Quick Answer: Target Your Content
The key to reaching a specific audience on LinkedIn is to create and share content tailored specifically to that audience. Conduct keyword research to determine what terms and topics your target audience cares about. Then create engaging posts, articles, and other content centered around those keywords. Optimize your content for organic search to help surface your content to your ideal audience.
Understand Your Target Audience
The first step is getting clear on who exactly you want to reach on LinkedIn. Define your target audience in terms of:
Demographic
What is their age range, gender, location, income level, education level, etc? Use LinkedIn’s audience insights tool to analyze the demographics of your existing audience and followers. This can help you identify patterns and common attributes to focus on.
Job Title/Function
What roles and responsibilities do they have? For B2B, you’ll want to target specific job titles and functions within an industry. For B2C, this may include broader segments and personae.
Interests
What topics, issues, and pain points do they care about? What content format do they prefer – long-form posts, short tips, videos, etc?
Goals
What are their professional goals and what motivates them? Understanding these goals can help you create content that resonates. For example, targeting managers with tips on leadership and team building.
Really get clear on who your audience is beyond just basic demographics. The more specific you can get in terms of their role, interests and goals, the better you can tailor content.
Keyword Research
Conduct keyword research to uncover terms and topics your target audience searches for and cares about. You can use tools like:
- Google Keyword Planner
- Ubersuggest
- Ahrefs
- Moz Keyword Explorer
Search for keywords related to your industry, ideal job titles, their interests and goals. Look for keywords with high search volume and low difficulty to target.
Here are some sample target keywords for common business audiences:
Marketing Managers
| SEO training | Google Analytics tutorials |
| Content marketing strategy | Social media engagement |
Tech Leaders
| Agile project management | Scaling remote teams |
| Employee retention strategies | Recruiting software developers |
Finance Directors
| Budget forecasting tips | Financial reporting templates |
| Cash flow management | Reducing operating expenses |
Keyword research gives you the actual terms and topics to create content around for your target audience.
Create Tailored Content
Now you can start creating content tailored specifically to your target audience.
Blog Posts
Write long-form blog posts focused on the keywords you want to rank for. Include the target keyword in the title and meta description. Mention the term throughout the post in a natural way. Provide value by offering tips, how-to guidance and expert insights tailored to your audience’s goals.
For example, a post titled “Expert Tips for Marketing Managers to Improve SEO” optimized with relevant headings, keywords and recommendations.
Shorter Posts
In addition to long blog posts, share shorter posts that provide quick tips and tactics. For example, short posts like “5 Ways Marketing Managers Can Boost Social Media Engagement This Year.”
These bite-sized pieces of content are perfect for LinkedIn’s feed and easy for professionals to quickly digest.
Infographics
Create infographics to visually communicate insights and data on topics your audience cares about. Infographics tend to generate high engagement on LinkedIn. Plus they attract viewers with their visual appeal.
For example, an infographic titled “The Future of Finance: 5 Trends for Finance Directors to Watch.”
Videos
According to LinkedIn, video posts see 5X higher engagement than regular posts. Make short, valuable videos covering your audience’s interests. For example, a quick video tutorial on “How to Use Google Analytics to Measure ROI” for marketing managers.
Videos where you share your screen are especially popular on LinkedIn.
Optimize Content for Discovery
Once you’ve created amazing content, make sure it can actually be found by your target audience.
Keywords in Title & Description
Include your target keyword(s) naturally in the headline and meta description of your content. This helps your content appear in search and helps drive clicks.
Optimize for SEO
Beyond just keywords, follow SEO best practices like:
- Use keywords in Headers (H2, H3 tags)
- Include keyword in opening paragraph
- Use keywords links linking internally
- Add alt text to images
- Format lists for scannability
This helps your content rank higher in LinkedIn and external search engines.
Engaging Visuals
Use relevant images, graphics and videos related to the topic to make your posts and pages more eye-catching and engaging in the feed. This helps draw more views and clicks from your target audience.
Calls-to-Action
Prompt viewers to take action with clear CTAs like “Download now” on gated content, “Learn more” on blog posts, or “Try it free” on offers. This increases lead generation from your content.
Promote Your Content
Don’t just publish your amazing content and hope your audience finds it. You need to amplify it through promotion.
LinkedIn Sponsored Content
Run LinkedIn ads targeting your content to your ideal audience segments. This allows you to get your content directly in front of key decision makers.
Engage With Your Network
Share your posts regularly with your existing connections on LinkedIn. Like and comment on your connections’ posts to increase your visibility.
Post at Optimal Times
According to LinkedIn, the best times to post are Tues-Thurs before or after working hours. Test what timing works for your audience based on engagement metrics.
Retarget Website Visitors
Use website pixels to create LinkedIn ads targeting people who have visited key pages on your site. This allows you to promote relevant content to engaged visitors.
Email Marketing
Promote new LinkedIn content through your email newsletter. Segmentlists by job title or interests to target specific content.
Cross-Promote
Repurpose and share your top LinkedIn posts on other channels like Facebook, Twitter and your blog. This expands reach to your audience across platforms.
Analyze Performance
Analyze the performance of your content on a regular basis. Review metrics like:
- Impressions
- Clicks
- Engagement rate
- Comments
- Shares
- Followers gained
Double down on content that resonates and performsstrongly. Identify underperforming areas you can optimize orswitch up your approach. Continuously refine your strategy based on data.
Conclusion
The key to effectively reaching a specific professionalaudience on LinkedIn is laser-focused targeting. Conduct thoroughresearch to intimately understand your ideal audience. Identify thekeywords and content formats they care about. Then develophighly-relevant, optimized content tailored to their needs. Promoteyour content through multiple channels to get it in front of the rightpeople. Maintain this targeted approach over time to build an audienceof engaged professionals and become a trusted voice for yourindustry.