WSI hosted a webinar sharing tips for strengthening your network and brand with digital marketing with LinkedIn success. Gunnar Hood, a WSI consultant in Oklahoma City and author of our eBook specifically about LinkedIn, shared his experience as an expert with B2B and professional service companies. You can catch up on the recording here.
Business Case for LinkedIn and the New Normal
LinkedIn remains a powerful tool for professionals due to its laser focus on careers. With millions of users and companies actively searching for jobs and talent, it's a prime spot for recruitment. Beyond job hunting, it's valuable for building professional networks, establishing your personal brand, and staying up-to-date on industry trends. It also:
- Boasts 1 billion decision-makers and over 67 million company pages
- Accounts for 80% of B2B leads from social media
- Generates a high conversion rate of visitors compared to other channels
- It is voted the most trusted network.
Unfortunately, many LinkedIn users miss the bullseye… but that means that the small amount who leverage the platform effectively can hugely outperform their competitors.
Virtual networking is a scalable relationship-building tool because it is time-efficient, informed, broadly visible, free, and available 24/7. No wonder most decision-makers prefer remote interactions and self-service options—enough to make hefty purchases based on these interactions alone.
How To Be Successful on LinkedIn: Personal Brand Visibility
An all-star LinkedIn profile increases your reach by 50+%. Our WSI eBook, available through your WSI Consultant, guides you through the eight different things you need to complete. But building a standout profile can be hard if you don’t like writing about yourself. If that is the case, it makes sense to get help from specialists.
The key to an engaging profile is to ensure it is buyer-centric, i.e., it focuses less on what you do and more on how you help others solve their problems.
Take advantage of the new Featured section to share rich content such as slides, PDFs, videos, etc.
Use the Social Selling Index tool to keep the score. Aim for a score of >60, which, when combined with an all-star profile, puts you in an elite category.
Build Better Connections
Although getting over 500 initial connections is a milestone to work towards, the quality of your connections trumps quantity – especially because LinkedIn is “watching” and will suggest more of the type of connections you have.
Targeted search results across categories return not just people but articles, content, and jobs related to your search. This gives you greater exposure to relevant connections, which you can narrow down by researching them for common ground and then creating curiosity through views, likes, comments, and following them.
When inviting your ideal candidate to connect, use the Connect button on the profile view so that you can personalize your message. Again, craft your message to be about them and not about you. Do NOT use automation – it isn’t personal, and it is against LinkedIn policy.
Attract Through Thought Leadership
If there is someone you would like to connect with despite no common ground, thought leadership is the means for you. 97% of B2B companies use LinkedIn for content distribution, making it one of the biggest content publishers.
Only about 1% of users share content weekly. Differentiate yourself by publishing weekly for a competitive edge. Check out the LinkedIn Pages Playbook for inspiration on what to publish. Be engaging (especially when a post of yours is attracting a lot of interaction), be human, and space out your personal posts by at least four hours.
Encourage likes and comments, and then respond within 24 hours. To keep the LinkedIn algorithms happy, only tag people who are likely to comment.
LinkedIn Advertising
Up to 79% of B2B marketers say LinkedIn ads deliver the best results, and 58% say LinkedIn offers the best ROAS (return on ad spend). This is thanks to how targeted the audience can be and the various ad formats available:
- Dynamic
- Single image or video
- Carousel
- Sponsored messaging:
- Messaging ads (currently shown to get a 30% open rate)
- Conversation ads
B2B LinkedIn Best Practices:
Engaging and captivating profiles are key to making a lasting impression on LinkedIn. Your profile should not only showcase your skills and experiences but also tell a story about who you are and what sets you apart from the crowd. Here are some recommended best practices to follow:
- Create an interesting profile
- Post valuable, consistent content
- Optimize your company page
- Target the right audience
For more information on improving your LinkedIn performance and other digital marketing strategies, contact WSI today. You can also watch the recording here on LinkedIn success:
