LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network with over 700 million users worldwide. It is a powerful platform for networking, building your professional profile, showcasing your skills and expertise, finding jobs, connecting with business partners, and growing your business. With its huge user base of professionals and ability to target users based on job title, industry, skills, location and more, LinkedIn offers tremendous opportunities for digital marketers.
Some key ways in which LinkedIn can be leveraged for digital marketing include:
Building Your Professional Brand
LinkedIn allows you to create a detailed professional profile highlighting your background, skills, accomplishments, recommendations and more. A strong LinkedIn profile acts as your professional brand online, allowing you to showcase your expertise to prospective clients, partners, and employers. You can also publish long-form posts to establish thought leadership.
Running Sponsored Content and Ads
LinkedIn’s sponsored content and ads allow you to get your content and messages in front of your target audience in their feed. You can target ads by location, job role, industry, interests, skills, company size and more. Great for boosting inbound leads.
Marketing to Your Connections
Leverage your existing network of connections for marketing. You can send InMail messages, share updates, content and offers, and engage your connections to build relationships.
Company Pages
Company pages allow you to market your business or organization to the LinkedIn community. You can publish content, run ads, host jobs, engage followers and build your company’s brand.
Lead Generation
LinkedIn’s Lead Gen Forms allow you to collect lead information from LinkedIn users through customized forms. Great for capturing leads from your Sponsored Content.
Targeting by Industry
LinkedIn’s detailed user data allows you to engage professionals in specific industries through company pages, groups, content sharing, and ads. Great for B2B marketing.
Recruitment and Job Advertising
LinkedIn is the top platform for online recruitment. You can advertise jobs and source candidates based on the extensive search functionality and LinkedIn Recruiter account.
Sales Prospecting
Identify, research and connect with relevant prospects for your sales teams. Sales Navigator makes this process very targeted.
Market Research
Use LinkedIn data and functionality to research target markets, identify influencers and decision makers, analyze competitors and more to inform your marketing strategies.
Generate Referrals
Leverage your connections to generate referrals and word-of-mouth marketing for your business.
Establish Thought Leadership
Position yourself and your company as industry thought leaders by publishing posts, content and videos.
Detailed Overview of LinkedIn Marketing Tactics
Now let’s look at some of the major LinkedIn marketing tactics and how to use them effectively:
Your LinkedIn Profile
Your LinkedIn profile is the foundation of your LinkedIn marketing presence. Make sure to completely fill out all sections including:
– Professional photo
– Headline – Include key roles, skills and specialties
– Summary section – Your professional summary and background
– Work experience – Details of your current and previous roles and achievements
– Education – Qualifications and training
– Skills and Endorsements – List key skills and get colleagues to endorse you
– Recommendations – Positive recommendations from managers, colleagues, clients
– Additional sections like Projects, Courses, Honors & Awards, Languages, Personal Website etc.
Pro Tips for an impactful profile:
– Choose a professional profile photo – friendly, approachable, confident
– Customize your LinkedIn Profile URL
– Start building your network – connect with colleagues, clients, partners
– Showcase thought leadership – share articles, videos, slides, infographics you created
An excellent, comprehensive profile establishes credibility and “social proof” that you are an industry expert. It’s critical for personal branding.
Growing Your LinkedIn Network
To effectively use LinkedIn for marketing, focus on building a robust, high-quality network. Avoid spamming people with connection requests. Instead, target relevant connections:
– Existing clients/customers, partners, vendors
– Colleagues and alumni from current and past roles
– Professionals in your industry and related industries
– Potential business partners and affiliates
– Influencers, thought leaders and decision makers in your space
Customize your invitation messages to increase acceptance rates. Participate actively in your expanded network by commenting on updates, giving recommendations and endorsements, and sending messages. A targeted, engaged network improves distribution of your content.
Company LinkedIn Page
A LinkedIn Company Page is your business’s profile on LinkedIn. It allows you to market your company to the LinkedIn community and attract more customers. Key elements include:
– Professional company logo and cover image
– Overviews of company details like history, size, locations, mission etc.
