I’m a huge fan of LinkedIn. And I think it’s an incredibly underrated social media platform.
LinkedIn has undergone a massive transformation over the past few years. It’s no longer just for job hunting. Each week, there are 9 billion content impressions on LinkedIn. It’s a very popular platform for B2B business owners to share great thought leadership content and network.
Research suggested that, on average, 46% of social media traffic coming to B2B websites is from LinkedIn – that’s phenomenal.
But, how can you capitalise on this for your business and get in front of eyeballs?
In this blog, I’ll be taking you through my 7 top tips for using LinkedIn successfully.
Post great content
LinkedIn has more than 700 million members – but only 1% of these professionals are posting content regularly. This means that there are huge untapped opportunities to get in front of your audience.
Post content that is relevant to your target audience. What are their pain points? What keeps them awake at 3am? What motivates them?
You also need to post regularly and consistently. Businesses that post at least once a week get twice the levels of engagement than other brands. Ideally, post several times a week (weekdays).
The timings will largely depend on your sector but posting Tuesdays to Thursdays works well for many businesses. Test the times, too – early morning and lunchtime posting has often worked well for me.
Top tip: if you’re looking to get in front of c-suite execs, post at 8pm – often the only time in the day when they have any headspace for social media.
Be selective about your connections
Be selective about who you connect with. LinkedIn’s algorithm decides who sees your posts. Relevance is hugely important in this. The algorithm will look at who you’re connected with, who you engage with on social and your audience’s interests.
So, it makes sense to be selective about who you connect with. Don’t just spam lots of irrelevant people with connection requests or accept requests from random people. Choose your connections wisely if you want to achieve good reach on LinkedIn.
Avoid ‘corporatitis’
It’s a strange affliction but I see many people on LinkedIn suffering from ‘corporatitis’. They get a sudden attack of ‘corporate speak’ every time they post or interact on LinkedIn. In my experience, this generally comes from nerves and people use jargon and corporate-speak to overcompensate for this. But, it’s a really bad idea. Be human and authentic.
LinkedIn is not the same platform it was five years ago. The vibe is more relaxed now, and people are much more likely to post about work/life balance, mental health, personal challenges and other similar issues. I’m not suggesting posting photos of your dog every day (!?!?!) but it’s OK to let people know that you have a family and a life outside of work. Personal posts really do resonate. People buy from people, after all.
Use a variety of formats
It’s really important to mix things up on LinkedIn – with photos, illustrations, GIFs and more. Video is becoming increasingly popular on LinkedIn, although perhaps the uptake has been slower than on Instagram or Facebook… LinkedIn users are 20 times more likely to share a video post than a simple text/image post. On client accounts, I’ve found that video can often achieve twice as many impressions as text/image posts.
Videos take time and effort to produce – so fewer people are using them. So, if you can post videos, you can really set yourself apart from your competitors. Just remember to include captions. At least 80% of people will watch the video on mute – so this is really important!
Use hashtags
These are still relatively new on LinkedIn and they will increase your reach (if you choose the right ones). You can use the search facility to find and follow hashtags on LinkedIn. But you can also use tools such as Hashtagify and Hashtag Expert.
Aim to use three or four hashtags in every post. Unlike Instagram, you shouldn’t use lots – this can look very spammy on LinkedIn. Use three industry/niche-specific hashtags and perhaps one branded hashtag.
Be an early adopter of Live video
My prediction is that Live video will explode on LinkedIn over the next year. People love the immediacy and two-way engagement of live video. Brands get seven times more reactions and 24 times more comments on LinkedIn Live streams than recorded video. There is huge potential for B2B businesses to use LinkedIn for live Q&As, webinars and interviews. So, get in there before your competitors. Read my blog on how to use video effectively on social media.
Engage, don’t broadcast
LinkedIn saw a 55% increase in conversations among connections in 2020. So, networking and debate are becoming ever more important.
Don’t just broadcast your news. Ask questions, comment on other people’s posts and join conversations. Treat LinkedIn like a business networking meeting place – you wouldn’t just stand in the corner and talk about yourself. Be social on social.
So, there you have it. My top tips for getting your LinkedIn strategy on track for 2021. Have you noticed any other trends on LinkedIn? What have you tried that’s got great reach and engagement?
If you’d like some advice on promoting your business on LinkedIn, please take a look at my social media management services and get in contact.
You might be interested in reading my blog, ‘Ten tactics to get your business noticed on LinkedIn’.
If you’re looking to sharpen your hashtag strategy, take a look at my blog, ‘How to use hashtags to grow your social media presence’.
