What should companies use LinkedIn for?

LinkedIn has become an invaluable platform for companies looking to build their brand, find new customers, hire top talent, and drive business results. With over 850 million members worldwide, LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network and continues to grow at a rapid pace. But with so many possibilities on LinkedIn, what are the key things that companies should focus on to get the most out of the platform?

Building brand awareness and thought leadership

LinkedIn provides a powerful platform for companies to increase brand visibility and establish thought leadership. Some of the main ways to do this include:

• Creating a company page – This allows businesses to showcase information about their products/services, company culture, careers and more. Companies can also publish long-form posts to share insights, build authority and engage their target audience.
• Employee advocacy – Encourage employees to share company content with their networks to expand reach. This helps drive brand awareness and credibility.
• Sponsored content – LinkedIn advertising allows businesses to promote content directly into the feed of relevant professionals. This drives visibility for blogs, ebooks, case studies etc.
• Publishing on LinkedIn’s publishing platform – Contribute guest articles and thought leadership pieces to be featured directly in the LinkedIn feed.
• Executive profiles – Ensure executives and leadership have optimized LinkedIn profiles to highlight expertise and company thought leadership.
• Showcase Pages – Curate content like links, images and presentations to highlight company products, services and expertise.

The goal is to provide value to your target audience while positioning the company as a trusted expert and industry leader. Quality content that educates and informs decision makers can go a long way on LinkedIn.

Recruiting talent

With LinkedIn’s massive base of professional talent, it has become a go-to resource for recruiting. Some key ways companies can leverage LinkedIn to find and attract top talent include:

• Company and Showcase pages – Promote your employer brand to make your company stand out to passive candidates.
• Employee advocacy – Have current employees share career opening to tap into their networks.
• LinkedIn Jobs – Post openings to reach qualified candidates where they are already active.
• Search filters – Use filters like location, experience, skills etc. to narrow down candidates.
• LinkedIn Recruiter – This paid tool allows you to identify prospects through advanced searches and manage candidates.
• InMail – Send targeted messages to potential candidates you’re interested in.
• Talent Insights – Get data on industries, locations and skills to inform your hiring strategy.

By optimizing profiles and pages, leveraging employee networks, targeting content and utilizing LinkedIn’s hiring tools, companies can attract and recruit the best fitting talent for their teams.

Ads and sponsored content

LinkedIn advertising provides a powerful way for companies to get in front of their target B2B audience. With precise targeting options, LinkedIn ads enable you to:

• Increase brand awareness – Get your brand and content in front of relevant professionals through Sponsored Content and Sponsored InMail.
• Generate leads – Drive traffic to your site and capture leads through Message Ads, Conversation Ads and more.
• Accelerate the buyer journey – Tailor messaging and CTAs to where prospects are in the decision process.
• Retarget website visitors – Remarket to prospects who have visited your website to move them further down the funnel.
• Promote events, jobs and other resources – Increase visibility of your assets by boosting them with ads.

With powerful targeting, detailed analytics and management through Campaign Manager, LinkedIn ads can achieve a strong ROI across objectives when executed strategically.

Driving engagement

Driving meaningful engagement on LinkedIn is key to leveraging the platform for business impact. Here are some top ways companies can increase engagement:

• Foster employee advocacy – This increases reach, credibility and clicks.
• Curate content your audience wants – Publish content tailored to your audience’s needs and pain points.
• Encourage sharing and comments – Ask questions to spark discussion and have employees like and share posts.
• Cross-promote content – Share posts across platforms like Twitter and Facebook to maximize reach.
• Use hashtags – Include relevant hashtags in posts to tap into larger conversations.
• Go live or use video – Leverage video and Live events to engage and enrich interactions.
• Message prospects – Use InMail and customized connection requests to start 1:1 conversations.
• Comment on content – Comment on and like content from connections to stay top of mind.

The more value you can provide in each piece of content and interaction, the more genuine engagement you will build over time.

Gathering consumer and competitive insights

LinkedIn is a goldmine of professional data that companies can utilize to guide business strategy and decisions. Key ways to use LinkedIn for consumer and competitive insights include:

• Company pages – Monitor competitors’ company pages for intel on new products, initiatives and strategies.
• Employee changes – Keep tabs on new hires and departures at competing companies.
• Groups – Join industry groups to take the pulse of current trends, challenges and opportunities.
• Search by job title or company – Understand pain points and goals of your target roles at target companies.
• Showcase Pages – Review competitors’ Showcase Pages for product info and messaging.
• News and post feeds – Scan feeds for real-time updates relevant to your market.
• Talent Insights – Analyze talent data on skills, locations, education and more to understand gaps and patterns in your industry.

