Having a strong LinkedIn presence is critical for companies today. LinkedIn has become the top social media platform for professional networking and building brand awareness. With over 740 million members worldwide, it offers tremendous opportunities to connect with potential customers, partners, employees and influencers in your industry.
But simply creating a LinkedIn company page is not enough. You need to build an engaged following of LinkedIn members that will help amplify your brand message and content. Growing your followers indicates that members are interested in your company and want to keep up with the latest updates, products and news from your business. It leads to increased engagement, website traffic, leads and sales.
So how can you increase your company’s LinkedIn followers? Here are some of the most effective strategies:
Publish Engaging Content Frequently
Posting fresh, high-quality content on a regular basis is key to attracting more LinkedIn followers. Consistency is important – aim to share new posts at least 3-5 times per week. This content should provide value to your target audience and align with your brand messaging. Useful types of content to create include:
– Thought leadership articles and blog posts
– Insider tips, how-tos, and listicles
– Case studies and customer success stories
– Slideshares, infographics, videos
– Industry news and trends
– Event promotions
– Behind-the-scenes photos and updates
– Employee spotlights
– Product announcements
Mix up your content formats to keep followers engaged. Pay attention to what types of posts generate the most likes, comments, clicks and shares. Then create more of that high-performing content.
Leverage Employees as Thought Leaders
Encourage your employees to be active on LinkedIn and share company updates, insights and expertise through their own networks. Identify workers who are influential in your industry to become “thought leaders”. Support them in producing personal content and building their follower base.
As your employees gain more connections and visibility, they will organically boost awareness of your brand. Their posts and page activity will show up in their networks’ feeds, getting your brand and content in front of many new eyes.
You can further amplify their reach by sharing employee posts on your company page and cross-linking to their profiles in your content. This builds credibility through third-party validation.
Use LinkedIn’s Built-In Tools
Take advantage of LinkedIn’s suite of publishing and analytics tools to maximize the impact of your content strategy:
– LinkedIn Publisher: This makes it simple to publish posts directly on LinkedIn through a user-friendly interface. You can add images, links, hashtags, rich media, etc.
– Sponsored Content: Pay to promote your best-performing organic posts to reach more of your target audience.
– Analytics: Review LinkedIn’s data on your page and post performance. See which types of content are most popular and optimize accordingly.
– LinkedIn Elevate: This tool provides article recommendations based on your posting history and audience preferences. The suggested content comes from over 3 million influencers and sources.
Engage With Your Followers
Once you attract more followers, you need to keep them engaged in an ongoing dialogue. Make sure to consistently respond to any comments, likes, shares or messages on your company page and posts.
Ask questions in your content to spark discussions. Feature followers who post about your brand in your updates. Send personalized messages to start conversations with key accounts. Recognize loyal followers and brand advocates.
Active engagement leads to real relationships that will fuel further word-of-mouth promotion of your brand on LinkedIn.
Partner With LinkedIn Influencers and Brands
Think about relevant LinkedIn influencers, partners, educators and other brands who you may be able to collaborate with. Cross-promoting great content with these partners can help you organically reach each other’s audiences and subscribers.
You can guest post on each other’s company pages, interview influencers for your blog, source content from partners for resharing, co-host webinars, or publish joint ebooks and guides.
Look for brand partnerships that offer complementary solutions to your own. Joint promotions expand your visibility and help convert audiences that may be interested in both companies’ offerings.
Run LinkedIn Ads and Sponsored Content
While organic content promotion should form the core of your strategy, investing in paid LinkedIn advertising and sponsored content can significantly boost results. Here are some highly effective options:
– Sponsored Content to extend your organic post reach
– Sponsored InMail for targeted outreach to key accounts
– Text ads to drive traffic to your website or landing pages
– Dynamic Ads that customize messaging for each viewer
– Lead Gen Forms to gather contact details from interested prospects
– Audience Network to display ads to LinkedIn members offsite
– Retargeting Ads to reconnect with site visitors
Make sure to A/B test your ads and headlines to improve performance over time. Monitor conversion metrics so you can calculate your LinkedIn ROI.
Join Relevant LinkedIn Groups
By joining LinkedIn Groups related to your industry or niche, you can connect directly with your target audience and get your brand seen by group members. Choose active groups that align with your business.
Contribute value by answering member questions, offering advice and commenting on discussions. Share your expertise, rather than overt brand promotions. Building credibility and relationships within your Groups will lead to new page followers.
Promote Your LinkedIn Company Page
Spread the word about your LinkedIn presence both on and off the platform. Add LinkedIn follow buttons to your website, emails, blog, ebooks, and other marketing materials.
Promote your page in your email signature. Highlight your LinkedIn in social media bios and anywhere your brand has an online presence. Run cross-channel campaigns to drive more traffic to your LinkedIn content.
Analyze and Refine Your Approach
Check your LinkedIn Company Page analytics regularly to see which tactics are delivering results. The Pages section provides data on followers, post reach and engagement.
Experiment with new content formats, topics and audiences. Pay attention to which posts attract the most followers. Keep refining your approach over time based on performance data.
With consistent, thoughtful effort put into your company’s LinkedIn presence, you can build a follower base of engaged professional contacts that will continue to grow and convert into real business opportunities.
Example Follower Growth Table
| Month | Followers | Follower Increase |
|---|---|---|
| January | 100 | 0 |
| February | 250 | 150 |
| March | 500 | 250 |
| April | 750 | 250 |
| May | 1000 | 250 |
Conclusion
Building an audience of engaged followers on LinkedIn takes consistent effort over time. The most successful companies dedicate resources to crafting valuable content, engaging with followers, leveraging employees as thought leaders, utilizing LinkedIn tools, collaborating with partners, and analyzing performance data.
With the right strategy tailored to your brand and audience, any company can gain more visibility and credibility on the world’s largest professional network. The increased brand exposure leads directly to new opportunities and business growth.