By Barbara Pfeiffer, The Partner Marketing Group
I’ve been doing a lot of LinkedIn presentations lately to software and technology clients. The discussions afterward have been really interesting and left me a little surprised at how underutilized this network really is. Most technology marketers I speak with have decent company pages, post fairly regularly (as on other networks), and may have dabbled in some advertising.
If this also describes your usage—you’re missing out on a lot. Here’s why you should go all in on LinkedIn.
LinkedIn isn’t just another social channel.
It’s time to stop thinking about LinkedIn as “just another social channel” you feel obligated to be on and start thinking about it as a platform for marketing, advertising, networking and sales.
Think about it.
LinkedIn is the largest, completely opt-in database of business professionals with incredible targeting opportunities. How can you not take advantage of this? Where do you begin? Follow these steps below.
Understand the opportunities.
Powerful tools can be complex and it’s easy to overlook the best features. LinkedIn has great videos, guides and tools to help you understand all the opportunities available. There are hundreds of third-party trainings—both fee and free. In fact, your biggest problem might be sorting through all the material that’s out there. When in doubt, use LinkedIn as the best source for information through their help section and search. Can’t do it in-house? Get help. LinkedIn can be expensive AND ineffective if you don’t know what you’re doing.
Have a LinkedIn plan.
Not a social media plan. A plan JUST for LinkedIn. It deserves it.
When building your plan, consider:
- What is your goal? Lead generation will take a different approach than awareness and credibility.
- Do you want to build followers? That will require another set of tactics.
- Will employees participate? You should have a policy and process for employee participation in your LinkedIn plans.
Create integrated campaigns.
With so many different marketing, advertising and sales opportunities, LinkedIn makes integrated campaigns a must have. Have a great eBook? Go beyond posting on your company page. Consider a series of LinkedIn Sponsored Posts to offer it to your target audience. Create some articles on the same topic for LinkedIn Publishing. You can take that even further by adding display, text, or dynamic ads. Using LinkedIn Sales Navigator? You can also share that piece through InMail.
Use your data.
Once you start creating integrated campaigns, you’ll have some great data on who’s responding (i.e., are you reaching your target?) and what’s most effective. Look at content topics and types and, of course, the tactics. Use this data when you build your next campaign.
One final thought. LinkedIn, like all marketing, is all about content—original, thought leadership and engaging content. Don’t expect great results without it.
Need an assessment of your current LinkedIn strategy and presence? Help building an integrated LinkedIn marketing campaign? Original content to fuel your campaigns? Get in touch with our senior marketing team today and start taking advantage of LinkedIn as a powerful marketing opportunity.
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