LinkedIn marketing has crossed its infancy long ago. Today, an ad on LinkedIn can reach 14.6% of the global population, according to Hootsuite. B2B marketers love LinkedIn for its conversion rate that is twice as high as any other marketing technique.

If your business is still not leveraging LinkedIn marketing, it is time you get started. LinkedIn business marketing is now the essential marketing strategy for global organizations. Irrespective of the size and the market position, today every business – big and small, has a LinkedIn account.

Do you know that there are 58 million companies on LinkedIn? This explains the potential of this social media platform in helping your business thrive. 

However, the crux of your LinkedIn marketing strategy lies in beating this noise and making yourself heard. As you move across this post, I will guide you on how to create a perfect LinkedIn Business Marketing Strategy. I will also reveal LinkedIn tips for your business. Join me on this LinkedIn growth journey.

LinkedIn Business Marketing: Why should you care at all?

I have heard this from many clients: 

I am already on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Why should I focus exclusively on LinkedIn?

I completely agree that LinkedIn is a social media platform like others. 

But let me assure you that it is not just another social media channel, but quite a potential one, especially for B2B businesses.

Let me explain why.

Studies find that LinkedIn fares on top of Facebook and Twitter in its efficacy in boosting business positioning.

If you are a budding business with budget constraints for paid campaigns, LinkedIn IS your channel. LinkedIn produces the best organic results, and 77% of content marketers agree with this.

Leads are the pulse for any business. If your focus is on driving high-quality leads with a promising conversion rate, let me assure you that LinkedIn is the best channel to achieve this.

LinkedIn offers various unique targeting options that result in highly targeted campaigns and organic efforts. 

Getting started with LinkedIn Business Marketing

Now that you comprehend the benefits your business would miss if it is not leveraging LinkedIn marketing, let us get started with how to create a LinkedIn Business Strategy for your business.

Step #1: Create a LinkedIn Business Page 

The first step to getting started with your LinkedIn growth journey is to set up a business page. 

Create a personal profile, if you have not already. Head to the “Work” section on the right-hand top of the page near your profile pic as below.

LinkedIn offers various features for business pages based on their type. So, choose the appropriate one, that is “Business” for your case. (Schools, colleges, and educational institutions fall under the “Educational Institution” category.)

It’s time to fill in the details to set up your “Page Identity”. 

Enter the details such as company URL, employee headcount, and company type correctly in the respective columns and add your logo in 300×300 pixels for the best display. 

Once you are done, tick the left-hand bottom box. You can see the “Create Page”.

On this note, I would like to share some LinkedIn tips you must remember at the stage of business page creation:

• To create a LinkedIn business page, your profile must be at least 7 days or older.

• You must fill in all details on your profile and bring it to “All-star” or “Intermediate” before creating the business page.

• LinkedIn accepts only official email addresses for Business Page creation. This means you cannot create a business page with your email that ends with @gmail.com, @hotmail.com, or @yahoo.com. 

• On your profile, you must connect with a significant number before you want to build a business page. This is mandatory because LinkedIn wants to verify that you are a real human that adds value to your connections through your business page.

Step #2: Enhance the appearance of your LinkedIn business page

Once the business page creation is done, it’s time to personalize and decorate it to make it credible and picture-perfect.

• Add a cover photo of LinkedIn recommended size 1584 x 396 pixels with an aspect ratio of 4:1.

• Narrate your brand story in 2000 characters to fill the summary section. Use this space to create the first impression on your potential customers and an intriguing call to action.

• If your business is in multiple countries, use the “Locations” feature to showcase your global footprint.

Step #3: Craft a LinkedIn content marketing strategy

Here’s one common mistake many businesses do with their LinkedIn marketing: They create the page and then ignore adding value to it. 

As Carrie Booher, digital content editor at WWOZ 90.7 FM suggests – “Creating a LinkedIn presence then not maintaining it will be worse than not having one at all.”

Businesses with empty or outdated LinkedIn pages serve no purpose. Regular content creation is the key to establishing trust and credibility with your followers.

Create content that engages, educates, and entertains your target audience by exploring various content formats. 

Polls, blog shares, carousels, text-based posts, videos, expert tips, FAQs, testimonials, Behind the Scenes, Industry Insights – LinkedIn marketing has immense potential when you can create value-adding content of these types. 

Regularly posting such informative and educational content attracts audience attention to your brand.

Here I would like to reveal the must-know LinkedIn tips:

• LinkedIn is a platform for professionals. Trying to pitch and cold sell in every post will repel the audience’s attention away. 

• Instead, establish your industry leadership by sharing content that solves the audience’s pain points. 

• As the American Small Business Expert and renowned talk show host Jim Blasingame puts it, “Trust is a good business.” Being active on LinkedIn with regular sharing of educational content helps you to earn it. 

• Having considerable content on your business page is also an essential step before you head out for paid strategies.

• Another great LinkedIn tip here is to publish articles on your business page. 

LinkedIn articles rank faster than those you publish on your website or blog for obvious reasons. Publish thought leadership articles related to your business to create trust in your followers. 

Step #4: Grow your connections

LinkedIn business marketing is all about making connections, the right ones. LinkedIn provides the opportunity (for free!) to filter the connections that help your business grow. 

Search for new connections based on your business requirements and invite them to connect with you. 

You can also filter the prospects based on the geographical location, organization, and degree of connections. 

Step #5: Promote your LinkedIn business page

LinkedIn is a proven channel for organic growth. For faster recognition for your business and a wider reach, consider promoting your page through various tactics:

• Share your LinkedIn page with your followers on other social channels like Facebook and Twitter.

• Ask your employees to share the page for a wider reach and increase the follower count.

