B2B marketing on LinkedIn: five practical tips to get you started
LinkedIn is one of the biggest career platforms on the Web and has evolved into a digital networking forum. Besides making new contacts, it is worth boosting your B2B marketing on LinkedIn. We have put together five tips for your B2B marketing performance.
#1 Focus on content with relevance and added value
To stay visible, it is tempting to constantly post a lot. However, if the content you share does not seem relevant to the intended target group, it too will lose interest sooner or later. It is therefore important to consider the needs of your target group before every post. Will the target group find the shared article informative? What might interest it?
For the right LinkedIn strategy in B2B, it pays off to follow current industry issues that could appeal to your community. In addition to providing information, current issues are a good way of standing out from the crowd and sparking a discussion with your followers. Well-known CEOs also like to utilize this interactional approach and share the latest news and content with others in their industry.
#2 Use different content formats for B2B marketing on LinkedIn
If posts contain too much text, readers will have a tendency to simply skim through or immediately click off them. To keep your network interested, it is essential to arrange even complex content in a consumer-friendly way. For this, LinkedIn provides various formatting tools that can be used to adapt texts in a way that suits the content being posted. For example, step-by-step guides can be uploaded as a PDF, offering users added value in a convenient and appealing format.
Images and videos are also popular media for better B2B marketing performance on LinkedIn, since they attract a lot more attention than purely textual content. Presenting your own view or expertise with regard to current industry issues in video form is not only a more personal alternative, but is also more likely to encourage comments and discussions. Today, live content is also being used frequently by B2B influencers to catch people’s eye and stand out among the multitude of blog posts.
#3 Apply the LinkedIn algorithm for successful B2B marketing
Like Google, LinkedIn makes sure that the content shared on its platform is high-quality and authentic.
Strict spam filters categorize content into “Spam”, “Low quality”, and “Clear”. Whether a post appears in a user’s feed therefore depends on how the filter classifies it. If a post is cleared and displayed in the feed, interaction values are calculated to determine its relevance and added value. We recommend using other successful content as a reference and taking it as a basis to optimize your own posts.
If users do not interact enough with a post, it will be marked as spam or will no longer be accessible to users. If the interaction is positive, LinkedIn automatically performs a virality check, which takes a closer a look at the authenticity and relevance of the content. This prevents content from spam networks being promoted due to its viral visibility. As a last step, posts are evaluated by human editors, who even spread them further if they provide meaningful added value. As a result, the content may still appear in the LinkedIn timeline weeks later.
#4 Actively involve employees in your B2B marketing on LinkedIn
Making a name for yourself on LinkedIn is no easy task if you don’t lay the right foundations. With the help of colleagues and employees, not only is it easier to build a joint, representative network, but the company is also given a more distinctive face. Training should be provided beforehand on how to use LinkedIn as a business platform and communicate efficiently and professionally on it.
It is important for employees to state their employer and their position within the company on their profiles so that they appear on the company’s page. Working together on the company’s profile also leads to increased presence in the network and makes it possible to quickly respond to user comments or participate in discussions. This gives the community a sense of approachability and likability, which helps gain followers.
#5 Regular posts are a must
Most users are active on the business platform during their work time in order to keep their finger on the pulse of the latest industry trends. So if you want your posts to be noticed by your community, it is a good idea to share them during these core hours. A defined posting routine that is spread across several employees will ensure that content is uploaded regularly.
Not only will a rhythm of specific business days and times boost performance, but continuous posts will also keep users interested in the long term and generate a wider reach. However, it is important to avoid content without added value and not lose sight of the interests of the intended target group.
Tip: Relevant content can also be reused. By recycling successful content, you can get around any time constraints you may have and also reach users who previously didn’t notice the shared post.
The bottom line
B2B marketing on LinkedIn offers great opportunities to boost your company’s performance and generate a wider reach. Valuable content, which is also allowed to be entertaining now and then, is an effective way of demonstrating your own expertise through interactive communication and making a name for yourself on the business platform.