Introduction
LinkedIn has become the most powerful social media network for B2B marketing. For many reasons, it’s now a primary way to generate new leads and opportunities. LinkedIn is one of the few sites that let you find people by their job title, company, or industry – all valuable information for salespeople who are looking to build relationships with decision-makers at target companies. All this makes LinkedIn an excellent place to start your search for b2b leads and opportunities.
Creating a Linkedin Strategy for Business-to-Business Brands
Why do you need a B2B LinkedIn Marketing Strategy?
A social platform such as LinkedIn can help you to reach out to more people and better target your audience. But it is important that you have a strategy in place that will take advantage of the network and the tools that are available for marketers on the site. A well-planned, strategic LinkedIn business marketing strategy will ensure that you are able to leverage all of the benefits of using the platform to grow your business and attract new customers.
With more than 10 million U.S. business professionals on the platform, LinkedIn has become the top social network for professional networking and leads generation for businesses of all sizes. In fact, according to HubSpot, “LinkedIn drives more traffic to company websites than any other social network.” The reason being that not only are there millions of people looking at LinkedIn on a daily basis but also because it is where many people post their contact information or privately share business opportunities with colleagues.
Your business is vulnerable without a Linkedin marketing strategy.
If you don’t have a LinkedIn marketing strategy, your business is vulnerable. You’re missing out on many opportunities for new b2b leads and opportunities. More companies are turning to LinkedIn as a way to find new b2b contacts, and it’s easy to create an effective Linkedin marketing strategy for b2b. The most effective marketing strategies are the ones that work in harmony with these two elements: content and social media.
Here are 20 advanced LinkedIn Marketing Strategies for B2B
Create a LinkedIn profile for your company
One important thing to do, before you go any further, is to create a LinkedIn profile for your company. This will help on two fronts: first, you’re giving potential customers information about what your business specializes in (if they’re looking for an electrician in Knoxville, Tennessee, they’ll know who to call) and second, people will be able to see recommendations from other professionals within your industry on how well or poorly your company does its job.
Use the Advanced Search function
LinkedIn’s advanced search function allows you to target specific job titles and other criteria that will help you find qualified leads. You can even use the LinkedIn “people also search for” feature to narrow down your target audience, making sure that your marketing efforts go toward people who are really likely to actually buy from you.
Link to your website
Just like any other social media platform, you want to let people know where they can find more information on your business. If someone clicks on your profile, they should be able to find your website address on the same tab.
Don’t forget about endorsements
Make sure that when you or one of your employees has gotten a LinkedIn endorsement from another user, you link to it! You can even create a call-to-action encouraging recipient to leave a recommendation for your business if they like what they see.
Don’t spam your connections
LinkedIn doesn’t allow you to send bulk emails to a list of people at once, so you can’t just email everyone in your network asking them to come to buy stuff from you. Stick with LinkedIn’s “send messages” function when building a relationship with potential customers and be sure that any communication is relevant to their interests.
Promote your business events
People might not want to hear from you when they’re filling out a lead generation form, but they’ll definitely show up if there’s an event going on where they can get a free pen, don’t you think? Make sure to promote company-wide events and even smaller networking meetings on this platform.
Use the right language
LinkedIn isn’t Facebook or Twitter; it’s really more of a professional social media site. Make sure that your profile and all forms of marketing for your business are written in serious, professional language rather than sensational words like “amazing” or “incredible.”
Use the right tone
Just as you want to avoid hyperbolic language on LinkedIn, you also want to avoid sarcasm and too much lightheartedness. It’s important that when your potential customers read about your business they feel comfortable trusting you to do the job right.
Don’t be afraid to get personal
LinkedIn is a great tool for making connections with people you’ll never meet in person; it’s not just about business relationships. Get your customers to know something about you as an individual so that they’re more likely to trust you when you recommend products or services.
Join groups of potential customers
Just because you can join as many LinkedIn groups as you like and start posting immediately doesn’t mean that this is the best use of your time. See what other people are saying in a group before joining it yourself; if there’s no activity in there, don’t bother jumping in.
Use LinkedIn Polls to get even more free leads
LinkedIn users love being asked their opinions, especially when the polls are relevant. Sharing questions from professional communities like LinkedIn Polls will give your potential customers a chance to see what other people in their industry are saying about you and your company.
Make sure that you’re active on LinkedIn
Posting messages, commenting and liking comments made by others is the best way to get noticed on LinkedIn. Don’t neglect this social media tool just because it’s aimed more at professionals than others.
