You don’t need to read the stats (again). You know that your audience is on LinkedIn. You know they’re active (424 million monthly active users) and engaged (average time on site is over 6 minutes with more than 6 pages viewed per average visit.)
If there’s low-hanging fruit in B2B marketing, LinkedIn optimisation and effective usage is it.
Here’s the lowest of the low-hanging fruit for you to pick right now.
Don’t Be Shy Jimmy
We all went to school with a Shy Jimmy. He was a nice kid, and everyone liked him. The thing is, Jimmy wanted to go to the parties and hang out with the cool kids on the weekend. Also, he had a mad crush on Stacey.
But Jimmy was home every weekend, and Stacey ended up with someone else.
Why? Because Shy Jimmy didn’t put himself out there. The cool kids never knew he wanted to come to the parties, and he never asked Stacey out.
All Jimmy needed to do was put himself out there.
If you or your business is Shy Jimmy, then start publishing content. Now. Pages that post weekly get almost 6x more followers than those that don’t.
Write an article.
Film a quick video.
Create an infographic.
Repost something.
Talk about a statistic you know something about.
Just start!
Talk, Respond…You Know, Have a Conversation
LinkedIn is made for B2B. Executives and decision-makers are active on the platform and will engage if something you do or say resonates with them.
Once you’ve published something, look for responses. Reply to everything. Attach CTAs to every piece of content you produce. Tell people that you’re interested in chatting. Encourage people who are publishing content…speaking of which…
Quid Pro Quo
Givers get, so give, and you’ll get. Thousands of people are out there thinking about publishing or videoing or whatever. Get behind them and pat them on the back when you see them:
‘Love this; reminds me of when…’
‘This is fantastic…’
‘Great job, Jimmy…’
Recycling is Great
Yes, everything should be platform specific. You don’t want the same content going out over Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter or X, Threads etc.
But, if you’ve got some content – a blog post or press release, for example – you can repurpose it as a post or article on LinkedIn. Just recreate it, don’t just publish a link.
Grow Your Audience, Every. Single. Day.
The more connections you have, the better your reach. It’s not rocket science, but it is still one of the most overlooked parts of a B2B LinkedIn Strategy.
Importantly, reach out to people authentically. Attach a message to the invitation, and make the most of InMails and messaging to start a conversation. A/B test different messages, use what works and grow an authentic community of engaged followers.
Join and Engage with Groups
Yes, we’re all members of groups, but which groups are your ideal prospects members of?
Join those groups, add value to them, and read other people’s content in the group. Being a good community member is the secret sauce for LinkedIn groups.
Create Ads for Your Product, Your Business and Yourself
As the old saying goes, ‘People buy from people, not businesses.’ That’s not to say your branding and product awareness, and promotion campaigns aren’t important, but pay attention to your personal brand and those of your colleagues.
As a B2B marketer (especially if you’re non-SAAS), standing out is more personal than we like to pretend. How many ‘white papers’ are read? How many people click on links to new blog posts? (if you’d like to know our stats on this, let us know. Spoiler – it’s not great).
Create emotive, entertaining and educational ads for your target audience and test different methodologies – optimise for reach, website clicks etc and see what works for you. Try different audiences. Experimentation is key to effective advertising.
LinkedIn is a powerful tool for B2B businesses. The great news is that it’s easy to stand out. Come up with a plan, be consistent and watch your business grow.