LinkedIn has become the most important social network in global B2B communication and for us, it is an integral part of a successful digital strategy for B2B companies.
In the DACH region, the platform already has 18 million registered users in 2022. Worldwide, LinkedIn is used by 875 million people. According to similarweb.com, LinkedIn is in 22nd place for worldwide website ranking in terms of daily traffic. The enormous size of the platform and the amount of traffic are among the reasons why a company's presence on LinkedIn should not be underestimated for a successful SEO strategy. If the company page is completely filled out and the texts are written in a search engine optimized way, it is very likely that when searching for the company name the LinkedIn page is ranked in the Google results directly after the company website. Therefore LinkedIn is another possibility to inform the searching user about the company. And most importantly, one less way for the user to end up on a competitor company's website. It pays to use LinkedIn as a solid building block on the path to improved visibility on the web. We have five tips on how to make the most of LinkedIn for your company's B2B marketing strategy.
At the beginning of any campaign (a company's social media presence can certainly be considered an ongoing campaign), you should think about the target group and the campaign goals. Is the platform to be used for employer branding or does the company want to reach potential customers? Once you have defined the target group, you should look at specific personas and consider what they are interested in and what content they want to consume. LinkedIn is used by users for two main things: networking & job search. Also, LinkedIn users use the platform to keep up to date on certain topics and companies. You can take advantage of these factors in your own LinkedIn strategy.
The company page is the digital business card for companies on LinkedIn and, after the website, is perhaps the most important place for people to go to find out more online. There are a few points to look for when creating a company page:
... not only because, as mentioned above, company pages are of decisive advantage for a successful SEO strategy. But also because the LinkedIn algorithm evaluates postings according to how long users engage with them. "Successful" content is kept alive longer by the platform's algorithm and can be played out for three to seven days. This is one of the biggest differences to other social networks, where postings lose visibility after just a few hours.
But how does content become "successful"? Good content is relevant to your target group and offers added value. Only in this case will the right people engage with your content. Also use interactive posting formats, like the poll tool, to liven up your content and learn more about your followers.
Best Practice: interview people from your customer support, HR or sales team to gain even more insight into the needs of your target audience and tailor your content accordingly.
Intentionally or not, every employee who states they work at a company on LinkedIn is automatically an ambassador for that company. It's not uncommon for employees of client companies to not follow a company page on LinkedIn, but they are connected to their respective contacts at the company on LinkedIn. This fact can be leveraged by turning selected employees into brand ambassadors. The brand ambassadors are either motivated to regularly share content from the company page, or you can even go one step further and actively schedule such profiles into the editorial calendar. It is important that employees are sufficiently trained in advance and that certain rules for their profiles are laid down in internal guidelines.
Caution: The networking factor on LinkedIn thrives on the fact that users are registered with their real names. Don't make the mistake of overly defining the profiles and content of your brand ambassadors. If the personal touch of your people is lost and their profiles are used as mere advertising space, relevance to their followers may be lost.
A large network can be built on LinkedIn using the tips above. In some cases, it may still be necessary to reach users outside the organic reach and use paid media. LinkedIn was voted the most trusted social network by the Digital Trust Report for the fifth time in 2021. Paid content, in particular, is highly relevant to users on LinkedIn and provides an excellent ad experience. The fact that users consider advertising on LinkedIn to be more valuable than on other platforms, in addition to the diverse targeting options, certainly speaks in favor of including LinkedIn Ads in your own digital strategy
LinkedIn offers many free and paid options to strengthen the online presence of one's own company. Even though more than 60% of all companies surveyed already have a LinkedIn company page, most use the social network rather passively. If you regularly invest time in creating high-quality content, you can still establish your own company as a leading opinion leader in an industry relatively easily. The important thing is: social media is not a sprint, but a marathon. Patience & continuity pay off in the end. Only those who share regular updates and posts will be rewarded by the algorithm with reach in the target group.
Do you want to take your LinkedIn company presence to the next level and need support? Feel free to contact me and we will find out in a no-obligation consultation how our team at SPS MARKETING can optimally support your company.
