Millions of businesses are trying to survive COVID-19 conditions.

In today’s competitive commercial landscape, marketing professionals increasingly depend on digital channels for assistance. In the US alone, research from Statista shows that B2B marketing spend has already decreased by over 50% in early 2020.

With limited marketing funds, businesses are now looking for avenues that will help them get the most bang for their buck.

Where else would they go besides social media?

Social media is the most popular platform for B2B marketing, says Content Marketing Institute: 83% of marketers are going this route. It’s cost-effective, time-efficient, and has a wider reach.

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Moreover, this arena’s technology and tools can be leveraged in several areas of marketing, such as customer acquisition, lead generation, retention, sales, and revenue. According to HubSpot, 66% of marketers claim social media brought in new leads with as little as spending six hours a week on SMM.

Today, the focus will be on Linkedin and how it can help B2B brands.

LinkedIn is a social media platform that is more suitable for professions rather than entertainment, making it rather effective for B2B marketing. Consider the following statistics from LinkedIn:

  • 94% of B2B marketers use LinkedIn for content marketing
  • 89% of B2B marketers turn to LinkedIn for lead generation
  • 70% of salespeople say they’re most active on LinkedIn

As a digital marketer, you are already aware of the fact that the right message on the right platform will allow you to reach the right target audience. However, you also need to have the right marketing strategy.

Your business can benefit from a Linkedin marketing strategy.

The next step is knowing how to direct your efforts on this platform. So let’s start from the beginning.

How can you use Linkedin for your brand the right way?

LinkedIn allows businesses to build credibility and enhance marketing efforts. With the aid of marketing tools, companies of every size can network, connect, and sell.

Here are the steps for creating your Linkedin strategy.

1. Make your LinkedIn page for your company

  • The first step in the campaign is to create a LinkedIn page. Begin making your LinkedIn profile, preferably using the same handle (username) you have on other social media sites.
  • Choose the category that appropriately describes your business.

2. Complete all the fields with accurate company details

Not only do complete pages get 30% more views, but it enables your business to rank better in Google and LinkedIn search. Offering as much information on your profile page can help improve visibility.

  • Choose a language that aligns with your business needs and target audience preferences. Your profile will be displayed in the primary language that you’ve selected. However, you can also create your profile in another language.
  • Write a short description to tell visitors about the company’s mission and values. List the basic information about the business, website, contact details, location, etc. Remember to incorporate relevant keywords so that your business shows up in search results.
  • Don’t forget to upload the company logo and tagline. Though this information is optional, it can help you get six times more visits. Why waste the opportunity?

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  • Add a profile photo to make your brand credible.
  • Hashtags and social media are a match made in heaven, so don’t miss the opportunity to improve the discoverability and community engagement of your business. Choose up to three hashtags, including those that are commonly used in the industry or ones that your target audience would use to search to find you.
  • Add a CTA button such as visit the website, learn more, follow, register, or sign up. Adding a CTA is one of the best ways of making your LinkedIn marketing strategy take off. Buttons with 1 or 3 words have a 13% higher CTR. However, ensure the corresponding URL is correct so that people are directed to the right landing page and your campaign remains effective.

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3. Make your page public

Once your LinkedIn Page is up and running, let people know they can link and follow it. Mention it on your website, newsletters, and other social channels. In order to develop a comprehensive social media strategy, consider enrolling in social media marketing courses that can help you stay on top of your SMM game.

The LinkedIn strategies for B2B brands

Creating a LinkedIn profile is the easy part. The actual challenge lies in your ability to make use of this platform to get more clients and increase brand awareness. LinkedIn marketing for B2B brands is not rocket science. With a few tips and tricks up your sleeve, you should be able to gain traction in no time at all.

However, your LinkedIn marketing tactics will only be effective if you have set clear goals. What do you plan to accomplish on LinkedIn? Common options include hiring, social selling, and connecting with customers.

There are several ways you can incorporate marketing techniques into your campaigns:

Passive marketing

Passive marketing entails building a reputation on social media so that prospects want to contact you. Keeping your LinkedIn profile active reassures potential clients and customers that you are a credible business. Moreover, it helps build connections in your industry.

Proactive marketing

Proactive marketing entails actively hunting and promoting your business on LinkedIn. Like any other SMM strategy, begin by identifying the demographics of your target audience.
Both can help:

  • Build brand exposure and make you discoverable to people searching for products or services.
  • Open up opportunities for interactions with potential clients.

Here are simple ways to market your business on LinkedIn:

1. Share professional posts

You want to exhibit your professionalism. Some ways to do that are uploading the latest blogs, product launches, relevant industry news, or anything that offers knowledge that prospects can benefit from and will be of interest to your target customers and clients.

And it doesn’t have to be all your content.

2. Join groups

Participating in groups and discussions helps build rapport and credibility. It’s a great way to make more connections, showcase your expertise, and offer help to others. But you can also find tips and resources for your business. Remember, you’re not here to talk only about yourself.