Tapping into the rich demographics and engagement on LinkedIn provides powerful consumer and competitor intelligence that can inform your marketing approach.

Generating leads and new business

While LinkedIn began as a recruiting site, it has evolved into a robust platform to generate quality leads and new business. Some key ways companies can drive new business through LinkedIn include:

• Identify prospects with advanced search filters and saved searches.
• Join industry and prospect groups to establish credibility.
• Connect with prospects and send InMails to start conversations.
• Provide value through content sharing and engagement.
• Promote gated offers, events and demos through ads and posts.
• Keep up consistent outreach for long-term relationship building.
• Partner with Sales Navigator for real-time alerts, contact insights and other sales tools.
• Utilize Company Pages and Showcase Pages to attract new prospects.

With its depth of professional data and ways to directly engage prospects, LinkedIn drives new business opportunities better than any other social platform.

Nurturing relationships and referrals

The foundation of LinkedIn is relationships. Companies that understand this can nurture valuable connections and generate referrals over time. Some best practices include:

• Comment on and like connections’ posts to sustain visibility.
• Share valuable content with your network based on their interests.
• Congratulate connections on work milestones and new jobs.
• Send personalized InMail messages to start meaningful dialogues.
• Collaborate with connections by providing introductions.
• Publish posts and articles that connections would find interesting.
• Encourage employees to grow their networks authentically.
• Consider sponsoring LinkedIn groups aligned with your brand and audience.

Relationships drive real impact on LinkedIn. By providing value and building connections thoughtfully over time, companies can spark organic referrals and sales.

Monitoring and sharing company news

LinkedIn has become a “go-to” hub for professionals to consume and share the latest industry news and happenings. Companies can maximize their visibility around major company news items like:

• Leadership changes
• Office openings and expansions
• Product launches and updates
• Company events and webinars
• Awards and media recognition
• CSR and community initiatives
• Major customer wins or company milestones

Sharing this news through employee posts, Company Page updates, and Sponsored Content ensures your connections are kept up-to-date on company happenings.

You can also monitor hashtags, Groups and news posts to stay on top of and react to any relevant mentions of your brand. Being proactive with company news positions your brand positively and gets your message out ahead of the competition.

Showcasing company culture and values

LinkedIn provides a way for companies to give professionals a window into their culture and values. This not only helps attract talent, but also strengthens relationships with current and prospective customers who want to work with brands aligned to their beliefs. Ways to showcase company culture include:

• Stories or videos about daily work life and employees.
• Photos and posts from company events and social initiatives.
• Recommendations from employees and customers.
• “Day in the life” pieces showing what it’s really like to work there.
• Posts highlighting company values in action.
• Content covering diversity, equity and inclusion.
• Awards and recognitions related to culture and values.

Giving an authentic inside look at your company personality and principles helps attract top talent and builds trust with your community.

Optimizing employee profiles

Having detailed and optimized employee profiles is critical on LinkedIn. This enhances visibility and credibility for both your personnel and your company overall. Some tips to optimize profiles include:

• Professional headshot photo.
• Headline focused on current role and industry keywords.
• Complete work experience and education sections.
• Skills section tailored to their expertise.
• Compelling summary outlining value to their role and company.
• Links to company website and content.
• Recommendations from colleagues and partners.

Invest time in building out profiles for all client and media-facing staff. This gives your company a human voice and face when connecting on LinkedIn.

Growing your audience and followers

Expanding your LinkedIn audience and followers should be an ongoing focus. A larger engaged following boosts visibility for your content and amplifies your influence. Tactics to grow your audience include:

• Share high-value content consistently.
• Comment and like content from other influencers and brands.
• Promote your Company Page through ads and posts.
• Run LinkedIn Live video sessions on relevant topics.
• Partner with other brands and publishers.
• Optimize SEO on your profile and content.
• Publish posts at optimal high-engagement times.
• Interact and provide value to followers.
• Encourage employees to engage and share with their networks.

Growing an audience takes consistency over time. But the broader your follower base, the greater your potential to achieve key business goals through LinkedIn.

Conclusion

LinkedIn has become the go-to professional networking platform with a variety of opportunities for companies who know how to use it strategically. By focusing on core objectives like building thought leadership, enhancing recruitment, generating leads and referrals, increasing engagement and monitoring industry trends, businesses can drive measurable impact.

Companies that commit to developing their presence and approach on LinkedIn will reap significant long-term benefits overall. The platform provides unparalleled access to the world’s largest professional community. Tapping into this high-value audience through relevant engagement and value-driven content distribution is key to successfully leveraging LinkedIn for business growth.