LinkedIn: The Preferred B2B Marketing Platform

As the influence of digital marketing and social media increases, it’s vital for businesses these days to maintain a relevant social media presence.

Social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat may be useful for engaging customers on a personal level, professional interactions are somewhat limited by what you can share, and how you target your chosen audience.

While LinkedIn is commonly associated with recruitment, the opportunities for B2B sales are also high. No matter what your business, it’s likely that at least one potential client is on LinkedIn looking for services such as those offered by your company.

In this article, I will provide insight into some of the basics that will help you (or your social media manager) get started using LinkedIn as a social media platform that improves lead generation and brand awareness. I will also touch briefly on how to create meaningful content and how the platform allows you to create targeted marketing campaigns.

 

Brand Awareness and Lead Generation

Did you know that over 80% of business leads generated through social media are obtained through LinkedIn? For all intents and purposes, LinkedIn is about brand awareness, nurturing connection and communicating with like-minded professionals to solve problems and share information on topics that are interesting to both parties.

It allows you to get to know your target audience in a way that is not possible on other popular social media platforms. You can also broaden your search to include industry groups, experience, interests, and even location, thus increasing your opportunities for more specialised marketing campaigns and business development – either online or off.

 

Targeted Advertising

LinkedIn allows you to advertise directly to customers and businesses through digital advertisements, banners, sponsored content and in mail email campaigns. Unlike those other social platforms, ad capabilities and results are customisable, allowing you to target decision makers without the third-party interference.

You can also create budgets, analyse success and create test campaigns to adapt when necessary.

While the conversion is not always instantaneous – research indicates a user will view an ad up to 10 times before engaging with the business it promotes – a LinkedIn advertising campaign can result in a 15% increase in lead generation.

 

Creating Engaging Content

When it comes to marketing your business, connecting with clients is often about validating your business by showing that you share advice and can solve problems. One way to do this is by creating engaging content.

Unlike other social media platforms, LinkedIn provides you with the space to create engaging posts and share information or articles on interesting and relevant topics. With enough original content, your business will soon be viewed as a reliable and trusted source of information, which will potentially encourage them to engage your services in the future.

At the end of the day, this article is just the beginning and the ideas I discussed are designed to give you a starting point when it comes to using LinkedIn as a B2B marketing platform. As such, how and when you decide to use LinkedIn will often depend on what you want to get out of it.

Are you ready now? Contact me to discuss how my freelance social media services can help your business make a splash.

[Editor/Author Note: Statistical information contained within this article was retrieved from LinkedIn Marketing, Marketing360, Lucy Bingle & Australian Marketing Institute, and Content Marketing Institute. ]