keywords are important because they will help people find you in searches. Conciseness ensures that they get the information they need about you in easy, digestible chunks.
Engage and be engaging. Post content that matters to your peers and the people you want to impress. Share insightful articles, comment on industry news and share tips that have brought you success. Be sure to engage with others' posts, and when you see those little notifications about sharing your expertise, add your thoughts about topics that match your skills and expertise.
Use Ads To Bring In Sales And Leads
You have your brand down; now about those sales numbers …
While LinkedIn is the B2B platform, B2B services aren't the only thing you can sell there. Don't get me wrong, you will find decision makers on the platform, and it is a good place for businesses to sell to businesses. However, individuals with consumer needs still use the platform, so don't shy away from advertising here just because you don't sell business-to-business.
Types Of Ad Content
LinkedIn provides a variety of ad formats to help businesses reach the kinds of audiences they want and craft a message that resonates. These include:
Sponsored content ads that show up alongside organic posts in feeds.
Sponsored messages that arrive in the inbox of your target audience.
Lead generation forms that help you build your lead and client base.
Text and dynamic ads that show up on the side of a user's page, complete with simple call-to-action buttons.
Follower ads that are designed to help draw new followers to your company page.
LinkedIn has one of the best demographic targeting algorithms that I have seen on a social media platform. As with other platforms, you can target by inferred demographics (age and gender, for example). You can also use the platform's more precise targeting options, including:
Location and language.
Education level.
Interests.
Career and past job experience.
Company information.
Targeting job experience and company information is especially powerful on LinkedIn because of the networking and career focus of the platform and its users. While on other platforms a user may forget to update their profile after a job change for months (or even years), LinkedIn users thrive and fall by their attention to profile information. This means that targeting these attributes is more likely to offer accurate results with a higher probability of conversion compared to platforms where this type of information (when collected) is less important to keep updated.
Keeping It Professional
The most important aspect of LinkedIn is its professional atmosphere. Brands that respect that professionalism tend to do well on the platform, building trust with users and seeing a return on their ad and content investment. Direct targeting, industry-relevant ads and enriching content are the lifeblood of the platform. These are also the three most important things that will help you increase your sales and brand awareness.
So, what are you going to post about on LinkedIn tomorrow?
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