3. Add LinkedIn buttons

Adding a LinkedIn button to your website or blog is an easy way to expand your network, enhance your professional reputation, and make connections.

4. Make strategic connections

Did you know that if you have more than 500 contacts, the total number is not displayed? That’s because LinkedIn focuses on the quality (not quantity) of your connections. Members of LinkedIn are conscious of who they connect with within this platform and do not link with anyone.

You should start by connecting with users you know. When reaching out to people on LinkedIn, replace the default note with a personalized one, explaining why you want to connect and where you met before. The key to good connections is to focus on how you can help them, not the other way around.

5. Create authentic content that drives interest

Write compelling pieces that you know about. You can voice your opinions and offer a new perspective on common issues. In fact, industry-related research and case studies are great ways of backing up your ideas with evidence.

But it’s always advisable to consider what your target audience is interested in. Analyze what topics are trending. Make sure to look at what your competitors are writing about as well. Identify the gaps and create content about matters that others haven’t discussed.

Remember to optimize your posts with captivating headlines, relevant keywords, and visual content to get the reader’s attention, boost online visibility, and increase engagement. More importantly, respond to comments quickly to keep readers engaged.

6. Display testimonials

Displaying testimonials and recommendations from other LinkedIn users encourages others to consider your business.

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7. Analyze your LinkedIn marketing performance

To build a following on LinkedIn, you need to post regularly. The key is to have a steady stream of valuable and relevant content. The digital space has numerous tools that can analyze and enhance your LinkedIn strategy.

Some of the best digital marketing tools include keyword research, content planners, content audits, and much more. They can also help you get the most out of the platform and identify what works and doesn’t.

8. Post at the right time

No matter how good the content is, your efforts will all be for nothing if your target audience isn’t interacting with it. And for that, you need to manage the time the content is posted. Hootsuite’s research claims that ideal times on LinkedIn are 7:45 a.m., 12:45 p.m., and 5:45 p.m. EST.
For B2B brands, the best days are in the middle of the week. However, since every business is different, you can find the time that is best for your audience with the help of analytics tools.

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Consider advertising on LinkedIn

LinkedIn offers an advertising platform, Campaign Manager, that helps you place your brand in front of potential customers; the biggest audience is 25-34 year-olds.

With the cost per lead being 28% lower than on Google AdWords, this is the perfect solution for many. Moreover, you have complete control over your campaign, from the budget to the goals and everything else.

So if you are wondering how B2B brands can use LinkedIn advertising, here’s how to go about it:

  • Choose an objective for each campaign, whether that’s awareness, consideration, or conversions. Source
  • Target the right audience – LinkedIn allows businesses to refine their target audiences based on location, company, industry, age, gender, education, experience, job title, and more. This leads to higher engagement and allows your ads to be more effective, thereby achieving higher conversion rates.
  • Choose the right ad format – Options include Sponsored Content, Message Ads, Dynamic Ads, and Text Ads. No matter which one you decide to use, make sure your message is short and to-the-point. Provide crucial information before the person gets distracted.
  • Make your campaigns stand out – Your goal is to capture the attention of the reader. Highlighting noteworthy stats and quotes is a great way to lure people in. You’ll be surprised to learn that quotes outperform stats with a 30% higher CTR, says LinkedIn.
    More importantly, offering bite-sized information and visuals makes it easier to remember and link to your business.
  • Set a budget and timeline – You can set details about the ad campaign, such as the daily budget, start and end date, total ad spend, etc.
  • Test variations of the campaign – Typically ad campaigns are analyzed to see whether they are creating the right results. Often they need to be tweaked to generate one that performs better. A/B test various elements such as CTA or visuals and find what your audience interacts with more.

What can we expect from 2021 for Linkedin marketing?

As many B2B marketers know, nothing stands still in the digital landscape. Trends and technologies are continuously evolving, and the same can be said about LinkedIn.

Brands are learning to leverage multiple social media platforms and add LinkedIn to their marketing mix. By capturing professional audiences and utilizing unique B2B targeting capabilities, more and more B2B brands will be able to use this platform appropriately. With the help of AI, businesses can find more relevant connections and opportunities to expand.

At the moment, one of the greatest values that LinkedIn is offering is LinkedIn Live. With the rise in video content, this is an excellent way to increase engagement. In fact, according to LinkedIn marketing solutions, live broadcasts have 24 times more engagement than pre-taped videos.
More importantly, experts predict that LinkedIn will transition from a worldwide platform to a local one. Ken Gosnell of the CEO Experience believes that this will happen soon.

But the most drastic change is yet to come. Within the next five years, it is believed that LinkedIn will likely become a fee-driven model, possibly with a premium option that offers additional services.

Yes, change is inevitable. But are you ready for what LinkedIn has in store?

 

 

 

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