Many people think of social media as an unabashed time sink, but the truth is that social media platforms can actually be a solid source of client leads and revenue. Among these platforms, LinkedIn is the most practical and business-focused, making it the most worth your company’s time.
By beefing up your presence on LinkedIn while also creating some key outreach campaigns, your company can grow its client roster and lift revenues like you never expected. You can use the following five LinkedIn marketing tips to get started:
Hopefully your company already has a web presence on Google, Facebook and other platforms like Yelp in addition to its own website. While all of these can serve as an excellent resource for people considering your services, nothing quite gets to the point like a well-fashioned LinkedIn profile.
LinkedIn profiles not only streamline information about your company, but they also present it into a standardized format. The result is a behind-the-scenes look at the company that hopefully complements the branding-intensive messaging they would find elsewhere.
Think about your LinkedIn as an “about the director and crew” profile of a movie as compared to the film’s trailer and starpower. Visitors should be able to get a sense of your values as well as how you approach business in a unique way.
When completing your company profile, include a captivating header image, a short but punchy company description, an easy-to-read and eye-catching profile picture logo and a list of “Specialties” that helps you stand out from nearly identical competitors.
LinkedIn and other tools have been used quite successfully as personal branding tools for top company employees. In other words, well-crafted profiles can serve as a “celebrity endorsement” of sorts, except the endorsement comes from within. The trick is to make your top personnel celebrity-worthy, and you can start with compelling personal profiles for each one.
Have each person in your C-suite update their profile with a recent picture, a pithy 2-3 sentence summary of their professional approach and a detailed list of their past positions and duties. They should also include any relevant educational experience, certifications, leadership positions (volunteer or not) and any passion projects they have worked on.
Combined, these factors outline a resume that prospective clients can use to weigh the expertise of your top staff along with their impression of how a working relationship might go.
Aside from the permanent content on your company and employee profiles, page visitors will also see the most recent content published. If you ensure that what they see is thought-provoking and beneficial, you have just warmed them up more to doing business with you.
Start by finding the most relevant and useful posts from others in your industry. Then, your employees should start taking the time to write short 300-450 word posts on subjects they have a high level of expertise on. For instance, your company’s head of HR can write a quick post on how they minimize worker conflicts at the office.
Groups are another way to spread interesting information and connect with potential leads on LinkedIn. Seek out groups that you think you could provide the most useful information to, and become a regular commenter. Make sure that your comments genuinely help rather than just sell.
Once you have a fair amount of presence on LinkedIn in the form of quality content and impressive profiles, you should consider investing in paid advertising. LinkedIn is one of the best platforms to do so because you can fine-tune who sees your ads based on their industry, company size, personal demographics and more.
These tips are just the start of getting LinkedIn to work for you. You can gain even more benefits when you follow the in-depth advice you will hear at our free “Using LinkedIn to Grow Business Revenue” webinar.
Register for your spot today!