Online marketing, especially in social media, has now become vast and complicated as technology advances. Now, different platforms are available, giving us various opportunities to market ourselves and our brands. In choosing a platform for online marketing, Instagram and Facebook are the first two that would come to mind. There is no question there. These two have a massive following. But have you considered LinkedIn marketing?

It’s weird, isn’t it? We know that LinkedIn is more of a professional social networking platform; that is, it was used to connect with professionals alike. It’s not the first option on your online marketing strategy. That’s no surprise for us.

But recently, companies are considering this one. It turns out that there could be more opportunities on LinkedIn than online marketers ever thought. With an increase in LinkedIn profile to date, the platform is slowly becoming a likely candidate for online marketing efforts.

How, then, can you take advantage of a brand new platform for your social media marketing efforts?

Advantages of LinkedIn Marketing

LinkedIn Marketing actually has an edge over Facebook or Instagram mainly because the platform has a more specific set of target audience. Unlike other social networking platforms, LinkedIn caters more to professionals and businesses. This specific set of an audience is best for B2B (business-to-business) companies compared to other platforms which are more B2C.

For businesses, LinkedIn is a haven. It is important to do social listening in the right platform to accurately cater to their needs. From there, you can properly address their needs through sharing content and connecting to possible prospects.

This platform is also best for sharing content because it offers a higher possibility of being read. LinkedIn assures you that your feed will be filled with important industry noise. That is contrary to the clutter and noise on Facebook and other social networking sites.

Also, if you compare posting your content via a Facebook page, sharing content on LinkedIn would most probably reach more audience than doing it on Facebook. This is because LinkedIn has no limited algorithms whatsoever that would only show your content to a selected few based on their algorithm. All you have to make sure, now, is to regularly share content so your presence would be felt.

You can share content about your industry, your people (highlight one employee a month) and their ‘other’ side aside from who they are at work, and your advice and vision for the company and the industry. But the best type of content you can share are product launches and seminars or events that your company participates and organizes.

Sharing company or industry-related content can boost your presence. You’ll also get noticed by industry leaders more easily, especially when you’re already connected to them. You can also build stronger relationships with these like-thinking connections.

Connect with other companies in the industry. Or you can connect with business prospects to know them more. It’s just marketing to them on a personal level. You can then tailor-fit your content with what you have observed from their feed to catch their attention even more.

Can you do it for free?

The question now is: is marketing on LinkedIn for free? Or does it come with a cost?

Marketing on any social media platform can always be done without a cost. There may be disadvantages compared to paid ones, but it doesn’t mean it is less effective. For all we know, some of the brands barely pay a single dollar to their social media marketing efforts.

The same could go with LinkedIn. It’s not about paying for exposure or reach. It is about pouring all the right efforts to attain your goal. So how can you do it without costing a thing?

For one, your company’s LinkedIn page plays a vital role in this one. Create your company bio with a short and simple description. More importantly, include a call-to-action. Maximize the profile features by adding your own photos or company promo videos. Linking your other social media pages can also help.

Another way to boost your page is to be a thought-leader in the field. Show that by creating long-form posts using your company’s page. Create some in-depth industry news or opinion articles, or you can write some feature stories about your company and the industry you’re in.

LinkedIn’s company pages also have an analytics feature which would come in handy. For instance, it works well in your Showcase pages – LinkedIn pages that would highlight an affiliate or other partner efforts of your company. It gives more specific information about these affiliates rather than generic information of your company as a whole. With LinkedIn’s built-in analytics, you would know which pages get visited more often. You can then maximize this information to exert more effort into marketing on one page, and seeing how you can improve the others.

Basically, marketing in LinkedIn for free is like using it like all other normal users would do. And that is totally okay. In the end, it is the engagement you get from these efforts that would really matter. After all, blending in with your audience would make your page less intimidating and more human. That is a plus in social media marketing.

Trends You Can Follow

Here are some LinkedIn Marketing trends you can consider for your own efforts:

• Check connection requests daily. Accept them, especially if you are in the same industry or if they are your prospect. Send a welcome message – a little thank you. Let them know you’re open to sharing ideas with them. Make the message more personal than automated.
• Take time to reply to messages. If you’re not really interested with what they’re sharing or offering, share something that you think you both would love instead. Reply with your thoughts. You can even share your own content!
• Post updates regularly. People would notice you more if you are consistent with your LinkedIn Marketing efforts. You can share your latest company blog or any announcements that might interest your followers. It could even be a simple status update or a motivational quote. Just remember that every post should add value to your followers.
• Respond and interact. The moment you receive an invitation to connect or any form of correspondence, make sure to respond to it especially when you think that this connection would be beneficial for you. If in case that it doesn’t interest you or your company, send a kind message of thanks and tell them that it is not of your interest for the moment. You can also leave a hint that you can still connect in the future.
• Engage, interact, connect. More than the interaction you do to those who reach out to you, you can engage in an exchange on your own. You can add your own connections, interact with people’s post, and engage in a conversation by writing comments on other people’s posts. The exchange of ideas and views will not only add value to their post but to your company, too – granting that people would regard you as an expert in the field.

You see, LinkedIn Marketing is not the most conventional way to do online marketing. However, it is something that caters to a direct set of audience and more on formal or professional social networking. Other than that, it is a refreshing idea that can give you an edge over competitors.

Go ahead and try it with your company’s marketing efforts. Study your growth with it and you’ll see it would pay off.