If you’re reading this blog, then you’ve probably got a Facebook account. You might have an Instagram or X handle. Some of you may even remember your Myspace page! But I’m willing to bet my house that you have a LinkedIn profile. In fact, I’d go so far as to suggest that every single person in your office has a LinkedIn profile!
Although it started as a simple networking site, it’s not hyperbole to say that LinkedIn is now the world’s most popular social media platform for business and work content – indeed, as of 2024, LinkedIn has over 1 billion users globally! So, if you’re responsible for your organization’s social media strategy, LinkedIn HAS to be a part of it!
Let’s take a look at how you can supercharge your brand using LinkedIn.
1. Encourage Employee Advocacy
The top performing posts on LinkedIn aren’t professionally written articles, company updates, or business news articles – readers can find that content everywhere. Instead, the most shared and commented on posts are those that offer personal experiences, knowledge and insight from business leaders, entrepreneurs and founders. These posts are authentic, sometimes written on the fly, and often not even about a specific topic or event (although that does help to drive trending posts).
Encourage the leaders within your organization to post their thoughts about your business, day-to-day experiences with customers and technology, or even talk about their decision-making processes and how getting the small things right matters. This valuable content will encourage interaction, drive more followers to your company page and website, and help push important marketing and PR announcements towards the top of the feed!
2. Be Creative with your Content!
Much of your LinkedIn content is likely already written! Audiences aren’t looking for essays or novels. They want snippets, paragraphs, the occasional one-pager. You can relieve concerns about content creation by looking inwards. Yes, your internal communication data is a powerful source of material! Think about all those chat conversations, emails, intranet posts etc. You’ll undoubtedly have brand updates, comments about employees, wins successes, market and business insights – all excellent content! Once it’s all been sanitized for company secrets of course!
3. Show the World that you’re Human!
As we enter the world of AI, personal content is becoming ever more relevant. Sprinkling in some non-work content (while remembering LinkedIn isn’t Facebook!) will ensure that your audience knows they’re engaging with humans! Simple things like reading lists, exercise habits, what type of coffee you drink, even travel experiences, can really make a difference. You don’t want to flood your profile with these posts, but we’re all human and a “water-cooler” conversation, albeit virtual, helps make you much more relatable!
4. Go Out and Find your Audience!
LinkedIn is a networking platform, so network! Think about who your customers are, discover who your customer’s customers are, and reach out to them. You’ll be surprised as to how many people (50%!) will accept a connection request on LinkedIn from someone they don’t know. Growing your audience will create exponentially more views for your content, as your network shares with their network and so forth. The wider the audience, the more likely it is that potential customers and partners will be exposed to your brand for the first time!
5. Engage, Engage…and Engage Some More!
The algorithm favors engagement, so your activity on LinkedIn shouldn’t be limited to posting your own content and watching what happens! Engage and be engaging – respond to comments on your pages, profiles and content, comment on posts from your peers and industry leaders, and share content from other sources that you think might be helpful or insightful for your audience. As you proactively engage with content from other profiles and brands, you’ll begin to see their audience engaging with your content, which is the first step towards creating organic leads for your business!
6. Use the Tools that are Available to You!
We all know what a time sink social media can be, and social media marketing can be the same……if you let it. From content creation to scheduling, posting to reporting, making sure that you’re always time-efficient and cost-effective is key. Tools such Click Social are designed specifically to help achieve better results from your social marketing activity. Features like Unified Calendars, “in-CRM’ reporting functionality, AI re-phrasing and employee advocacy leaderboards will transform your social media marketing, across LinkedIn, Facebook et al.
7. Keep Perspective!
We all want to see leads and opportunities flood in overnight. But the reality is that successful social marketing campaigns take time to deliver results, especially B2B ones. Consistency and commitment are the buzzwords here. Play the long game, don’t chop and change. Stay on message, deliver compelling content, encourage employee advocacy and grow your audience and your brand.
Above all, trust the process. Results will come, but you must play the long game and play it well!
