LinkedIn has become an invaluable platform for businesses looking to establish their brand, find new customers, and nurture leads. With over 740 million members worldwide, LinkedIn offers unparalleled access to professionals across all industries and career levels. Whether you’re just starting out or are an established business, learning how to effectively leverage LinkedIn can help take your company to the next level.
How to Create a LinkedIn Business Page
The first step to using LinkedIn for business is to create a LinkedIn Page. This allows you to establish an official presence on LinkedIn for your company, much like a Facebook Page. Here are some tips for setting up a great LinkedIn Page:
- Use your business name as the page name. This helps with branding and makes it easy for people to find you.
- Upload a logo and header image. Choose visually engaging, high-quality images that convey your brand. The header spans the full width of your page.
- Write an informative “About” section. Briefly describe what your company does, your mission, history, and anything that makes your business unique.
- Fill out key details like your business location, industry, website URL, and number of employees. This helps people understand your business.
- Claim your custom URL. For example, linkedin.com/company/yourbusinessname. This creates a more professional looking page URL.
- Optimise SEO on your page. Include relevant keywords in your title, description, and “About” section that people may search for.
- Showcase Products or Services. Add tabs to highlight what your business offers. Include descriptions, images, videos, and testimonials.
- Publish updates. Share company news, behind-the-scenes content, links, images, or videos to engage followers.
Creating a robust LinkedIn Page establishes credibility and gives potential customers a place to learn about your business.
How To Use LinkedIn For Business?
Here are some tips for using LinkedIn to grow your business:
Create a Strong Profile
- Make sure your personal profile is complete and portrays you in a professional light. Include a professional photo, headline, summary section detailing your background and goals, work experience, education, skills, accomplishments etc.
Make Connections
- Connect with colleagues, clients, industry leaders, and prospective customers. Engage with your connections by liking and commenting on their posts, sending messages etc. The more people you connect with, the broader your reach.
Showcase Your Expertise
- Share insights, advice, articles, and other content related to your industry. Post regularly to establish yourself as a thought leader. You can also publish longform posts on LinkedIn’s publishing platform.
Join Groups
- Join relevant industry and interest groups to connect with like-minded professionals in your field. Groups allow you to establish yourself as an expert.
Research Leads
- Use LinkedIn’s advanced search to find new leads and prospects for your business. You can search by location, industry, job title and more. Leverage your connections to get introduced to the right people.
Stay Active
- To get the most out of LinkedIn, aim to engage regularly. Set aside time each week for networking activities like posting updates, sharing content, connecting with new people etc. Consistency is key.
Use Premium Features (Optional)
- To take your LinkedIn use further, consider upgrading to a premium account. This unlocks additional features like seeing who viewed your profile, sending InMail messages to anyone (even if they’re not a direct connection), and more.
Also read: How Facebook Ad Spy Tools Can Help You Stay Ahead in the Advertising Game?
Tips For Using Your LinkedIn Page
Once your Page is set up, focus on attracting followers and generating engagement. Here are some tips:
- Cross-promote your Page. Link to your LinkedIn Page from your website, email signatures, marketing materials, and other channels.
- Engage your current network. Share your Page with employees, contacts, and existing customers to get your first followers. Offer them incentives to follow, comment, and share.
- Post a variety of content. Share articles, images, infographics, videos, live videos, and more. Varying your content keeps followers interested.
- Host or sponsor LinkedIn Events. Virtual or in-person events are a great way to position your company as an industry thought leader.
- Utilize Showcase Pages. These highlight your products, content, jobs, services, and more in a visual, dynamic format.
- Publish Sponsored Content. Pay to amplify high-performing organic posts to reach more of your target audience.
- Advertise. LinkedIn ads allow granular targeting by job title, industry, skills, and other factors. Use side-by-side ads or single image ads.
- Send targeted messages. Communicate with your Page followers through LinkedIn Messaging to drive conversions.
- Go Live. Broadcast live video to your Page followers and interact with viewers in real time.
- Analyze performance. Use LinkedIn’s analytics to see what content and strategies are working best. Double down on those.
Using a mix of organic content, events, advertising, coupons and messaging will ensure your Page actively engages your audience and promotes your brand.
Best Marketing Tools For LinkedIn
LinkedIn provides a powerful array of built-in tools to maximize your marketing. Here are some of the best:
LinkedIn Ad Manager
You can create highly targeted ads to reach your ideal customers on LinkedIn. Target by location, age, job title, company, and much more. Ad formats include Sponsored Content, Message Ads, Text Ads and more.
LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms
Generate and collect leads right from LinkedIn with customizable lead gen forms. Get contact info and auto-save new leads to your CRM.
LinkedIn Elevate
This tool allows you to share employee posts to your LinkedIn Page feed in one click. Amplify your thought leaders.
LinkedIn Publishing Platform
Publish long-form articles and posts to establish your brand as an industry expert. Articles can be promoted as Sponsored Content.
LinkedIn Sales Navigator
This paid tool helps you identify, qualify, and engage decision makers and influencers throughout the boost sales process.
LinkedIn Events
Create virtual and in-person events to nurture your audience. Events are branded with your logo and business info.
LinkedIn Pages Analytics
Gain data and insight on your followers, post reach and engagement, content performance, and visitor demographics.
LinkedIn Audience Network
Extend your ad campaigns beyond LinkedIn to apps, websites, and emails matched to your target audience.
Leveraging the right marketing tools can amplify your LinkedIn marketing results. Start small and test what resonates best with your audience. With consistent effort, LinkedIn can become a major driver of new business.
Conclusion
LinkedIn has evolved into far more than just an online resume service. The world’s top professional social network now provides a suite of powerful marketing tools and opportunities to help businesses of all sizes.
By creating an eye-catching company page, sharing valuable content, running ads, hosting events, and leveraging LinkedIn’s built-in features, brands can gain more visibility, authority, engagement, and leads.
Making LinkedIn marketing work for your business requires an investment of time and strategic effort, but the platform’s unparalleled reach makes it well worth harnessing. Approach LinkedIn marketing with persistent experimentation to determine which tactics perform best with your audience and goals.