The Social Media Leads Your Business Has Been Missing

Businesses today are no strangers to social media marketing. But is your business taking full advantage of the social platform home to more than 875 million professionals? According to Hubspot, 25% of all American adults have a LinkedIn profile, with just under a quarter of those adults being active on the platform daily.

Why are businesses drawn to LinkedIn? With over 75 million businesses active on the platform, LinkedIn provides a wealth of information and opportunity for business growth and development. However, if you don’t already have a LinkedIn platform – or if you do and don’t have a solid strategy in place – you may be missing out on advertising opportunities, resources, thought leadership, and valuable future employees.

Take Your Business to LinkedIn

Does your business have a LinkedIn profile? Like many other social media platforms, LinkedIn empowers businesses to get in front of prospective clients and employees. However, it provides a wealth of added benefits that other social media channels simply lack. LinkedIn is the perfect platform for thought leadership, advertising, networking, and recruiting.

And if your business does not yet have a LinkedIn Company Page, our marketing professionals can create an optimized business presence on the top social networking platform for companies.
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Creating a Winning LinkedIn Strategy for My Business

But before your company reaps the benefits of this growing social channel, it is imperative you have a solid strategy in place.

Set Your Intentions

When creating your LinkedIn strategy, setting your intentions and goals before diving in is important. Answering these questions can help prepare you for successful strategy development:

What is the overarching goal of my LinkedIn Company Page?
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Will it be thought leadership? Advertising? Sales networking? A combination of all of the above? Determining your goal for the page is critical in establishing a winning strategy.
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Who is my target audience? How can I best speak to them?

Once a goal is determined, your business can then analyze the target audience that is available on the LinkedIn platform. Your intentions to promote your business, products, services or new industry ideas will determine who your audience is and how you speak to them.
 

What are my competitors doing?

When it comes to social media marketing, it’s not about reinventing the wheel.Finding out what your competitors are already doing on the platform can help you best understand your audience, utilize your time efficiently, determine your niche within the social market, and focus on where funds will be most effectively allocated.
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Utilizing the LinkedIn Platform forYour Business

How can your business capitalize on the power and depth of the LinkedIn platform?There are four specific methods that you can utilize to grow your business and reach your ideal audience.

●      LinkedIn Advertising

●      Recruiting Tools

●      Networking

●      Thought Leadership

●      Reputation Management
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Linkedin Advertising

While many businesses are familiar with paid advertising opportunities on platforms such as Google and Facebook, LinkedIn offers advertising to help businesses achieve their marketing goals.
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Some paid advertising tools offered within the platform include:
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Sponsored Text Ads
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‍Similar to a Google Search Ad, Linkedin Text Ads allow businesses to target a premium professional audience. LinkedIn describes this advertising option as an opportunity to “drive high-quality leads to your business—all on a budget that works for you.”
 

Sponsored Posts‍

Sponsored posts are similar in nature to Meta’s boosting option. This tool allows your business to showcase your content to users outside your organic business reach. This means that a targeted member does not need to follow your page in order to see the content.
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Sponsored Messaging

In addition to showcasing your business on the LinkedIn feed, it is also possible to send your message directly to a prospect'sLinkedIn inbox. Sponsored messaging helps you achieve this access. However, we recommend doing so strategically to avoid “spamming” or creating a negative image for your business
 

Dynamic Ads

Dynamic ads include details specific to the user that is seeing your ad. This makes the ad more eye-catching as the viewer may see their name, photo, or employer appear within the ad content. Again, this is a powerful tool that can produce positive ROI when used correctly. However, utilizing it without a solid strategy can result in the inverse.
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Job Ads

Is your business hiring? LinkedIn offers sponsored job listings to boost the impact of your candidate search message. This allows your business to reach beyond your immediate followers and reach prospective employees outside your network who may be interested in a new career opportunity.
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Photo Carousel

A picture is worth a thousand words. Multiple photos are even more valuable. Photo carousels allow your business to showcase various images in a slideshow-like format on the news feed. LinkedIn has even provided a lead form that can be added to these carousels for added ROI benefit to your business.  
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Recruit + Promote

LinkedIn has long been the platform of choice for recruiting new employees and sharing career opportunities.

