LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network with over 722 million users worldwide. In the UK alone, there are over 33 million LinkedIn members, making it an excellent platform for UK businesses to establish their brand, connect with customers, and grow their networks.
With the array of features available, from company pages to advertising options, LinkedIn offers numerous ways for UK businesses to increase brand awareness, generate leads, recruit talent and drive sales. However, as with any social media platform, simply creating a LinkedIn presence is not enough. You need an effective LinkedIn marketing strategy to maximise results.
This comprehensive guide will take you through the key steps for successfully using LinkedIn to meet your UK business goals, including:
Optimize your LinkedIn Company Page
Your LinkedIn company page acts as your business’ profile and is often the first touchpoint between your brand and potential customers on LinkedIn. Ensuring your page is optimized with relevant information will help your business stand out. Follow these tips:
– Include an eye-catching cover photo that conveys your brand identity and values.
– Fill out all the sections such as Company Description, Website, Industry, Company size, Headquarters.
– Showcase your products and services through links, images, videos and presentations.
– Add employee photos and stories to humanize your brand.
– Publish regular status updates to engage your followers. Share company news, industry insights, events and more.
Customize your LinkedIn URL
Claim a unique LinkedIn URL for your company to aid brand awareness and make your page easier to find. On your company page admin console, go to “Manage” > “Settings” and edit the current web address.
Build an engaged LinkedIn network
The foundation of generating leads and driving engagement on LinkedIn is to build up a solid network of connections. Here are some strategies:
Connect with employees and team members
Encourage employees to link their personal LinkedIn profiles to your company page. This helps increase your number of followers. Employees can also connect with existing contacts, widening your overall reach.
Follow competitors and industry leaders
By following competitors, partners, industry influencers and more, you gain insider knowledge of your field for content creation ideas. Plus, cross-following is a great way to organically grow connections.
Join relevant LinkedIn Groups
LinkedIn Groups based on topics like your industry, location or products allow you to connect with like-minded professionals. Engage regularly by posting discussions and commenting.
Message new connections
When accepting connection invites, send a customized message to start building relationships, not just contacts. Share why you’d like to connect and how you can potentially help each other.
Follow up with LinkedIn connections
Check in periodically with your connections to nurture relationships. Share relevant content or simply say hello. This helps transition contacts into loyal brand advocates.
Publish Engaging Content
Sharing regular, high-value content is critical for keeping your brand top of mind on LinkedIn and establishing thought leadership. Ensure your content strategy aligns with your target audience’s interests.
Blog articles
Post blog content natively through LinkedIn’s Publishing Platform or link external blog content to your page. Cover industry news, tips, how-tos, case studies and more.
Thought leadership
Position employees, subject matter experts and leadership as thought leaders by having them publish regular LinkedIn articles.
Video
Videos resonate very well on LinkedIn. Create short, insightful videos to educate and engage your audience.
Repurpose content
Maximize resources by updating and re-sharing evergreen content. For example, refresh an outdated blog into a LinkedIn article.
Hashtags
Include relevant hashtags in posts to expand reach and join larger industry conversations. Identify popular hashtags by searching your niche keywords.
Polls & questions
Keep your audience involved by running polls and asking engaging questions related to your industry. This provides interactive content.
| Content Type | Best Practices |
|---|---|
| Blog Articles | – 750+ words – Optimized with target keywords – Include images/videos – Promote blog natively or via links |
| Thought Leadership | – Expert commentary on industry topics – Build employee profiles through regular posting – Comment on news/trends |
| Video | – 60-120 seconds ideal – Spotlight branding, products, services – Caption videos for accessibility |
| Polls/Questions | – Pose engaging, thought-provoking questions – Tie questions to industry data/trends – Consider viral quiz formats |
Leverage LinkedIn Ads
With over 675+ million users, LinkedIn advertising provides a significant opportunity to drive targeted traffic and leads. Here are the main LinkedIn advertising options:
Sponsored content
Have your posts promoted to reach LinkedIn members outside your current followers. You can target by location, job role, industry and more.
Text ads
Display text ads on LinkedIn tailored to your target demographics. Extensively customize targeting based on member data.
Dynamic ads
Automatically show personalized ads to site visitors based on their LinkedIn profile and browsing history, serving highly relevant messaging.
Message ads
Send customized ads via LinkedIn messaging to promote content and offers. Messages look like regular LinkedIn messages.
