How to Unlock the Potential of LinkedIn for Social Media Marketing

LinkedIn is not the most celebrated social media platform when it comes to social media marketing. Many businesses start their digital marketing efforts on more popular platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and now TikTok. While all of these platforms are powerful social media marketing tools, LinkedIn offers a unique proposition for businesses and their digital marketing agencies, from audience creation to robust in-platform tools.

The LinkedIn Audience

The opportunity LinkedIn marketing offers, compared to alternate digital marketing services, starts with its niche audience. Where platforms like Facebook and Instagram welcome virtually anyone onto their platform for general social networking, LinkedIn is designed for business professionals. It focuses heavily on facilitating business-to-business (B2B) connections and conversations. 

In 2021, LinkedIn was reported to have 310 million active monthly users, 25% of which were people in decision-making positions, making LinkedIn the second most popular B2B marketing platform globally. 

Because of a more niche audience than Facebook, LinkedIn posts have the potential to reach more relevant audiences with greater ease. This is because users on the platform are more like-minded and share interests in similar topics. Sharing your website content, behind the scenes at the office, and sales copy has more potential to reach business owners or C-Suite decision makers. 

Here are some ways you can take advantage of LinkedIn social media marketing services. 

A Glimpse into the LinkedIn Algorithm 

A social media algorithm is the formula used to prioritize, sort, and filter what content appears, seemingly naturally, on a user's personalized feed. Each platform has its own algorithm, some more complex than others. Understanding how a platform distributes content will help you optimize your posts when leveraging digital marketing services. As of 2022, it is reported that the LinkedIn algorithm shares content it believes a user is interested in based on the people and hashtags they follow, the groups they're members of, and the pages they interact with. If you produce quality content, it will be shown to people whose interests align with your business and the hashtags in your post. So, if you want to target a specific demographic or industry, including your messaging or hashtag strategy will strengthen your reach.

What Does a Quality LinkedIn Content Strategy Look Like? 

Like with alternate social media marketing services, making an impact on LinkedIn with organic posts requires quality content and a reliable schedule. 

• Frequent Posting: For users to want to engage or follow your page, you must post regularly enough to convince a user that there is value to following your page. Unfortunately, one excellent post is not enough to sustainably grow followership and interest in your business. A robust schedule consists of multiple posts and significant engagement activity on a weekly basis. If generating the amount of content required to be active on LinkedIn is too much of a time constraint, consider collaborating with a reputable digital marketing agency such as Xi Digital for social media marketing services.
• Multimedia Approach: Text posts do well on LinkedIn, but only producing blogs or short content is one-dimensional. To better resonate with the LinkedIn audience, it helps generate a multimedia strategy, sharing videos, photos, infographics, and PDF resources. Dynamic media is key to successful social media marketing, as it enhances the way users engage with your brand and it improves your reach. 
  
  Studies found that 72% of customers wanted to explore products and services via videos, and 84% said they'd been convinced to purchase because of a video. When it comes to creating content for your LinkedIn channel, it doesn't have to be very elaborate. While you can leverage professional video production services for your video marketing, short cellphone “clip style” videos showcasing office culture, explaining new products, or giving brief tutorials are effective.
• Thought-Leadership: One of the reasons LinkedIn is so unique is because of its ability to curate and promote conversations around thought-provoking topics, allowing industry leaders to share and entertain new and innovative ideas. 
  
  You can share thought-provoking and engaging content directly from your profile or write long-form content on the platform itself. Previously known as "Pulse," LinkedIn has its own section for trending stories and topics, where you can share news articles and blogs that relate to your industry or services.
• Focused Group: Similar to Facebook, LinkedIn users are allowed to create and join groups. These groups vary in their focus from industry-targeted to professional support. Typically in groups, users share news, updates, and sometimes marketing material. There are currently over 2 million groups on LinkedIn, covering virtually every topic or service. Here, you or your social media marketing team can engage in focused conversations, share website content, and build your brand. 
• Engagement Tools: Successful social media marketing services are more than just sharing content. It must also entail an engagement strategy, which is essentially participating in other content on the platforms in which your business or account is active. On LinkedIn, engagement can be as simple as commenting on popular posts, asking questions, or participating in polls. These activities will boost brand awareness and connect you to more potential customers. 
• In-Mail: While scrolling through LinkedIn, you will likely encounter some users who seem like ideal customers for your business. In-Mail is comparable to direct messaging but more advanced than other platforms. Some reports show that the In-Mail response rate was 3 times higher than email marketing. Within the tool, you can track responses, share resources, and even automate the conversation prompts for more efficiency while still maintaining meaningful discussions.
• Website Optimization: Another way to maximize your LinkedIn social media marketing strategy is to connect your page to your website and vice versa. While there is ample opportunity for your brand to be discovered on the platform, you can increase your followership and engagement by making your LinkedIn accessible via your website and email signature. Your web development agency can include an icon/link on the footer or header of your website as well as your contact page. This will enable potential customers considering your products or services to visit your LinkedIn account right from your website, where they can get more insight into your business and its culture. 

Leveraging LinkedIn Social Media Marketing

LinkedIn is undeniably one of the most useful social media platforms for business and digital marketing teams today. If you're ready to get started harnessing the power of LinkedIn, the social media marketing team at Xi Digital can help. From strategy research and content development to execution, you can get more out of your social media marketing services when you work with a team of professionals that understand your business objectives and vision. 

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