How to Use LinkedIn More Effectively

Most small business owners know that they need to be active on social media in order to market their business effectively. However, those whose companies market to other businesses (B2B) may feel left out with most of the social media marketing advice out there since it’s mostly geared toward businesses who work with consumers (B2C). For B2B businesses, we recommend using LinkedIn as part of your social media marketing strategy! This platform has some aspects and quirks about it that set it apart from other platforms, so let’s walk through how to use LinkedIn to your advantage, from profile setup to ongoing posts and updates.

Setting Up Your Account

The first thing to consider when getting started with LinkedIn is whether to create a Profile or a Page. At first glance these may sound like the same thing, but the distinction is incredibly important! Pages are public and primarily used by businesses while Profiles are private and usually used by individuals. Anyone can see a Page’s posts without being a follower while a Profile’s posts will be initially hidden. Hubspot recommends that consultants, those who work in direct sales, or those who prefer to take an individualized approach to their businesses create a Profile. Anyone who doesn’t fit into those categories would probably benefit more from creating a Page.

It’s important to remember that no matter whether you choose a Profile or a Page, your content will not show up in a user’s feed unless that user follows you. This is why it’s important to have a strategy outside of LinkedIn to grow your follower count!

The next step in setting up your account is to, well, set up your account! Once you’ve decided on a Profile or a Page, fill in your account’s main page with all the information you can about your business. And make sure your profile is complete because pages with complete information get 30% more weekly views. Here’s where we get into a little bit of the nitty gritty because, get ready, traditional SEO (Search Engine Optimization) techniques apply here! According to SproutSocial, “the keywords you use across your company page play a big role in how well you rank in LinkedIn searches. The algorithm analyzes the presence and frequency of relevant keywords in your Tagline, About Section, Services, posts, articles, hashtags, and other places.” So hopefully you’ve done your keyword research, because this is the place to use it!

Using Your Account

Now, it’s time to post on LinkedIn! Our advice here is very similar to our advice about other social platforms, with just a few differences. Here are some best practices before we get into the details of LinkedIn’s algorithm:

1. Keep a Consistent Posting Schedule. This is important for more than just your busy calendar. A consistent posting schedule helps build brand recognition and trust. Plus, if you use your analytics to figure out when your followers are usually online, you can increase visibility by making sure your posts go up at those times.
2. Engage with Other Users’ Posts. Not only does this help you show up in your community or industry, but it also gives other users the opportunity to discover your page. Think of every comment as an opportunity to gain a follower! Plus the algorithm likes seeing you active, and any opportunity to appease the Algorithm Overlords is an opportunity to raise your content’s visibility.
3. Use Hashtags. Hashtags can be used to add emphasis to your post, but they’re also a great way to use keywords! Check out our previous blog to learn more about hashtags. All platforms like hashtags, but posts with 3 or fewer tend to do better on LinkedIn.
4. Create Conversations. Encouraging genuine, meaningful conversations rather than self-promoting and getting sales-y or technical will always be good advice, but this strategy will also help you stand out from the crowd of people on LinkedIn who think the platform is exclusively for sales posts.

Posts to Create Engagement

Luckily, the LinkedIn algorithm doesn’t prioritize a particular type of content. However, like most social media algorithms, it does prioritize content that people engage with. One particular type of content (image, text-based, video, etc) may be more popular with your specific audience though, so make sure to keep an eye on those analytics as you go! Here are the types of posts that tend to get the most engagement on LinkedIn:

• Question-Based Posts. Most of us were taught in Kindergarten that asking a question is a great way to start a conversation. If LinkedIn wants us to encourage conversations, then this is exactly the kind of post we should be publishing on our pages. Don’t forget to answer other people’s questions and participate in their conversations, too!
• Industry Insights. If the ultimate goal is to have people work with or purchase from you, positioning yourself as an expert in your field is crucial. You can do this by sharing other articles about your industry, sure, but the easiest way to do that is to talk about topical, time-sensitive news. Luckily, LinkedIn has the LinkedIn News feed to help you find a topic to comment on! You can also share new studies, facts, and statistics to help spark conversations with your followers.
• Visual Content. This is the type of content where things can get fun! Share infographics for a quick way to give your audience statistics about your industry. Or share graphics with professional quotes! You can also use one of our favorite strategies: memes. Yes, LinkedIn is for professional content, but your posts can still be silly once in a while! Our advice about posting memes on social media definitely still applies here.
• Event Coverage. If you or your business is “out in the wild,” at an event, conference, or your weekly networking meeting, share a photo with your audience! This is a great opportunity to show your faces and create that ever-important community that will help increase your followers’ engagement with your posts. It’s also a great way to take a break from promotions or other forms of content.
• Employee-Centric Content. If you have employees, make sure you’re including them in your content every now and then! According to SproutSocial, recognizing your employees on LinkedIn is an awesome way to boost morale and score engagement from your audience at the same time.” So give your employees a shoutout, share office photos, and talk about your team-building sessions!
• Video Content. If you want a deep dive into why video content is important for your social media strategy, check out our blog here. To summarize: social media has always been about content that’s quick and easy to consume. Video content is quick and easy! It’s also a great opportunity to build connections and to humanize your brand. People are spending more time watching videos than consuming any other type of content, so you may want to make sure your videos make it into the mix.
• Bite-Sized Advice. Here’s where our advice is specific to LinkedIn! According to SproutSocial, “a growing trend on LinkedIn over the past couple of years is the use of punchy, text-based posts.” Normally we would recommend incorporating visuals (whether that’s pictures or videos) into every post, but these posts are seeming to get popular. Regularly sharing tips with your audience is always a great idea, so try keeping it text-only and see if it resonates with your followers.

The bottom line is this: every social media platform has its own algorithm that companies need to figure out in order to reach their followers. Certain posts that work well across the platform may not perform as well with your specific audience. Keep checking your analytics as you go and make adjustments as needed!

Alright, we’re now at risk for this becoming the user manual for LinkedIn users, so here’s the rest of our general social media advice in rapid-fire form:

• Publish more types of content than posts with links.
• Tag other brands and users in your posts.
• Engage with other pages’ and companies’ posts.
• Use data to guide your strategy (target audience, keywords, analytics).
• Have a strategy outside of LinkedIn to grow your follower count.
• Keep your profile information up-to-date.

LinkedIn might be a different beast from other social media platforms, but it can be a powerful tool for B2B businesses. If the more than 67 million companies listed on LinkedIn think so, it must be true. Just remember that the goal is engagement, not just a profile full of SEO-packed content. A little creativity goes a long way and your analytics are your guide! Keep experimenting, keep engaging, and remember to have fun with it.

If you need help setting up your LinkedIn strategy, we’re here to help! Whether you need some advice or a full-fledged Roadmap, we’ll make sure you get started on the right foot. We’ll even help you learn if LinkedIn is the right platform for your business! Click here to schedule a consultation and we’ll help ease your professional social media worries.