LinkedIn is an indispensable tool in business to business marketing today. With a large tech crowd and significant B2B marketing opportunities, it is not hard to see why nearly nine million businesses use LinkedIn in their marketing strategy. Not only are there a lot of valuable tools, but it is cost-effective and has the capability to reach a large audience.
According to an analysis by Oktopost, 80% of B2B social media marketing leads happen on LinkedIn. This is corroborated by a survey that showed 94% of B2B marketers prefer LinkedIn over any other social media platform for their business. This is because it is an efficient and cost-effective platform to market on at a 28% lower cost per lead than programs like Google Adwords.
An eMarketer survey showed that LinkedIn was the most popular social media that marketers use both in the presale and post-sale process. 64% used it in presale and 51% in post-sale. The next closest social media platform was Twitter at 47% and 42%, respectively.
LinkedIn has a lot of potential in terms of practical use for your business.
You can share blog posts and articles either written by your company or relevant to your product/service. You can introduce new products or spread the word about a discount or deal. You can build your brand through informational posts about your business.
You can create brand recognition with the intentional use of hashtags. The list goes on and on.
LinkedIn is well-known for its networking opportunities. These networks provide a basis of support and unbiased third-party information that helps buyers feel more comfortable when making a decision to purchase.
Marketing to these networks allows you to speak directly with your potential customers and show them why your product or service is appealing to its target audience. If you can attract one person, you will be able to use them and their profile to further your marketing reach as well. These connections will tell other LinkedIn users about your business so that your audience continues to grow. With enough success, you can prove yourself a thought leader in your industry.
Return on investment with LinkedIn marketing is almost six times higher than what you would receive with Google Adwords. So, how can you utilize this powerhouse for your business? It all comes down to a quality page with quality content. There’s no secret formula, no back door, just hard work and a good strategy.
If you find yourself thinking, this is too much for me to take on right now, consider working with consulting companies to help you manage your marketing strategy (check out this list here if you don’t know where to start). If you are taking care of your social media marketing in-house, keep reading to find out how you can build a successful LinkedIn presence.
Let’s start with your page. It may be the first impression that a potential customer has with your business. Make sure to have an active page with up-to-date information. If someone comes to your page and sees that you haven’t posted or made any updates for six months, they may get the perception that your business is not thriving.
An active and engaging page will show potential customers that you are doing well. You can share information with them that will help your brand’s credibility or give them insider information in your industry. This will gain their trust and encourage them to buy from you, which, of course, helps your ROI.
Creating quality content will help you have a thriving page. You will not receive the ROI you hope for if you do not create interesting, engaging content for your IT business. Your main goal is to grab the attention of your followers and get them to click your links for more information. Write brief, informative text to go along with any images or links that you posts.
This can be any information from the mission statement of your business to common issues that your audience faces to a funny post about current events or the time of year.
Your content does not have to be “all business” to be successful. Creating shareable content that makes your audience laugh or answers their questions will help you gain a large audience that will come to you for more than press releases.
When you are writing serious content, gear it towards decision-makers who may visit your profile for information. They typically come to LinkedIn looking for a solution to a problem. That problem may be a need for a product or service that you provide. It may be for an answer to an issue that they are encountering regularly when using your product or service. Make this information clear and easy to find to increase engagement and ROI.
No matter the post, your content should always target a specific audience that you are interested in doing business with. It’s important that you serve this market segment at every opportunity (whether it’s with a funny post or a serious/informative one). Doing so will help you establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry and will keep your audience coming back day after day.
To stay focussed, target one segment at a time or maybe two segments that complement each other. Don’t go too crazy with expanding your audience. You will make it difficult for yourself to provide adequate service to your market when there are conflicting needs. Consider grouping segments like job title and industry (example: individuals in charge of marketing for restaurants). Another example could be job title and location (example: individuals in charge of marketing in Los Angeles).
Keeping a focused audience of one or two market segments will allow you to create focused and effective marketing material that you can best reach your audience. By staying loyal to these segments, they will, in turn, stay loyal to you, which will increase your ROI.
Conclusion
If used properly, LinkedIn can be a great, cost-effective way to market your IT company for a positive ROI. It offers you the ability to target very specific markets because of its extensive profile data compiled from millions of users. With information like that, it is easy to see why LinkedIn is a frontrunner for B2B marketing.
