We’re delighted to welcome Heather Ritchie, a top-notch Certified Content Marketing Strategist, coach, and the blogger behind Writer's Life for You, to our blog today! In this post, she’ll be giving us her expert advice on how to effectively create a LinkedIn marketing strategy.
With Heather’s help, you can gain a competitive edge in your market and use LinkedIn to target potential customers who can benefit from your services or products.
So get ready to learn how to market smarter with the help of one of the world’s largest professional networks!
Let’s dive into the amazing power of marketing with LinkedIn!
LinkedIn is the social media platform that everyone assumes is only for corporations. And while it is known as the number one social media channel for business, not everyone sees it as the powerful marketing tool that it is.
According to LinkedIn, 97 percent of B2B marketers use LinkedIn for content marketing. And 80 percent of B2B marketing leads come from LinkedIn compared to Facebook and Twitter.
Smaller businesses, solopreneurs, freelancers, and large corporations in the B2B sector can all benefit from using LinkedIn for B2B marketing. And your company page can be optimized to send you consistent leads over and over again.
I know several people that find most of their clients and customers on LinkedIn, so many people leverage LinkedIn for marketing purposes.
This post will cover the benefits of marketing on LinkedIn and some clever ways to set up a LinkedIn marketing strategy for your B2B business.
What is LinkedIn Marketing?
LinkedIn Marketing Strategy for B2B: 6 Smart Ways to Use LinkedIn for Marketing
LinkedIn marketing is the strategy of using LinkedIn to:
- Engage with potential customers
- Drive traffic to their website
- Create partnerships
- Network with other professionals
- Generate new leads
- Build brand awareness
With powerful marketing features and analytics to analyze your effectiveness, it's one of the best platforms for making sales and connections.
Related: How Parenting Principles Align with Business
Benefits of Using LinkedIn for Marketing
There are many benefits to using LinkedIn for marketing. Here are a few.
1. LinkedIn Makes It Easy to Find Your Target Audience
Many business professionals use the platform for professional networking and communication, which means your audience is likely already on LinkedIn. LinkedIn groups and the advanced search feature make it easy to find them.
2. Content Marketing
LinkedIn is one of the best places for professional content marketing as users engage with content relevant to their careers. It's different from the content you find on other platforms, and if your ideal audience is professional, it's the best place to publish content.
By forming connections with professionals on LinkedIn, you get better access to the decision-makers in each agency. Did you know that four out of five LinkedIn members are actually in decision-making roles in their companies?
That means connecting with other LinkedIn members provides you access to people making purchase decisions in their businesses.
Of course, it's not for every niche. For instance, crafters and other artists may not find their people here.
3. LinkedIn Helps You Establish Yourself as an Expert and Gain Credibility
LinkedIn is a great place to establish yourself as an expert (especially if you start a group). You can set yourself up as the go-to person/business in your industry.
Also, LinkedIn allows you to get customer and client testimonials that you can add to your personal profile in the form of recommendations. Past clients, customers, co-workers, and partners can also endorse your skills.
These features can help you showcase your expertise.
4. You Can Become an Influencer on LinkedIn
By participating in LinkedIn communities and publishing incredible, helpful content, you can position yourself as a leader in your niche. And even if you don't want to become an influencer, collaborating with the right ones can boost your marketing efforts.
5. LinkedIn is Free
Probably the best benefit is that you can use LinkedIn for free. Some other platforms charge a lot of money for business features similar to LinkedIn. Yes, there are great paid features such as Linkedin Ads and LinkedIn Premium that you can pay for, but many of the most powerful marketing tools can be used for free.
Related: 5 Free Ways to Grow Your Traffic
Setting Yourself Up for Success with LinkedIn B2B Marketing
Whether you're a solopreneur or a larger company, it's essential to set yourself up for success on LinkedIn, so there are a few things your need to do to guarantee your success.
1. Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile
First, you want to optimize your profile with keywords so that you show up in searches. You also want to make sure it's professional and that it clearly communicates what you do and who you serve.
It's nice to have clients come to you instead of the other way around.
Ask for recommendations, add successful projects to your profile, and publish articles as well as share content to showcase your expertise. Add any certificates or awards you've earned to build trust.
2. Create a Company Page and Share Information
While your personal LinkedIn page is all about you and your role in your business, a company page shares your business's story and provides information on your services and products. It's a great way to introduce your target audience to your brand.
The goal is to build a LinkedIn company page that helps you connect with people and provide them with valuable information.
It's also essential to optimize your company page with keywords, vital data on employees, your logos, and other brand images, as well as content relevant to your LinkedIn marketing goals.
While smaller businesses may not need company pages, it's a valuable asset for larger organizations.
3. Define Your Marketing Goals and Your Target Audience
No matter what social media channel you market on, you need to define your goals to develop a strategy. Are you marketing on LinkedIn for lead generation, brand awareness, as a PR tool, etc.?
That's why it's important to define your audience to create a successful LinkedIn marketing strategy. B2B marketing strategies are a bit different than businesses marketing to consumers.
Knowing who you're marketing to and your goals will help you tailor your messaging and calls to action.
4. Create Valuable; Quality Content That Helps Your Target Audience
Creating and sharing the right content on LinkedIn is key to B2B marketing. It's also vital to any of your digital marketing and LinkedIn strategies. And creating content is more than just sharing your blog posts and random status updates on the platform.