According to LinkedIn, 50 million people utilize the platform weekly to search for a new job, with 95 applications submitted every second. These efforts for job seekers are not in vain! Six successful hires are completed every minute due to LinkedIn job promotion features.

A basic job listing is available on LinkedIn for free, making utilizing the platform for recruiting a no-brainer! However, if you want to increase the number of qualified applications received by 25%+, a paid advertisement may be the best option.

In addition to single job paid ads, LinkedIn also offers Premium recruitment accounts and a Lite version for budget-conscious small businesses.
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Network

When utilizing LinkedIn, be sure to keep the social in social media. Networking is a social activity that allows your business to build relationships across the platform. By utilizing LinkedIn groups, you may also share page content, articles, and more with like-minded members searching for information on your industry, products, or services.

By using your personal and business profile to connect with individuals both inside and outside your industry, you strengthen your network and digital community. Just like in any relationship, it is crucial that you aren’t the only one doing all the talking. Being active on LinkedIn involves diving in and engaging in the content of others. Read their articles, share their posts, and provide valuable feedback where appropriate. Relationship building is the name of the networking game. Take full advantage of the LinkedIn platform for your company by interacting regularly.
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Thought Leadership

If your company is looking for a way to educate prospects and buyers while strengthening brand reputation than LinkedIn may be the perfect solution.

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LinkedIn offers the unique opportunity to post detailed content to your company page.This includes articles, blogs, case studies, and much more.

LinkedIn can be used as a native publishing platform, providing opportunity to share your content across the world. In fact, LinkedIn is the only platform to date that can be used as a publishing platform.

When your company creates LinkedIn content, all your hard-earned connections are notified that new content is available. This is a huge advantage to your business, as your networking efforts pay off again and again with each published article.

Even better still, 45% of those reading articles online are in upper-level positions within their companies. This includes managers, VPs, directors, and the C-suite. And with LinkedIn’s built in analytical tools, you can determine what articles are gaining the most traction, providing valuable insight into the interests of your target audience.
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Reputation Management

Your LinkedIn articles (as well as your profile in general) are a great Search Engine Optimization (SEO) tool. When you take control of a social media platform, your brand is eligible to show up more often on the Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs). When you engage with that platform, you show your relevance and improve your credibility in the eyes of search engines like Google.
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As a result, your LinkedIn profile can actually help your reputation management. When someone searches for your business online, not only is your website eligible to appear but your LinkedIn and other social profiles as well. This helps control more search engine real estate and pushes down other results outside your control.

Drive Conversions

While we’ve discussed several ways that your LinkedIn profile can add value to your brand, the ultimate goal of your business is revenue. LinkedIn is a unique platform where your company will benefit not only from brand awareness, recruiting, and thought leadership but from conversions as well.
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According to Search Engine Journal, 40 million LinkedIn users are decision-makers. That means your brand can be afforded front and center access to purchasing agents and managers through organic activity. In addition to purchasers, 61 million users are considered senior-level influencers, providing decision-makers with the information they need to make their purchasing decisions.

Get Started with LinkedIn

Imagine the difference an optimized LinkedIn company page could make for your brand awareness, recruitment, and business bottom line.
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With all of the unique benefits of a LinkedIn profile, now is the time to ensure that your company profile is taking full advantage of the platform. By strengthening your profile, enhancing your presence, expanding your listings, and generating content, your LinkedIn Company Page can produce exceptional results for your company.
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Not sure how to get started? MatchPoint Partners assists businesses in setting up and optimizing company profiles to achieve optimal results, content creation, and ongoing social media management. Get the most from the social networking platform designed specifically for businesses. Follow our LinkedIn page for social tips for your business, and contact us today to get help with yours.

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