Why Growing Your LinkedIn Presence is Important
Having a strong LinkedIn presence is critical for companies looking to expand their reach and attract new customers and talent. LinkedIn has over 722 million members worldwide, making it the largest professional network on the internet. With so many professionals actively using the platform, LinkedIn offers tremendous opportunity for organic growth if leveraged correctly.
There are several key reasons why growing your company’s LinkedIn presence should be a top priority:
- Increased brand awareness – A larger and more engaged following on LinkedIn raises awareness of your brand and exposes your content to new audiences organically.
- Talent acquisition – LinkedIn is the #1 platform used by talent recruiters and job seekers. Having an active company page makes your employer brand more visible and approachable to top talent.
- Lead generation – Recommendations, shares, and engagement on your LinkedIn posts allow you to build relationships with potential customers and drive leads.
- Thought leadership – LinkedIn provides the opportunity to establish your company and employees as industry experts by sharing valuable insights.
- Competitive advantage – Falling behind competitors on LinkedIn can put your brand at a disadvantage when consumers are researching and comparing options.
In short, LinkedIn is the ideal channel for driving real business results through organic growth and community engagement. Investing in your LinkedIn presence should be a long-term strategy, not a one-off tactic.
How LinkedIn’s Algorithm Works
To organically grow your company page on LinkedIn, you first need to understand the basics of how LinkedIn’s feed algorithm works. The algorithm controls what content users see and in what order. Here are some key facts:
- The focus is on showing relevant and meaningful content to each member based on their preferences and engagement.
- There are over 700 million members, so the algorithm customizes feeds for every individual person.
- Posts that receive lots of likes, comments, and shares are deemed to be higher quality and more engaging.
- LinkedIn tracks the type of content each user engages with and shows them more of that preferred content over time.
- Paid advertising and sponsored content is displayed separately from the organic feed.
Understanding these principles allows you to create content strategy optimized for organic growth on LinkedIn. High quality, relevant posts that spark two-way engagement are prioritized by the algorithm.
Best Practices for Organic Growth
Here are 10 proven best practices for growing your company’s LinkedIn presence organically:
1. Complete your Company Page profile
Make sure your LinkedIn Company Page is completely filled out with key details like company description, location, website, # of employees, and contact info. Profiles with missing sections may be seen as less legitimate.
2. Showcase employees
Adding Your Teams allows you to display and link to employee profiles from your Company Page. This humanizes your brand and shows real people work there.
3. Publish regular, high-value posts
Post consistently 1-2X per week sharing content like thought leadership articles, infographics, videos, case studies, and more. Provide value, not just promotions.
4. Leverage hashtags strategically
Include relevant hashtags so your content surfaces in searches. Identify 3-5 top hashtags aligned to your industry and focus areas.
5. Interact with your followers
Reply to any comments on your posts, answer questions, and engage with followers regularly. This builds community.
6. Share visual content
Posts with videos, images, presentations, etc. tend to perform better than text-only updates. Make content visually appealing.
7. Promote new followers
Welcome new followers by liking and commenting on their posts. This helps form a relationship.
8. Stay on brand
Ensure your posts reflect your brand identity. Maintain a consistent voice and tone aligned to messaging.
9. Make CTAs specific
When including calls-to-action, make them specific. For example, encourage prospects to download an ebook or sign up for a webinar.
10. Analyze and refine
Track what posts, topics and formats resonate best and double down on those. Continuously optimize content.
Leveraging Paid Advertising
While organic growth should be the foundation, paid advertising can complement your strategy and accelerate results. Here are some options to consider:
Sponsored Content
Have your posts marked “sponsored” to ensure wider reach and views. Works on a cost-per-click model.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Guaranteed exposure for high value content | Can feel intrusive to some users |
| Ability to target very specific audiences | Cost per click model requires optimization |
| Strong click-through and conversion rates | Not 100% organic so some may ignore |
LinkedIn Ads
Purchase standard pay-per-click LinkedIn ads just like Google/Facebook ads. Wide targeting options.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Highly targeted to roles, skills, companies, etc. | Can be pricey depending on competitive bidding |
| Powerful conversion tracking | Easy to waste budget without savvy targeting |
| Extensive ad format options | Skippable like any display advertising |
Lead Gen Forms
Request contact info from prospects straight within LinkedIn messaging.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Get direct leads/subscriber without leaving LinkedIn | Low response rates if forms aren’t optimized |
| Lead info pre-populates from LinkedIn profile | Cost per lead model can get expensive |
| High quality B2B leads | Leads sourced only from LinkedIn membership |
The best paid advertising approach depends on your goals, target audience and budget. Test different options to see which deliver the best results.
Measuring Results
It’s important to track the right analytics to measure the impact of your LinkedIn strategy. Here are key metrics to monitor:
- Follower growth – How many new followers per week/month?
- Post engagement – Likes, comments, clicks and shares per post
- Click-through rate – Clicks on links in posts divided by impressions
- Conversion rate – Registrations, purchases or leads generated from clicks
- Employee engagement – Are individual employees posting and connecting?
- Referral traffic – Visits to your website driven by LinkedIn
Analyze these metrics over time to see the tangible business impact of your LinkedIn presence and campaigns. Are you generating more leads? Recruiting top talent more efficiently? Think holistically beyond vanity metrics like followers and likes.
Competitor Research
Research how competitors and leading brands in your industry are leveraging LinkedIn. This can spark content ideas and best practices to apply:
- What types of posts drive high engagement levels?
- How frequently are they posting? Daily, weekly, etc?
- Are they utilizing hashtags, videos, images, polls or other tactics?
- What calls-to-action and offers are converting best?
- How do their Company Page and employee profiles look?
- What areas have they invested in paid advertising?
- How does their follower count and engagement rate compare?
Steal ideas from the best while putting your own unique spin on things. LinkedIn content should align to your brand voice.
Content Topic Ideas
Here are some LinkedIn post topic ideas to provide value for your target audience:
- Industry trend analysis and insights
- “Day in the life” employee spotlights
- Behind the scenes company photos and videos
- Expert tips, guides and how-to’s
- leadership principles and company culture
- Philanthropy, community impact and social responsibility
- Recognition for awards won and milestones achieved
- Live coverage from conferences and events
- Customer success stories and case studies
- Webinar recordings and presentation decks
- Infographics with statistics and data
- Polls and surveys to collect feedback
- Job openings and employee testimonials
- Roundup/curation of relevant industry articles
Brainstorm topics that align both to your brand story and your audience’s interests. Add these to an editorial calendar to develop and spread out content over time.
Conclusion
Growing your company’s LinkedIn presence takes time, commitment and thoughtful strategy – but the long-term dividends make it well worth the effort. The most successful brands don’t look for quick fixes and shortcuts. They play the long game, providing value to their communities and thinking creatively. With these best practices and tactics, you’re well on your way to expanding your LinkedIn footprint and seeing measurable business growth.