LinkedIn offers a platform like no other social media platform for sharing relevant content with your audience. Strategic status updates, carefully curated content, and valuable original articles go a long way toward successful lead generation and making sales.
Think insider tips and content that helps people get to know your brand or position your products and services as the solutions your audience needs.
When you get it right and solve their problems, you can make fans for life with intelligent LinkedIn strategies. And viewers will only follow your personal LinkedIn page or company page if you provide value.
Related: We Shall Overcome—A Story of Entrepreneurial Triumph
Creating a LinkedIn Marketing Strategy for B2B
Now, for the part you've been waiting for – those smart LinkedIn B2B marketing strategies. You can use these LinkedIn strategies to skyrocket your profits.
1. Use Content Marketing
As I've already mentioned, the best LinkedIn strategies use content to connect with people and provide valuable information. B2B marketers know that social media channels are some of the best platforms for sharing content for various reasons.
Great content helps build raving fans and repeat customers; that's why it is so effective and one of the best B2B marketing strategies on LinkedIn too.
2. Create a LinkedIn Group
One of the best ways to establish your expertise in your niche is to create a LinkedIn group. I learned this from a LinkedIn marketing expert, and really it's brilliant.
LinkedIn groups act much like Facebook groups, except they are based more on professional networking. They can help position you as a thought leader or influencer and position you as the expert in your industry who people turn to.
These groups also help you build a community of potential clients and customers that can further your B2B marketing efforts without feeling like a used car salesman. It's the non-sleazy way of marketing on LinkedIn.
3. Join LinkedIn Groups
If you don't want to start your own group, you can benefit from joining groups, too, as they connect you with many potential clients. The key is creating value versus directly promoting your products and services.
Besides, many groups have community rules against self-promotion; you just need to make sure you follow the group rules you join. The best way to do this is to be helpful. Engage with other members' posts, answer questions, and, if allowed, create your own helpful posts.
By joining groups that relate to your niche, you can learn about new and evolving trends and connect with your ideal audience.
4. Try LinkedIn Ads
I've personally never tried LinkedIn ads, but they can be a great tool that B2B companies use as one of their LinkedIn strategies to generate leads – more targeted leads to be exact.
There are a variety of ads you can use; the key is choosing the right one to achieve your goals. Here are some of the most popular ones for B2B marketing.
Text Ads
Text ads are perfect for businesses that want to find leads within a specific demographic and those with limited budgets. These are the ads that appear on the right corner and on top of your desktop feed.
Sponsored Messaging
This type of ad allows you to send messages about your services and products directly to LinkedIn users' inboxes. This type of ad used to be known as Sponsored InMail.
The drawback is there is a limit to how many members can get sponsored messages each month. This means that your connections may only receive one or two of your messages a month.
Sponsored Content
Sponsored content is different than sponsored messages ad known as native advertising. It's one of the most popular forms of LinkedIn advertising and one of the most versatile.
This content shows up in your audience's LinkedIn feed around the regular content they see daily. The only thing that sets it apart is the word “Promoted” listed under the company name and logo.
5. Use LinkedIn Premium
Many B2B marketers LinkedIn Premium because it is a powerful marketing tool. One of the features it offers is more advanced searches each month.
You can view all profiles up to 3rd-degree connections while browsing similar search results and profiles. This means you'll get more from your search results as LinkedIn limits the volume of search data and the number of searches free users have access to.
You also get access to robust business and job insights on company pages. You'll also get more information on your own activity, like post views and other similar insights.
One of my favorite features of LinkedIn Premium is that you get to see more information on who has viewed your profile. Free users only get to see a few people that have viewed their profile, and these can all be warm leads or people who are viewing your profile to see if you can help them.
You also get to see the phrases your searchers used to find you, which is invaluable because you can add those keywords to your profile.
6. Leverage the Power of LinkedIn for Your Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing may not be the first type of marketing you think about doing on LinkedIn, but
the platform is definitely one to leverage for making money promoting affiliate products.
With more active users than Twitter and millions of decision-makers at your fingertips, LinkedIn is a great channel to promote the products you use and love. But like B2B LinkedIn marketing of all kinds, it must be done correctly.
Like many other social media channels, the best way to do it is to create quality content on your blog and promote the affiliate products in those articles, then share them with your network on LinkedIn. It also works better when you share it on your personal page versus a company page.
Final Thoughts on Your LinkedIn Marketing Strategy for B2B
Now you know some smart LinkedIn marketing tips to help you build your brand and make more money. Using LinkedIn is a smart strategy for most businesses as this social media channel is the number one platform for professionals.
And don't underestimate the power it has for solopreneurs and small businesses. LinkedIn allows you to connect with the people that make decisions in their companies and network with fellow businesses.
Use your LinkedIn profile to bring leads to you instead of the other way around. Post valuable content and posts to get more engagement and interact with your fellow LinkedIn users' content too.
Don't underestimate the power of LinkedIn on your marketing efforts.
About the Author
Heather Ritchie is a Certified Content Marketing Strategist, coach, and the blogger behind Writer's Life for You. It’s her mission to help women leave their 9-5s for good so they can work from home freelancing or blogging.
Heather has been writing SEO-optimized for businesses for over five years and has written and created several eBooks and courses.
You can find her at Writer’s Life for You.