• Leverage LinkedIn ads to boost the visibility of your LinkedIn page. If you are not aware of this, 75% of B2B content marketers use LinkedIn ads, while 79% of content marketers say LinkedIn ads produce the best results. 

Step #6: Use LinkedIn Sales Navigator

One of the most effective features of LinkedIn is its Sales Navigator. Its potency in connecting your business with the right customers is immense. With LinkedIn Sales Navigator, you can accomplish the following:

• Expand the connections irrespective of the connection degree.

• Benefit from enterprise LinkedIn features.

• Get detailed insights from the comprehensive dashboard.

• Integrate with your CRM and boost sales with email marketing.

Step #7: Establish your thought leadership through groups

LinkedIn groups offer immense visibility for your content and brand. Here are two ways how you can make grow your business through LinkedIn groups:

Tactic #1: Join groups. 

LinkedIn groups bring professionals of similar interest effectively. If you want to give more visibility to your brand, joining LinkedIn groups must be a part of your LinkedIn marketing strategy. They provide more organic visibility and help establish you as a thought leader in no time. 

Tactic #2: Start your own LinkedIn group.

“We need to stop interrupting what people are interested in and be what people are interested in.” — Craig Davis

You can achieve this precisely on LinkedIn by creating your group. Starting your group and promoting it is the simplest of LinkedIn marketing tips. This is a win-win marketing strategy as it consumes no additional investment but builds enough followers and industry reputation at a go.

Check the image below to know how you can start a LinkedIn group or create one.

Essential LinkedIn Marketing Tips

LinkedIn marketing sounds easy to implement, but the minutiae of the details matters when it comes to attaining results. Many marketers ignore key LinkedIn marketing tips that can delay the success of the efforts.

Here are often ignored LinkedIn marketing tips that you must implement to ensure your efforts are rewarded.

Tip #1: Focus on your business page profile

Your business page speaks volumes about your brand reputation. Here’s how to use the features of your LinkedIn business page to make it effective and drive actionable results.

• Use the About section to convey your brand story compellingly. You can seek the help of an SEO expert who can help with optimizing your LinkedIn business page.

• Provide a clear call to action and drive the visitors to your intended web page on your company website.

• Encourage your employees to update their profiles to you as the current employer. LinkedIn displays the total count of the employees associated with a company, and hence this tip helps build your credibility as an employer.

• Use the Customizable button to your advantage. Choose from among “Contact Us”, “Follow us” etc. or create your own CTA button and redirect your LinkedIn page visitors to achieve the desired marketing outcome.

Tip #2: Share only quality content

LinkedIn has been garnering continued trust from its followers for being a social media platform that homes quality content. 

LinkedIn’s recent algorithm update also focuses on promoting quality and value-adding content. This is why it is essential to not rush in creating content on LinkedIn, but to approach your LinkedIn marketing strategically and post only quality content.

Tip #3: Promote but do not hard sell

One of the mistakes most companies make with their LinkedIn marketing is trying to sell or promote their products and services aggressively. This is in practice a technique that dispels your followers.

Undoubtedly, LinkedIn is one of the best platforms for your marketing efforts. But as much as it is meant for selling, LinkedIn primarily helps build your brand and establish your industry reputation.

This is why your LinkedIn marketing strategy should never be aggressive about selling but educational, entertaining, and engaging the audience.

To sell your offerings on LinkedIn, here are some best approaches:

• Leverage LinkedIn ads. 

LinkedIn has been consistently standing as the top social platform for investing in paid marketing. 79% of content marketers say LinkedIn ads produce the best results. 

• Engage with Live Streams. 

Engage the audience with live streams to take them a step closer to your brand.

• Publish articles on the LinkedIn page. 

Publications on LinkedIn establish your brand as an industry leader, offer the best visibility, and earn the trust of your customers, the key to making more sales.

• Leverage LinkedIn Sales Navigator. 

As we have just seen a little while ago, Sales Navigator helps boost sales faster and of a bigger size.

• Make use of Sponsored Updates. 

What Pay Per Click and Pay per View is on Search Engine, Sponsored Updates are on LinkedIn. It is an excellent tip to promote your thought leadership content. One advantage of Sponsored Content is it appeals to those users who avert ads. You can try Downloads, Whitepapers, eGuides, etc. as Sponsored and bring in leads.

• Reach more audience through Newsletter

Though the LinkedIn newsletter is not directly a selling approach, it’s a great LinkedIn marketing tactic. By using the Newsletter feature on LinkedIn, you can target a wider audience and attain better marketing results.

• Go Premium

By taking a LinkedIn premium subscription, you can enjoy multiple features ranging from direct messages to connecting with out-of-network connections without any restrictions. LinkedIn premium helps businesses and individuals keen to establish their LinkedIn presence and expand their network and business.

• Use InMail

InMail is a distinct feature of LinkedIn. It helps you message LinkedIn users who are not on your connection list. 

Tip #4: Analytics are for a purpose

One of the best advantages of LinkedIn marketing is its free analytics feature. The dashboard is rich with data and analytics that help marketers analyze, correct, and adjust their strategies.

The Super admin View on the LinkedIn Business page analytics of visitors, followers, competitors, Leads, Employee Advocacy, and Updates. 

In a nutshell, it is a goldmine to target the right followers, assess the existing strategy, and tweak it to a better one.

Now you’re ready to make more from LinkedIn Marketing!

As Jay Baer puts it, – “LinkedIn is for the people you know. Facebook is for people you used to know. Twitter is for the people you want to know.”

Each social platform has its features, pros, and cons. But for B2B businesses, nothing beats a well-crafted LinkedIn marketing strategy. 

When done right, LinkedIn marketing elevates brand reputation, positions your business at a superior level, and assures return on investment. 

Consult a Content Strategist and an SEO expert to understand how you can amplify sales from LinkedIn.