With the recent news feed changes by Facebook, marketers have been looking for other channels on which to promote their brands. For B2B businesses, LinkedIn is the perfect option.
LinkedIn by the Numbers
LinkedIn is growing, adding 2 new members per second!
As of May 2018, there were over 562 million professionals on LinkedIn. According to FoundationInc.co, 61 million of those are senior level decision makers. If you are trying to sell to some of these people, then having a home for your business on the site provides an opportunity to build awareness about your company, product or service.
The best way to grow your presence on LinkedIn is with a company page. There were over 19 million company pages on the platform as of June 2017.
Being Active
Once you’ve created your business page, the key is to attract followers to it and be active. That means posting content from your page. Many business people don’t realize that they have the ability to make posts as you can on other social networks. The advantages of doing so on LinkedIn, though, are much more impactful, especially if you are a B2B business.
Building Awareness
Posting on LinkedIn creates exposure. Your page’s followers see your posts and can share them with their connections. When that happens, the reach of your message grows. From that extended reach, your page could pick up new followers
Expertise
Company page posts also exhibit the expertise of your business. This is important because customers want to buy from companies that know, like and trust. One of the best ways to develop that trust online is through posting about your core competency and your industry. When you do so, it puts your expertise on display and can help influence the buying decisions of others.
Traffic
Are you trying to get more traffic to your website? Posting on LinkedIn can help with that, too. LinkedIn has become a major feeder of quality web traffic for businesses. One of your posts could drive traffic back to your site. How?
Let’s say you’ve just written a blog article. Create a brief post about that article with a link back to it and post it on LinkedIn. If the blog is something in which your target audience is interested, they will click through to read it.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
If ranking on the first page of Google’s search results is important to you, then add LinkedIn activity to your SEO plan. The search engine indexes LinkedIn. So when a search is made and there is a relevant match on LinkedIn, Google will display that information in the search results.
Being active on the platform, then, could mean you have multiple entries in the search results.
Reaching Your Target Audience
Being a social site centered around business, LinkedIn provides unparalleled access to business professionals. If you want to get a message to potential customers, build your pipeline or make strategic partnerships, LinkedIn is the place to do it. The site is regularly creating tools that help brands grow their followers and be successful.
The Wrap
Being active on LinkedIn has some clear advantages B2B businesses. Building awareness, establishing expertise, growing your reach, enhancing your search ranking and networking with potential customers are all benefits to be had.
If you have questions about how to use LinkedIn effectively, call me today at 513-237-5530.
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Bob Turner is a Digital Marketing Consultant in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Bob Turner - Digital Marketing Thoughts 
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