If you’re in business, you’re on LinkedIn. But if you’re only using the platform to post job openings, then you, and your company, are missing out. LinkedIn has grown far beyond a website just for job seekers to connect with companies, and is now a forum for companies to establish their brand. For startups and entrepreneurs with tight budgets, taking advantage of all that LinkedIn has to offer is a smart way to get a big return on a small investment. Here are five ways your business should be using LinkedIn.
1. Use Your Profile to Tell Your Brand’s Story
The LinkedIn profile for your business should not only give visitors information about what you do, but should give them a feel for who you are as brand. Talk about your company’s mission, values and the origin story. This is the information that will allow visitors to make a personal connection with your brand, leading to loyal customers and interested talent down the line. Amway is a good example of a company taking full advantage of a profile, providing an overview about how the company was founded, what life is like as an employee, employee insights and job openings.
2. Connect with Related Businesses
LinkedIn is not just a place for job seekers to make connections, but for businesses, especially startups and entrepreneurs, to make connections with potential partners. Networking with similar businesses can give you insight into best practices, industry secrets and help you form strategic partnerships.
3. Post Engaging Content
The best way to establish your company as an industry leader on LinkedIn is to publish relevant content. LinkedIn recommends posting daily, whether it is news about your business, sharing relevant articles from external sources, or posting original content. Not all content is created equal, so you don’t want to post sales pitches, but instead only share information that is useful to your followers. According to LinkedIn, your posts should include an image, which generates a 99% higher comment rate, or a video, which have a 75% higher share rate. For an example of a company creating consistently great visual posts on LinkedIn, check out Deloitte, North America. In addition to visuals, create short, snappy headlines and include a call to action, like a link, engagement question, etc.
4. Use Analytics and LinkedIn Sponsored Content
Track your posts’ performance through LinkedIn analytics. This will help you figure out what kinds of content your followers are interested in, the demographics of your followers, and the traffic coming to your company page. With this information, for a small budget, you can gain more followers and more eyes on your best performing content by paying for LinkedIn Sponsored Content. With Sponsored Content, you can target your ideal customer base by region, years of experience, industry, job skills, etc. Adobe successfully used a targeted Sponsored Content campaign to boost content including research, infographics and videos to improve its reputation as a thought leader.
5. Participate in Groups
Actively participating in, or sponsoring your own LinkedIn Group will help you connect with professionals in your field. Groups are a space on LinkedIn where businesses and professionals in the same industry can share content, have discussions, post and view jobs, and make contacts. While Groups aren’t a place to advertise, they can be an effective forum for establishing your brand’s credibility and expertise.
Using LinkedIn for posting open jobs is very efficient, but it can be so much more. Startups and entrepreneurs should be using LinkedIn to their full advantage by using their company page to tell their brand’s story, connecting with related businesses, posting relevant content, using analytics and Sponsored Content and participating in LinkedIn Groups.