Build an email list for your company
Ask your customers to sign up for your email list through LinkedIn instead of adding them to your mailing list. Although email is still a primary way to communicate with potential and existing clients, counting on it entirely might not be the smartest choice. However, building an email database from social media interactions like this one is smart marketing strategy.
Make sure your company has a mobile-friendly website
If someone using LinkedIn on their mobile device searches for your company and the only thing they see is an ugly, unwieldy desktop site, it’s unlikely that they’ll care to look any further. Make sure your business’ site also looks good on desktop computers, but keep in mind that this social media site is the most popular on mobile devices.
Use LinkedIn’s new “Follow Company” feature to get more noticed by potential customers
LinkedIn’s newest feature, Follow Company, allows users of this social media site to easily see any company that they choose following them back. It is a great way to do some free advertising and connect with people who are interested in your company.
Have a blog on your company website? Share it with LinkedIn
Posting your blog’s content to LinkedIn is one way to make sure potential customers know the information that you put out there and strengthen your content marketing strategy. Not only that, but people who are already interested in your business will be able to keep up with all of the news by following you in this way.
Use LinkedIn’s new publishing platform for blogs
It is important that content on your blog always sounds professional and relevant, so it makes sense not to host it on the same social media platform as a ranting, self-absorbed status update. Instead, use LinkedIn’s publishing platform to create an article that will look and sound professional even if the content isn’t.
Connect with people you know from your physical location
LinkedIn makes it easy to connect with people in your community, which makes sense for businesses in a variety of industries. Not only that, but you can also keep track of all these connections using a feature that will show you where they are located.
Show off your industry knowledge, especially if it relates to a hot topic
LinkedIn makes it easy for people and businesses to share their expertise in a variety of topics related to the world of business. This feature is usually used by companies looking to grow their reputation through thought leadership and word-of-mouth marketing.
Make sure potential clients see your LinkedIn profile when they google your type of business
Keywords are an important part of SEO for local businesses who want to be found online by people searching with words related to their product or service. It is even more important to use the right keywords when it comes to finding new clients through organic search results on Google, Bing, and Yahoo!
Test, measure, and analyze LinkedIn marketing performance
A good LinkedIn social media strategy is a performance-based one. That means you have to measure and analyze the impact of your LinkedIn marketing efforts. You should test, measure and analyze all of your LinkedIn marketing strategies to see which ones are working best for you. Once you have concluded this, stick with the strategies that are producing the most leads and conversions.
Utilize LinkedIn advertising as part of LinkedIn marketing strategy
LinkedIn advertising is great for those who want to advertise their services or product without spending a lot of time and money. LinkedIn Advertising allows your business to connect with its target audience by reaching out to users, members, and companies. This type of marketing has increased the outreach of your company exponentially. LinkedIn advertising also enables you to reach people in specific countries and languages, which makes it an extremely powerful tool that can be used for global marketing campaigns.
With LinkedIn ads you can:
– Increase your company’s online reach with Linkedin advertising
– Boost your website traffic and conversion rates
– Use LinkedIn advertising to attract new customers
– Target potential buyers based on their professional networks, job title, skills, or location
– Utilize all types of LinkedIn ad formats to present a variety of content types and formats
When a person visits your website, they might not buy anything right away. For this reason, it is important to show them ads in other places on the internet that match up with their interests to remind them of the items they didn’t purchase when they were on your site. LinkedIn enables you to “retarget” these customers by linking your company’s ad with cookies and browser information. This is important because it gives you the possibility to show potential buyers similar ads in order to generate interest and make sales. This type of advertising is very effective for lead generation—it allows you to identify potential customers, which helps your company deliver a personalized service.
Utilize LinkedIn sales navigator search to find the right lead
There are many professional networking sites that can be used in a variety of ways, and LinkedIn is one of them. With the LinkedIn sales navigator search, for example, you can look at a specific industry and find the key players and connections to be made. This will ultimately help you gain more visibility within your chosen market niche, opening up new opportunities.
Future of LinkedIn for B2B Lead Generation
LinkedIn has, over time, evolved to be a perfect platform for B2B businesses and specialists. It has been able to kill the traditional marketing methods of B2B marketers.
Conclusion: If you want to be successful in business today, it’s critical that your company has a LinkedIn B2B marketing strategy. You are vulnerable without one. Without a social media presence on Linkedin, you’ll miss out on opportunity after opportunity for lead generation and sales opportunities with the potential of not knowing about them at all! Anand Iyer is an expert in digital marketing strategies and can help you identify what type of LinkedIn campaign will work best for your needs as well as how much time and money to invest into optimizing each channel. Schedule a consultation call with us now so we can discuss more specific details about our advanced strategies or any other aspect of online marketing that could benefit from some professional guidance!