– Information on products and services offered
– Company updates showcasing news, events, culture and achievements
– Ability to publish posts and long-form articles
– Followers – people who follow your company and its updates
– Showcase Pages – visual portfolio of your products, services and work
– Jobs page – advertise and source candidates for open positions
– Recommendations – collect recommendations from business partners, customers
– Statistics – track followers, post reach/engagement, website referral traffic
Actively post relevant updates, respond to comments and messages, share company news and achievements, and engage your followers to increase visibility.
| Section | Details to Include |
|---|---|
| Company Details | Locations, company size, funding, history, mission, vision |
| Products & Services | Details on your product offerings, services and pricing |
| Company Culture | Highlight your values, people, diversity, community outreach |
| Careers | Open jobs, teams, benefits, internships, hiring process |
Sponsored Content
LinkedIn Sponsored Content allows you to publish native ads that appear directly in the LinkedIn feed. You can target the native ads by location, job title, industry, interests, company size, etc.
Benefits of Sponsored Content:
– Appears in feed for high visibility
– Broad targeting options
– Post boosting to extend reach
– Lead generation with call-to-action buttons
Best practices for Sponsored Content:
– Offer value, not a sales pitch
– Target a specific audience
– Use eye-catching images and videos
– Write compelling headlines
– Use call-to-action buttons
– Track performance – impressions, engagement, conversions
You can promote your best performing organic posts and also write new posts optimized for ads. Test different targeting options and analyze performance.
Sponsored InMail
Sponsored InMail allows you to send targeted direct messages to LinkedIn members. You can customize the message content. Key benefits:
– Directly contact your prospects
– High open and response rates compared to email
– Custom subject lines and content
– Target decision makers, leadership titles
– Track opens, clicks and InMail responses
Best practices for Sponsored InMail:
– Personalize each message with first name
– Establish common interests or connections early
– Craft a relevant, customized message for each prospect
– Test different subject lines for higher open rates
– Include a clear call to action
– Follow up with unresponsive prospects
Prioritize sending InMail to prospects actively looking for solutions you offer. Personalize each message based on the recipient’s profile and role.
Text Ads
LinkedIn text ads or sponsored updates allow you to publish customized ads in the LinkedIn feed and sidebar. You can target text ads based on member demographics, interests, company details, job roles, geography, groups, and more.
Text ads are ideal for:
– Brand awareness campaigns
– Promoting content offers and downloads
– Driving traffic to your website
– Promoting live and virtual events
– Offering promotions and deals
Best practices for text ads:
– Compelling copywriting – headlines, descriptions
– Testing different ad variations
– Retargeting website visitors
– Tracking conversions and ROI
– Adjusting targeting based on performance
Test different ad copy, design variants, keywords and targeting options. Focus on relevant KPIs like click-through rate, cost per lead, conversion rates etc. to optimize your ads.
LinkedIn Groups
Joining and participating in relevant LinkedIn Groups allows you to connect with highly targeted audiences. You can join up to 100 groups.
Ways to leverage LinkedIn Groups:
– Join groups in your industry or niche
– Follow group discussions and share relevant content
– Connect with active group members
– Establish yourself as an expert by posting valuable insights
– Cross-promote your posts and content in relevant groups
– Identify influential members and follow their activity
Choose a few niche groups aligned with your target audience. Engage members with helpful advice and content. Position yourself as a subject matter expert.
LinkedIn Events
LinkedIn Events allows you to create and promote virtual events to your professional network. You can organize online workshops, webinars, and other virtual events.
Promoting your events on LinkedIn allows you to:
– Reach a large targeted audience of professionals
– Drive high-quality registrations from your network and followers
– Engage attendees before, during and after the event
– Generate leads by sharing content and offers
– Stay top of mind even without in-person events
Best practices for LinkedIn events:
– Create an eye-catching event banner image
– Write compelling event descriptions and set clear objectives
– Promote across LinkedIn content, groups and ads
– Follow up with all registrants to maximize attendance
– Share valuable content during and after the event
– Continue the conversation by creating an event LinkedIn Group
Add LinkedIn Events to your lead generation and community building strategy. Promote your online events across LinkedIn touchpoints.
LinkedIn Sales Navigator
LinkedIn Sales Navigator provides powerful tools for identifying, connecting with and engaging prospects. Key features include:
– Advanced searching and filtering of LinkedIn profiles
– Saving leads into customized lists and folders
– Seeing profile visitors and visitor history
– Viewing full profiles of your non-connections
– Sending InMail to anyone, with response tracking
– Notifications when your prospects are mentioned in news
– Team Edition – collaborate within sales teams
Sales Navigator allows sales teams to:
– Search for accounts and contacts using advanced filters
– Prioritize outbound leads based on social selling index and lead recommendations
– Get notified when prospects are viewing or interacting with their LinkedIn presence
– Craft relevant, personalized outreach based on prospect’s profile activity and interests
– Improve sales productivity and conversion rates
The combination of accurate targeting, lead intelligence alerts, and built-in analytics makes Sales Navigator a powerful prospecting and sales tool.