When running LinkedIn ads, aim for a landing page tailored to the campaign and continuously A/B test ad variations. Measure metrics like clickthrough rate and cost per lead to optimize performance.
Utilize LinkedIn Lead Generation
LinkedIn’s Lead Gen Forms allow you to collect lead information directly within LinkedIn, helping drive high-quality conversions.
Place forms on your Company Page
Embed lead capture forms on your Company Page allowing visitors to instantly subscribe or download content.
Create targeted Lead Gen ads
Run Sponsored Content or Message Ads with Lead Gen Forms to deliver your forms to the most relevant prospects.
Share forms via LinkedIn Groups or Messages
Send your Lead Gen forms directly via LinkedIn Groups posts or personal messages for more direct outreach.
Integrate forms with your CRM
Integrate LinkedIn Lead Gen with your CRM system via services like Zapier to automatically organize leads based on source and info.
Follow up promptly with all form submissions and customize your forms with enticing calls-to-action for higher conversion rates.
Recruit Candidates on LinkedIn
With LinkedIn Recruiter and Jobs you can source, connect with and hire top talent all within the LinkedIn platform.
Post your job openings
Post your jobs to reach LinkedIn’s wide candidate pool. You can target candidates by location, education, skills and other filters.
Search LinkedIn profiles
Use Recruiter to search member profiles based on advanced filters like years of experience to find your ideal candidates.
Contact candidates
Leverage recruiter messaging tools to directly contact prospects, promote your employer brand and build relationships with talent.
Advertise jobs
Sponsor your job posts as Sponsored Jobs ads to get your openings in front of more niche professionals via targeted promotion.
Screen candidates
Integrate your LinkedIn recruitment with your Applicant Tracking System to easily screen and organize applicants based on their LinkedIn profiles.
Measure the ROI of your recruitment efforts by tracking metrics like hire rate, cost per hire and source of hire.
| LinkedIn Recruitment Tips |
|---|
| – Define your ideal candidate profile based on required hard and soft skills |
| – Highlight your employer brand and culture to attract top talent |
| – Use boolean search strings to narrow your candidate search |
| – Contact passive candidates to discover untapped talent |
| – Promote open roles across multiple LinkedIn Groups/Pages |
| – Follow up promptly and keep prospects warm with regular touchpoints |
Showcase Your Brand as a Thought Leader
Position yourself as an industry expert by actively sharing content and engaging with your network. This cements your brand as a trusted voice that prospects want to do business with.
Publish articles showcasing expertise
Write regular posts with tips, insights and recommendations to demonstrate knowledge. Aim for at least 1-2 articles per month.
Comment on discussions
Check LinkedIn daily and contribute to Group conversations where you can provide value via comments.
Share news related to your niche
When relevant news or stories break, share these first and provide your unique commentary to be seen as the “in the know” expert.
Follow influencers
Follow key leaders in your space and amplify their content through likes and shares to potentially gain their endorsement.
Give industry conference talks
Look for opportunities to speak at relevant industry events. Promote your participation to strengthen influence.
Host LinkedIn Live videos
Go live or produce on-demand videos to reveal more personality and build deeper connections with your audience.
Analyze and Improve Results
Consistently monitoring the performance of your LinkedIn marketing provides valuable data to shape your ongoing strategy.
Review LinkedIn Analytics
Analyze impressions, engagement, followers and more within the native LinkedIn Analytics to quantify content success.
Measure conversions
For activities like ad clicks or Lead Gen form submissions, track conversion rate and cost per conversion to calculate LinkedIn ROI.
Run A/B tests
Try different variations of content, messaging or design and use A/B testing to determine what resonates most.
Monitor reviews
Regularly check Reviews on your Company Page to resolve any negative feedback and respond to reviews to show you care.
Survey your audience
Ask followers for feedback via quick polls or surveys to find out their interests and identify gaps in your strategy.
Refine based on results
Let data guide your actions. Double down on tactics working well. Stop or change what isn’t delivering results.
Conclusion
When integrated effectively into your wider marketing strategy, LinkedIn has the power to directly connect you with your ideal UK B2B customers and dramatically grow your business. By optimizing your Company Page, publishing engaging content, running targeted ads, leveraging lead gen forms and more, LinkedIn provides a wealth of opportunities to achieve your goals. Remember to continually track performance and listener to your audience to maximize your success. With consistent, strategic effort, LinkedIn can take your UK business relationships and revenue to the next level.