As there are so many platforms to market your business, how do you choose the right one that is going to generate leads and push traffic to your product or service? Although LinkedIn has been around for a while, not many businesses are capitalising on the potential opportunities it offers. With over 600 million users in over 200 countries, LinkedIn is a platform that is all about professional networking – ultimately it’s not about who you know, but also who your connections know.
The real power of LinkedIn gives you the ability to reach a highly targeted audience, refining the possibility of targeting those right down to their job titles. There are many basic tips that can help you get started to utilising a platform that’s been rated one of the highest for lead generation. Here are some of Content Marketing’s top tips to help get your profile optimised.
LinkedIn profile optimisation
Understanding your keywords will help you target specific audiences that will be key for your industry. For example, if you are a Digital Marketing Specialist, think about those keywords that are related to that and include them in your profile. Do some research to find the top 10-15 that suit your industry.
- If you have a company, build a detailed business page that outlines the business in detail, staff, and potentially weekly content blocks that are relevant to your industry. Company pages will generally see twice as much traffic than those companies without a comprehensively built page. It will allow you to drive traffic and grow your audience – especially potential clients or partnerships.
- Individual profile pages on LinkedIn are to be written reflective of your personality. Making sure the basics like your profile picture and headline are eye-catching yet professional as it is generally the first thing people see when they search your name. Always write directly to the person you want to do business with by adding personality and values. Customise your URL to reflect your full name by cling on the ME icon at the top right-hand panel of your LinkedIn. Click Edit Public Profile & URL, edit URL, enter your name without spaces and finally click; Save.
- Make sure your education, awards and certifications are up to date and link them back to the reflective organisations you received them from.
- Always include links to articles you have written or have been featured in. This will give your profile social proof and also add value to those you are connected with. Give easy access to your resources and ideas – others will utilise these and see you as a proactive member of your community – sharing strategy and relevant industry information.
Strategy strategy strategy
Like any marketing effort, executing without a strategy is like driving a car blind. You may get to your destination eventually, but the likeliness of that happening is slim. Understanding the LinkedIn algorithm will allow your content to be found, shared and engaged by your connections.
- When you post your content, LinkedIn immediately puts your content into one of three categories; spam, low quality or clear.
- The content is then put into the feed to engage with users (likes, comments and shares) to pass through the spam filter.
- By the amount of engagement you get, LinkedIn will assess the credibility either moving it forward or backward in the feed.
- Part of LinkedIn’s unique nature, content gets assessed by human editors and determined whether or not the content can stay in the news feed or not.
So all of this is great, but how do we actually strategies for this? Firstly, by understanding the type of content LinkedIn is favouring – valuable to careers, tips and tricks related to business growth, credible resources and relevancy from your industry – understanding these will only benefit the visibility of your content. Don’t forget to include the occasional industry puns, memes or funny post. Everyone will benefit from the light-hearted nature of a cheeky laugh on the long train journey to work – it shows you are human and also understand your industry.
Growing your network
LinkedIn is a great platform for networking, so don’t just sit back and let others come to you. Allocate yourself some time each week (it doesn’t have to be long) to connect with those who you think will be beneficial to your network.
- Proactively growing your network by connecting with past co-workers, teachers, people you have met at meeting and conferences.
- Keep your new audience constantly engaged with up to date content from your industry – it may be more valuable to them as business owners than you think. One small idea from your side of the fence could ultimately help transform someone else’s planted seed onto a whole forest.
- While you spend time growing your network get those that have worked with you to endorse you for a skill. Many LinkedIn users are still under-using this feature, but the fact you can get instant skill endorsements will enhance your value as a future prospect.
- Encourage the sharing of your posts, and share others. It helps to be social across social, so if an article or posts resonates with you, share it! It will most likely resonate with your audience and give your connection wide exposure (and hopefully they do the same for you).
Experimentation will ultimately be your best friend on LinkedIn, but remember to understand your audience. Spend some time indulging in the content on your feed, understand the nature of the posts and become acquainted with your audience. Learning their behaviour will allow you to develop content that resonates, and ultimately your followers will engage with and share.