LinkedIn marketing is a broad term that incorporates a number of sub-areas in marketing. Just before we review them, it’s worth talking in a few words about why LinkedIn at all?
B2B industries use LinkedIn because it allows us access to over half a billion employees and business people worldwide, from all industries and fields and across the range of roles. From CEOs and senior staff to production line employees. Even if some of them are inactive on the network, the others use the platform on an almost daily basis to expand their business circles and create new business opportunities. In just three clicks we can reach any position holder at virtually any firm or organization. If you want to contact the Mercedes Purchasing Manager, for example, you can be in direct contact with him in three simple steps.
*Remember: your personal profile is also your business card!
In three steps you will be in direct contact with your target decision maker!
Once we understand why “yes” to marketing on LinkedIn, we will move on to practice. The first, most basic and most important thing in marketing on LinkedIn is our Personal profile. Every interaction is conducted from our Personal or Business profile and in order to be worthy players in this field, we want our profile to be rich, professional, interesting and accurate to the target audience. LinkedIn is constantly upgrading and refining its platform and allows us to put much more information into the personal profile compared to a standard resume. This significant advantage is important and even necessary to take advantage of. LinkedIn’s algorithm measures the quality of our profile as a parameter that affects the amount of exposure we receive, therefore a quality profile will get several times higher exposure compared to a neglected profile. If so the first thing in digital marketing on LinkedIn, is undoubtedly building a winning Personal or Business profile that contains all the information relevant to our careers. The best LinkedIn profiles tell a story, contain quality content, and give added value.
Once we have built a winning LinkedIn profile, the next step in LinkedIn marketing is to build a relevant business network.
Unlike Facebook, for example, where we want to add friends and family to our network of contacts, LinkedIn is a professional and business platform, so our choice of connections should keep that in mind. Finding the relevant key people and adding them to our network of contacts is critical. The big advantage that LinkedIn offers in this area is the ability to reach specific roles in specific organizations. Since each profile contains the precise definition of the position holder, they also contain the name of the company they work for in most cases.
Our marketing efforts will undoubtedly advance if we choose the right network of connections on LinkedIn. How do we do that? It is important to define who the key people and decision makers are at the organizations we want to build a relationship with.
Once the list is ready, we can begin locating the right connections in a simple search.
Our customer journey continues as we build quality relationships with the target audience we identified.
We continue the customer journey by distributing valuable content for the same audience, with the goal of increasing our brand exposure and awareness. How so, exactly? LinkedIn marketing companies advise creating between six and seven quality exposure points between the audience and the brand before calling them to action. We can distribute our content in two ways – organically, and in a paid or sponsored way. The organic content activity is what you need for building your Personal profile and brand by frequently sharing content and creating a relevant network of connections. Along with your organic activity, which does not cost money and is accessible to all users, there is also sponsored advertising on LinkedIn. Sponsored advertising is primarily intended for B2B marketers who want to reach out directly to the decision makers in the companies relevant to their product or service. The advanced segmentation capabilities allow us to reach those key people at specific companies and display our highly relevant content to them. LinkedIn gives us access to valuable data like information about the industry to which those functionaries, position, seniority, continent, country and organization size belong. With sponsored LinkedIn campaign management, you can segment your audience according to all those parameters and locate your specific target group of potential customers with precision accuracy.
We need to talk about creating a “customer journey” – after building your “target audience”, you need to create a relationship with them. We will achieve this by distributing valuable content for them in order to increase your exposure and awareness in front of them. Exposure can be produced in two ways – organic and sponsored. The general rule of thumb is that it is best to produce 6-7 contact points with the target audience before driving them to action. We can generate these points of contact by distributing our organic and sponsored content.
How to raise brand exposure organically and paid:
How to advertise on LinkedIn? Firstly, we need to decide what the purpose of our promotion is. Do we want more visitors to our website? Maybe we’re looking for more exposure and brand awareness? Or do we have a new video and we want to increase the number of views? Only after we know what we want to achieve, can we start building the campaign promotion. Most B2B marketers will choose to generate leads as the main goal for their campaign. Once we have chosen our target, it is very worthwhile to get to know the different types of ads. There are ads that aim to promote content and are offered in three formats – a single image, a carousel or a video ad. Another type of ad is text-only ads and there is another type of sponsored message. To better understand the range of options that LinkedIn offers, it is best to explore around and familiarize yourself with the system and explore the various options.
Once we’ve chosen the purpose of the campaign and our ad type, we’ll move on to the equally important part of the content – segmentation. It’s time to define who the people we want to expose our ads to are. The more accurate our characterization of them, the higher the chances of success for the campaign. A successful campaign will be one that makes an accurate and relevant connection between the content and the target audience.
Creating a relevant Call-to-Action (CTA)
Now, for the most important part of the customer journey, the part we have come a long way for – the CTA (call-to-action)! After building a relevant business network, publishing quality content that will increase awareness for the brand, now is time to reap the rewards of your hard work. Driving to action will be done according to our marketing and sales needs. This can be an invitation to a webinar or a meeting, an invitation to follow the business page, download a form or watch a video. At this point, your connections should be well cooked and yield quality leads.
LinkedIn digital marketing requires knowledge and specialization. From building a professional profile that will attract new potential customers to creating quality content that will position us as experts in our field and provide benefit to our readers, through to targeted advertising for the target audience that develops the full business potential within the given budget. In order to use LinkedIn marketing solutions that yield the desired results, it is important to emphasize each of the steps. If you encounter difficulties, it is always best to consult with experts who are familiar with the platform, its algorithm, and the range of options offered to advertisers and B2B marketers.
Good luck!
Frequently Asked Questions about LinkedIn Digital Marketing
- What are some ways to leverage LinkedIn’s dynamic ads?
LinkedIn’s dynamic ads can be leveraged in several ways, including using personalized messaging to increase engagement, retargeting website visitors to encourage conversions, and using dynamic creative to showcase multiple products or services. Additionally, businesses can use LinkedIn’s targeting options to reach their ideal audience, and use the platform’s analytics to track the performance of their dynamic ad campaigns to make adjustments as needed. - What are some ways to stay ahead of the competition on LinkedIn?
To stay ahead of the competition on LinkedIn, it’s important to consistently create high-quality content that resonates with your target audience. Engaging with other users on the platform and building a strong network can also help to increase your visibility and credibility. Finally, keeping up to date with the latest trends and best practices on LinkedIn can help you to stay ahead of the curve and maintain a competitive edge. - How can businesses use LinkedIn advertising to support thought leadership and position themselves as industry experts in their field?
With the combination of LinkedIn advertising, Creator Mode, and boosting employee posts, businesses can establish themselves as thought leaders and build a strong presence on the platform. By doing so, businesses can leverage the reach of their employees’ networks and amplify their thought leadership content to a larger audience. This can help to position the business as an industry leader while also increasing employee engagement and advocacy on the platform.