As the premier business networking platform, LinkedIn has nearly 700 million members. The platform is so effective that it’s responsible for 80% of B2B marketing leads from social media. Basically, if you’re not focused on your business’ LinkedIn presence, you’re not focused on your business. Companies can’t afford to let their page stay stagnant — especially with senior-level executives using it to inform business decisions. These tips will help your business transform your underperforming LinkedIn page into a focal point for a larger, more engaged community (and yes, that includes more qualified leads).
Give them a reason to follow you
Ask yourself: why would I follow my LinkedIn business page? What content would I be looking for? Content that’s too “salesy” isn’t going to cut it: your audience is savvy, and they don’t want to waste their time with the content version of a hard sell. To grow your audience and its reach, you need to post engaging content regularly. This includes publishing original LinkedIn articles, and sharing your latest blog post, case study, how-to guide, and other helpful resources. It also includes sharing posts and content from leaders in your industry.
As a general rule, LinkedIn users are seeking content that
- Brings them more business
- Solves a problem
- Answers a question
- Saves them time
- Makes their life easier
If your content can do any, or a combination, of these things, you’re already ahead of the game. In fact, businesses that share content on LinkedIn are 45% more likely to see a boost in sales. And since value-driven content is sharable content, it drives even more engagement and more connections.
Engage, engage, engage
Your LinkedIn audience can’t exist — or grow — in a vacuum. You need to be active on your feed! Sure, this means creating and sharing content, but it also means keeping up with your community. For example, you should:
- Join industry-specific LinkedIn groups
- Reply to comments and direct messages in a timely fashion
- Engage regularly with connections, followers, and others
Keep communication positive, friendly, and professional. Foster two-way conversations. Be personable in your comments to show your connections that there’s a human behind your business page! Encourage more people to join the conversation by adding relevant hashtags to your posts, making them searchable by topic. Create posts that ask intriguing questions and encourage your connections to comment with their take. Congratulate people on their achievements and promotions with @ mentions and direct messages. And don’t forget to include your employees in the conversation as well — after all, they’re responsible for almost 1/3 of your engagement, and are 14x more likely to share your company’s content.
Mix up content and use multimedia
LinkedIn advocates for the “3-2-1” formula for posting weekly content — three pieces of industry-specific content, two pieces of content praising your employees or community, and only one piece of content focused on your brand or services. These posts can, and should, include a mix of media to drive more engagement and increase your connections.
In fact, LinkedIn’s own research shows that their users are 20x more likely to share a video than any other kind of post. It also shows that a post with an image garnishes up to 98% more comments than one without. Text-only posts, long-form content, and links to written content (like your white papers and landing pages) also should be in the mix. Just be sure to include a variety of other media, such as infographics, live streams, webinars, podcasts, PowerPoints, and other eye-catching content that will stop your audience mid-scroll.
Is your LinkedIn business page underperforming? Not getting the views and followers you’d like? Struggling to keep the content fresh on LinkedIn to drive engagement and new connections? If so, you’re missing a significant opportunity to grow your business!
