Yes, you can use LinkedIn for more than just finding a job or employees for your business. 

LinkedIn, with nearly 700 million monthly active users, is unparalleled for capturing the attention of educated, informed professionals. Studies show it generates visitor-to-lead conversions 277 percent better than Twitter or Facebook.

In addition, 61 million LinkedIn users are senior-level influencers, and 40 million are in positions to make decisions within their companies.

Why organic is better

Naturally, various platforms want you to use paid ads to boost your business. And that’s one way to reach your customers.

But organic marketing, even on LinkedIn, is crucial for putting a human face on your business. “Organic” reach is the number of fans you reach without paying to do so. Those you reach through paid advertising are known as “paid reach.”

According to Salesforce research, 52 percent of consumers say companies are too impersonal. To break through the constant clamor for your customers’ attention, organic marketing can’t be beat. Through organic content, you can humanize your business.

An organic LinkedIn marketing strategy can help build relationships with your customers over the long term, because it helps customers see you and your employees as real people they’d like to do business with.

LinkedIn today

LinkedIn has matured from its original sole intent of linking job seekers with potential employers. It’s even moved beyond serving as a professional networking site. Now it even hosts the new LinkedIn Stories feature, among others, helping to foster this change.

LinkedIn Stories can be 20 seconds long, and stay up for 24 hours. A major drawback to the Stories feature, though, is that they can’t be viewed on a desktop. At least for now, it’s a mobile-only feature.

These days more and more users are turning to LinkedIn to share challenges they’ve faced in their working life, to learn or hone skills, and even just to reach out to colleagues in a more relaxed way, even posting humorous videos in some cases.

As a marketer, this means you have the opportunity to use LinkedIn to personalize your business in much the same way as you can on the more popular social media platforms. Think of the Stories feature as a speed-dating service: a quick way to introduce yourself to a new audience, or to stay visible to your existing network.

Go pro on your company page

Remember, you will be facing a professional audience, so your company page should reflect that. You want to appear “all business,” which means forgoing the “fun” things you might post on Facebook or Instagram. The cover photo should be a classy representation of your brand. (If you need help creating or upgrading your brand, let our branding experts guide you.) And don’t forget to include your logo on the page.

Likewise, your profile photo should be simple and professional looking. But do remember to smile: You want to appear friendly, not forbidding.

Help them find you

Be sure to complete the entire company description, and include relevant keywords for SEO purposes, as well as a link to your website. Also don’t overlook phrases that might describe what your company does. Anything that can help someone find you in a search should be included in your “About” tab, along with some basic biographical information about yourself, where your company is physically located, and what it does.

You need to make it easy for visitors to find you, so be sure to include a LinkedIn “follow” button on your website, blog, emails, newsletters, and all your other social media channels.

Depend on visuals 

According to LinkedIn, posts with images receive 98 percent more comments than those that don’t. And, as is true on most social media, videos get five times more engagement than any other type of organic content.

But for super-engagement, consider live video, which sees 24 times more engagement than pre-taped video.

Here, the options are almost unlimited, as long as they’re interesting to your followers:

  • a Q&A session with a subject-matter expert
  • a webinar
  • a tour of your business showing pandemic-related improvements
  • virtual events

Rely on compelling content

As for subject matter, the old rule of “give to get” especially holds true on LinkedIn. This isn’t the platform for the “hard sell.” So offer advice about how to give a compelling presentation, for example, or how to deal with going back into the office after the pandemic . . . anything you think your followers might want to know about.

Also consider using documents like PDFs, SlideShare, or PowerPoint that showcase what makes your brand unique.

And don’t just post content—ask for feedback. Ask questions. Take a poll (and be sure to post the results). And, as with all other social media, always reply promptly to comments, questions, and messages.

If you need help deciding whether LinkedIn is right for your business, contact our social media management experts today! We can offer you many more tips on how to leverage organic LinkedIn marketing content to boost your business.