LinkedIn is regarded as the biggest professional social network online. However, there is a common misconception that LinkedIn is somehow limited only to professionals and for job seekers. Even though LinkedIn is used by thousands of such people, there is more to it than just this though.

Linkedin Marketing Guide

LinkedIn can also be used by business owners to:
• improve their marketing connections,
• generate leads,
• create a strong brand image,
• engage in industry and business related discussions and activities,
• as well as establish partnerships.

So, LinkedIn should be used as part of a firm’s online marketing strategy because it can offer a lot of benefits. Having said that, it is important to know how to go about LinkedIn marketing. One cannot simply spam on this social network, or engage in hard selling practices.

LinkedIn marketing requires a different marketing approach in order to find new customers, make connections, and in time, grow your business. And this is just what we shall be discussing in this LinkedIn marketing guide.

Creating your LinkedIn profile

Your LinkedIn profile is essentially your face on this social network. So, you need to make sure that it is a good representation of what you offer, and what you are all about.

Regardless of whether you are an individual or a business, the key is to create a LinkedIn profile that will encourage people to connect with you. To do this you need to make sure that your profile is as complete as possible.

Be precise and correct in the details that you include. Make sure you use a professional photo, and make your headline stand out. You can add images as well as documents to create a visual portfolio to top up the usual basic information. You may also add links to relevant sites.

Just try to be as professional as can be about it as this is one of the main ways to attract more followers and engage the audience.

In the case of a business you would need to create a company page. So you will need to complete a company profile which shall include the company description and overview.

The key is to list those aspects which make your company unique. It is best to be concise and to the point, while specifying what your company is all about. Make sure to add a logo and a banner.

Another important thing is to add links so as to promote your page on other marketing channels you use. Add the Follow button on your site as well so as to encourage visitors to follow you on LinkedIn too.  You want to create a really good customer experience online.

LinkedIn Targeting

On LinkedIn you can find targeted customers as well as connections. It is easy to find the industry that you are most likely to do well with. You can set your advertising campaigns to reach out to businesses that are most likely to be interested in what you are offering.

On LinkedIn you can also utilize Follow Ads. These appear on LinkedIn and you can target them to specific users, companies or locations. In that way you can manage to attract a highly targeted audience.

Generating leads and keeping in touch on LinkedIn

You can generate leads quite easily on LinkedIn. By searching for people who fit certain criteria, you can then move on to introducing what you are offering, and how both of you can benefit from connecting together.

It is important to stay in touch with them, such as by posting regular status updates, LinkedIn blog posts, emails or even webinars from time to time. Such activities can help a lot in lead generation as well as to stay in touch.

Employees

As a business, you are made up of a team of people. Your employees are the most important asset of your business even in this context. Encourage your employees to create personal LinkedIn profiles.

Make sure that their accounts look professional as this will reflect on your business’s image and credibility too.

Joining LinkedIn Groups

As with any other social network, it is important to be active even on LinkedIn. A good way to make sure that you stay active is by joining groups and contributing in them. Choose LinkedIn groups that are relevant.

LinkedIn groups are a great way to build relationships and make connections. You can also get to learn what people and businesses related to your line of business are discussing, and that can give you valuable insight on your business operations.

Creating a LinkedIn Group

Apart from joining existing groups, you can also create your own LinkedIn group. As soon as you create your group, you can start to find prospects through other groups that you had joined.

Choose prospects that match your preferences, and send them invitations to join your group. It is best to send personalized invitations so as not to appear spammy.

Most likely there are going to be several invitees who accept your invitation. Now, you have a good number of members in your group, and you can get to share valuable content with them. While doing so you are not only keeping in touch but also building up a stronger brand image, generate leads and boost your business.

Building a better email marketing list

LinkedIn connections can be used to grow your email marketing list. Upon connecting with people on LinkedIn you could send a thank you note for connecting with you, and in it you could invite them to subscribe to your emails. You can send such a message to 50 people at a time through LinkedIn.

Content is king; and in this case it really is!

As always, content is of critical importance. Good content is the key to success in online marketing, and this applies also in LinkedIn marketing.

Your content needs to be of high quality and value, and as much as possible, highly targeted. In such as way you will be able to establish yourself as a knowledgeable and trustworthy source, and this will lead to more leads and sales.

Offer them something of real value within your content. In that way you can hope for a post to go viral. You can expect an improved visibility and you will be able to reach out to so many LinkedIn users in that way.

Content should be rich in terms of images, videos and infographics. In that way you can make it more visual and engaging. Sharing your company news, informative articles, or simply starting a discussion so as to encourage your followers to have their say on certain topics, are some of the things you could do.

You can use analytics to keep track of your follower growth as well as gain more insight with regards to engagement on your posts. This data will enable you to learn what works best with your followers, so that in the future you will be able to refine what you share for more engagement.

Blogging on LinkedIn

As soon as you have access to the LinkedIn publishing platform you can also start blogging on LinkedIn. You have the possibility of sharing your expertise on LinkedIn, and obviously this is a great way to improve your visibility and how many people you get to reach.

If you manage to use this feature well you have a unique way of attracting more attention your way. The content in this case is long form content, and so it holds more value, not to mention the thousands of users that can have access to it, and through it, to you!

So make sure you show your expertise and specialization so increase your brand awareness, create connections and possibly even make connections with influencers and other businesses.

Sponsored Updates

Another good marketing tactic on LinkedIn are sponsored updates. You can pay to push your posts onto people’s LinkedIn feeds. This can be carried out by choosing whom you would like to target most, such as basing it on demographics like location and age. Make sure to use sponsored updates wisely though. This should not be about simple advertising, but rather, try to share something of value. The content should be interesting and compelling, so that it can help to improve your reputation as well as generate sales leads.

LinkedIn offers a great deal of options, and making the best possible use out of it is highly recommended if you want to improve your online visibility and reputation. This LinkedIn marketing guide should help you get started on how you can use this social network effectively. It may take time, and you need to be as consistent about it as much as possible. But in time you will be able to reap the benefits. Through LinkedIn you can get to connect with prospects, partners, other professionals and business owners, and this can in turn lead to more clients as well. It is all about starting out to make connections that matter, so that in time you can move on to building relationships.