How-Tu Tuesday: Engaging Users on LinkedIn

Whilst many marketers now see the importance in creating and implementing a social media strategy for the popular B2C platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, many businesses do not strategise when it comes to aligning their LinkedIn activity with revenue objectives. The platform has been built for B2B (business to business) companies, so those who sell directly to other businesses, and if executed well, the network can provide huge opportunities for generating sales leads.

Most brands in the B2B market are aware of the tactics that should be used on LinkedIn, but it is often the case that little or no thought has gone into their actual activity; what happens after the connection is made? How is the content you are posting positioning you against competitors? Are you taking part in the discussions and turning prospecting clients into customers?

Over 80% of B2B leads generated from social media come from LinkedIn; a fact that many marketers don’t know. Furthermore, businesses are 50% more likely to buy a product from a brand if they’ve already engaged on LinkedIn. If all companies knew this, they would put much more time and effort into their LinkedIn company page, as well as the personal accounts of the management team.

If your presence on LinkedIn needs a boost and you’re looking to connect with more businesses online then check out our top 5 strategies for engaging effectively on LinkedIn:

1. Presence

Most professionals take the tactical approach and treat their LinkedIn profile as a cover letter and resume. However, this means they are missing a prime lead generation opportunity. Potential clients aren’t interested in what you’ve done, instead, they want to know how you can help them make their business better. Identify what your prospects value and optimise your profile to enhance this, sparking interest and connections with the professionals in your industry. Starting conversations with the key decision makers will also lead to revenue opportunities. 

2. Mindful Prospecting

It can often be the case that you make connections with people and never look at their profile or take the time to understand who they are and if they could be a possible client. It can be tempting to focus on quantity and try and connect with as many people as possible, but it’s important to focus on quality and ensure that your connections are all relevant to you. Invest your time and energy in finding the key-influencers in companies who can positively affect your bottom line. 

3. Thought Leadership

Company pages, groups and the LinkedIn news feed are great places to highlight your expertise and talent within the industry you work in. Simply posting a link to content on your website or blog is not the most effective strategy and instead, you should tailor your posts to pull prospects in and create content specific to the needs of the professionals/brands you are targeting. Before publishing, think about whether the content is relevant, who will see it and whether it will instigate conversation and ultimately generate revenue for the company.

4. Building A Community

On LinkedIn it doesn’t matter how many connections you have; it’s about the number of people you reach and engage with. To do this effectively, you should aim to grow a community and this can be done through creating a LinkedIn Group where you can post content, start discussions and gain feedback on the brand. Groups can be made private or open, depending on how curated and exclusive you want it to be.

5. Lead Generation

Nurturing the valuable connections you make and providing your audience with content that makes people engage with you should be your main goal when using LinkedIn. In order to achieve this goal, brands should recognise that those who follow/connect with them may not be completely au fait with the business and the service or product being offered. Therefore, it is important to create a sales pipeline that will manage and monitor each connection, identifying the stages in-between a follower and a paying customer. This will aid with streamlining all activity on LinkedIn and identify the stages of converting a connection into a client that need to be reviewed and altered accordingly.

Follow us every Tuesday in May for our How Tu-Tuesday LinkedIn Specials.