LinkedIn Ads Manager
The LinkedIn Ads Manager provides a unified interface to manage all your LinkedIn advertising and sponsorship campaigns:
– Sponsored Content, Sponsored InMail, Text Ads
– Dynamic and Single Image Ads
– Lead Gen Forms
– Audience Network ads
Key capabilities include:
– Campaign creation, targeting and bid management
– Creative and copy variation testing
– Performance tracking and optimization
– Budget allocation across campaigns
– Automated insights and recommendations
– API access
– Saved audiences and creative templates
The Ads Manager allows you to efficiently monitor campaign performance across KPIs like impressions, clicks, CTR, costs, and conversions. Continuously refine targeting and creatives based on results.
LinkedIn Analytics
LinkedIn’s analytics tools provide data and insights to optimize your LinkedIn marketing.
Key analytics reports include:
– Company page analytics – followers, post reach, engagement, clicks, shares, demographics
– Sponsored content analytics – impressions, engagement rate, clicks, cost per click, conversions
– Text ad analytics – impressions, clicks, click-through rate, cost per click, post reactions
– Audience demographics – follower growth by industry, seniority, job function, location etc.
– Website demographics – visitor job titles, companies, locations
– Website referrals from LinkedIn
These analytics help assess campaign/content performance and refine your LinkedIn marketing strategy over time. Review analytics weekly and derive actionable insights.
Integrations and APIs
LinkedIn offers several integrations and APIs to extend functionality:
– Matomo (formerly Piwik) – integrate LinkedIn analytics with your Matomo account
– Zapier – connect LinkedIn to 1000+ apps like CRM, email, chat for automated workflows
– Google Analytics – view LinkedIn traffic sources, demographics in GA
– LinkedIn Ads API – programmatically manage LinkedIn ads
– Lead Gen API – build customized Lead Gen forms
– Apply with LinkedIn API – integrate LinkedIn application process
Leverage integrations like Zapier and APIs to connect LinkedIn with your tech stack and automate processes.
Driving Business Results with LinkedIn
Used strategically, LinkedIn can drive tangible business results and benefit your marketing in many ways:
Boost Brand Awareness
With LinkedIn company pages, Sponsored Content, employee advocacy, groups, and ads, you can build greater visibility of your brand amongst the professional community.
Increase Website Traffic
Populate your profile, content and company page with relevant keywords to boost search traffic. Promote your website URL through updates, ads and posts.
Generate High-Quality Leads
Leverage accurate targeting to connect with prospects based on role, industry, company size etc. Features like Lead Gen forms, contact lists, and Sales Navigator facilitate lead generation.
Recruit Top Talent
Promote open roles across LinkedIn Jobs, company page, and groups. Use Recruiter to identify and connect with candidates.
Develop Customer Relationships
Interact and engage your existing customers as connections. Use Company Pages, Sponsored Content, and Groups to nurture relationships.
Gain Competitive Intelligence
Research competitors using their Company Pages, Groups, employee profiles, posts, and feed activity. Monitor their job postings, marketing efforts, new hires, and announcements.
Establish Thought Leadership
Publish long-form posts, articles, videos and presentations to provide valuable insights to your industry and solidify authority.
Promote Content Offers
Upload and promote Ebooks, whitepapers, templates, and guides through updates, posts, Company Pages, and ads.
Used strategically and consistently over time, LinkedIn can become a powerful component of your digital marketing strategy yielding measurable benefits.
Conclusion
With its vast user base of professionals, ability to target by job role, industry, and other attributes, LinkedIn provides a uniquely powerful platform for B2B marketing.
By highlighting your expertise through long-form content and an optimized profile, you can attract more clients and business opportunities. Active participation in niche groups and communications with your network strengthens relationships.
Sponsored ads, content and InMail allow you to get your message across to relevant segments of your target audience. Analytics provide the insights needed to refine your approach. Features like Sales Navigator, Recruiter, Lead Gen Forms and Events enable you to generate leads, recruit talent and promote your brand.
With its combination of networking, content sharing, analytics and ads, LinkedIn is an essential platform for establishing thought leadership and driving business growth. By implementing the tactics outlined in this guide, you can develop an integrated strategy to leverage LinkedIn for your digital marketing.
