By Hadie Perkas, Founder of The Gift Club
It isn’t new news that social media has become an essential part of brand management for companies trying to engage audiences in the digital age. Or is it for some?
Only 1% of the 800 million subscribers on LinkedIn are active on the platform – as in they participate, post, react, communicate, which is not only a tiny percentage but also a HUGE number of people regularly engaging ( 8 million!) and these people are often looking for new partnerships, clients, employees, suppliers and jobs. There are also 55 million companies on Linkedin but only half of these interact regularly with their audience. Is yours one of them?
Our industry is evolving rapidly and we aren’t just looking for customers or clients directly, but finding new partners to sell our products and services is in the remit of most growth strategies. Social networking site LinkedIn is the hub for millions of professionals worldwide, making it a powerful platform to build your business’s image and reach new business opportunities. In my view, every company should not only have a dedicated company page but utilize it frequently.
Whether you’re just starting out or have an established company, getting the most out of LinkedIn will bring numerous benefits to your business. Read on to learn how you can utilize this social networking platform for greater marketing success.
The Benefits of Using LinkedIn for Businesses in our Industry
All companies need a strong foundation before they can succeed in the digital sphere, and LinkedIn is an excellent place to start with your company image and branding. At The Gift Club we like to think that we are succeeding. We have an average engagement rate of 7% when the average engagement rate for any LinkedIn post is 2%. We celebrate this since 90% of our posts are dedicated to the products and services of our members! Our members are clearly winning on our page.
Here are just a few of the benefits that come with having a company page on LinkedIn:
- It offers access to a large, active community of professionals: With more than 800 million users across 200 countries, LinkedIn offers the opportunity to connect with a large audience of potential customers, partners and suppliers.
- LinkedIn is free and easy to use: You can set up a free company page in minutes to get started. It is one of the most affordable B2B social networking options available.
- You can enhance your brand’s reach: A LinkedIn company page is much more than an interactive business resume. It’s a professional networking platform that allows you to share your knowledge and expertise through insightful articles and engaging posts, as well as providing access to tools like analytics and recommendations. It can really enhance a business as an industry thought leader.
- It provides PR opportunities: Outside of your own company page, LinkedIn offers the unique ability to publish comments directly onto other company page posts, which helps spread awareness about your business in a subtle way.
All of this is supported by a full-fledged suite of social media management tools: The LinkedIn publishing platform offers an excellent range of features, including the ability to share multimedia content, and track your company’s engagement (an absolute must in my eyes!).
How to Get the Most Out of LinkedIn for Your Business
Now that you know what LinkedIn can do for your business, here are a few best practices to help you get the most out of this social media platform:
1. Build Out Your Company Page
When you first sign up for a LinkedIn company page, you will be asked to provide basic information about your company. In order to create an account that will give you the best value, keep the following pointers in mind:
- Use keywords throughout your profile: LinkedIn uses search algorithms to rank each company’s business page and yours should feature common search terms to help get your company noticed.
- Start posting regularly: Posting at least twice a day is recommended, though it can vary depending on what industry you are in. Make sure you use short but informative posts to easily share and spread across the platform. At The Gift Club, we schedule posts twice, sometimes three times a day. Because most of our posts are promoting the products and services of our members, we save our ‘mindful’ posts and non promotional posts for Fridays when engagement on LinkedIn is quieter.
- Ensure the privacy settings of the page are correct: LinkedIn allows you to decide who can and cannot see your account. Make sure you choose the right options for maximum exposure of your company’s profile, depending on the nature of your business or industry.
- Make it obvious – Fill up your profile with exactly what you do and the benefits of your services – avoid jargon and generic words. Add links to your website and a call to action. According to LinkedIn, fully completed pages get 30% more views.
2. Engage Your Audience
Once you have set up your LinkedIn business page, it’s time to engage with users by sharing information that will be valuable to them. Sometimes just posting old-fashioned blog content won’t cut it anymore, so make sure you keep the following tips in mind:
- Invite connections! A LinkedIn company page can be linked to one or more administrators so use their connections to build your audience. Add links to your company page on email signatures
- Use a mixture of content – images, videos, gifs, plain text, with hashtags, without hashtags. Try as many combinations as you can and repost images at different times of the day for greater reach.
- Post interesting photos and videos: This will help you engage users on a visual level, which is particularly effective if your audience consists of other companies or professionals with similar business interests.
- Respond to comments on your posts: LinkedIn business pages are not one-way communication tools. It is important to make your audience feel like they are valued by responding to comments on your posts or creating a dialogue around them.
- Make the most of LinkedIn advertising: If you have limited time and budget but want to reach out to as many users as possible, LinkedIn advertising can be helpful. LinkedIn offers both sponsored content and advertising options depending on the nature of your business, job title, or industry.
3. Optimize Your Posts for Search
With millions of posts being created all the time, it is essential to optimize yours so that they appear high in search results. This will give you maximum visibility across the site.
Make sure you focus on the following best practices:
- Use keywords in your headline: The headline of each post will be seen by anyone visiting your page, which is why you must use keywords to help increase overall search traffic.
- Target your first sentence with a keyword: LinkedIn allows you to include hashtags in more than just the first comment. A good technique is to include a keyword in the first sentence of your post and then use it as a hashtag in the main description.
- Tags – tag in influencers, your clients and customers and your employees for greater reach and interaction.
Learn More and Use LinkedIn Effectively with The Gift Club
A successful LinkedIn company page can give your company a clear advantage over its competitors in the digital marketplace. The more you know about how this social site can enhance your business, the easier it will be to get your company noticed online.
At The Gift Club, we make it our business to promote our members’ products and services on our own Company Page.
If you are wondering where to begin with your company’s LinkedIn presence or need some new ideas or regular media activity, consider partnering with The Gift Club.
With experience of building brand awareness on LinkedIn for the gift card, reward and loyalty industry, we can help you get your business page up to scratch:
- Recreate or create your LinkedIn company page so it can be found
- Develop & start scheduling a consistent social media strategy
- Find and hone your social media “voice”
- Enhance your reach and exposure on LinkedIn
- Increase brand awareness and loyalty for your business
For more information about how The Gift Club can help you make the most of LinkedIn or learn more about how to become one of our members, contact us today!
