With more than 332 million users worldwide, LinkedIn, as the ‘world’s largest professional network’ is a great platform for marketing your business.
But, while it shares some similarities with other social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, its users have different needs and expectations and if you want to market your company, products or services successfully to them, you need to obey the 10 commandments of LinkedIn:
1) Thou Shalt Not Be Shy
One of LinkedIn’s primary functions is to facilitate networking and this is easy to achieve with their ‘connections’ service.
With two new users joining LinkedIn every second, there’s no shortage of individuals for you to connect with so don’t be shy.
Simply search for your colleagues, clients, industry leaders and commercial partners and invite them to join your network.
The more invites you send and connections you make, the more opportunities you create to generate leads and enhance your profile.
2) Thou Shalt Not Be Anonymous
LinkedIn is one of the most popular platforms that individuals from all sectors use to check out the credentials of an organisation and its personnel, so make sure photographs accompany the profiles of your executives and encourage your employees to set up pages too.
By showing the faces behind your corporate scenes, you instantly make your business more personable, approachable and trusted.
3) Thou Shalt Not Forget Your Branding
To become recognisable, your branding should be consistent across all channels and your LinkedIn page is no exception.
If you have a company page, make sure the colours, logos, tone and language you use to communicate with your audience all comply with your branding guidelines and if you rely on a personal page to network, make sure it’s smart and professional.
4) Thou Shalt Not Be Absent
Networking is only useful for as long as you remain memorable, so take care to create a real online presence.
Dedicate time to writing and distributing informative blog posts about your industry, share white papers, update your status and host webinars that appeal to your target market as well as other professionals in your sector.
By being present, you make it easy for your business to be the first that comes to mind for the LinkedIn users who have need of your expertise, products or services.
5) Thou Shalt Not Distribute Poor Quality Content
This commandment applies to any sort of social media outlet, but LinkedIn, as a platform for professional people in particular, makes your profile a direct representation of your company and as such, any content you share should appeal to an informed, educated, marketing-savvy audience.
If they like it, they will share it and if they do, you could enjoy a powerful ripple of free advertising.
6) Thou Shalt Not Be Anti-Social
Like any kind of social media platform, LinkedIn works best when you’re sociable on it so make conversation by commenting on and sharing the posts of others.
The LinkedIn Group facility makes it easy to communicate, socialise and learn from a specific target market, industry peers and even your competitors. The information you gather and the relationships you build can be utilised to develop your marketing plans and your business.
7) Thou Shalt Not Ignore the Potential of Sponsored Updates
LinkedIn provide a Sponsored Update advertising service that operates just like PPC, but it allows you to post much more than a sales pitch.
Got something important and urgent to say? Got a piece of great, long-form content you want to share? Then use Sponsored Update ads to make sure your opinions, insights and exclusives stand out among the hundreds or thousands of updates your audience sees daily.
This can prove invaluable when it comes to demonstrating your knowledge and sector authority and making your business attractive to consumers and investors alike.
8) Thou Shalt Not Go for the Hard Sell
The types of people who make use of LinkedIn are often doing so for research purposes.
Whether they’re looking for a new job, gathering information about a company, seeking professional guidance or catching up on the latest industry news, they’ve all got stuff to do and are unlikely to respond positively to a hard sell, however…
9) Thou Shalt Not Avoid PPC Advertising
Avoiding the hard-sell doesn’t mean avoiding LinkedIn business advertising altogether.
With their targeted, PPC service, you can increase your visibility and generate leads with ads that are informative, engaging, and tailored for a specific audience.
Use them tactically to promote your business to corporate decision makers or any other demographic, in precise geographical locations and relevant industries.
10) Thou Shalt Not Forget to Help Googlers Find You
Every LinkedIn page comes with the option to personalise the URL.
By updating yours to include your personal or business name, anyone Googling you is more likely to find your LinkedIn page in their search results.
By following the 10 commandments of LinkedIn business marketing, you can tap into this global network of professionals with ease, but if you lack the time or expertise to manage your online persona, contact the social media marketing team here at Yoma to find out how we can help you.
