Ever published a post on Facebook and not on LinkedIn, only to have their algorithm cast it into the depths of obscurity?
That’s usually around the time you want to do the following to your device…
However, anyone with marketing know-how understands that you have to “pay to play” when it comes to beating the algorithm these days. It’s all about outwitting the machine. BUT, that’s not the case with LinkedIn just yet. It’s the final frontier for paid AND organic content, where both can prevail if you know how to work the system.
With that, why not take advantage of LinkedIn before they change up their system? While it’s usually used as a platform for B2B companies keen to attract new leads, you could still benefit as a B2C with a little creativity.
Keep reading to find out how to connect with prospective leads and help your business absolutely “KILL IT” on LinkedIn.
Optimize your LinkedIn profile
Think of your profile as a first impression made at an interview. You’ll want to position yourself in a certain light and spark interest in your prospects to find out more.
Make sure you do the following:
Use a professional image that shows your face
This is a platform for professionals, so no pictures of your night out, shots showing off your physique, or how cool you look in a Santa hat. Choose imagery that shows a level of professionalism that would be required of you in an interview. Flattering photos are fine, they just need to be work appropriate.
Use a high-definition header image
Header images sit at the top of your profile and are an opportunity to show your page visitors a little bit about yourself. Sure, you can be creative here, but it’s best to show an image relevant to your industry rather than an inapplicable image of two wolves howling at the moon that only you may think is cool.
Be sure to choose a header image that’s great quality (not pixelated) and applies to what you do.
An Optimized Headline on LinkedIn
Rob Tadros of Impressive had a recent discussion with subsidiary company leader Lisa Teh who affirmed that your headline can seal the deal with prospects. You can listen to her full spiel on the issue here.
Teh basically affirms that this small segment of your profile is what makes or breaks you when it comes to connecting with leads. Use it thus to clearly outline your unique selling point (USP) or service offering, so you can entice leads to find out more.
Posting the right type of content
With your profile looking absolutely fabulous, you can now focus on pushing out your unique content onto the LinkedIn world stage. However, you’ll need to make sure it’s the “right” type of content. Here are a few suggestions as to what that may look like.
Thought leadership material
With LinkedIn being a professional platform, it most definitely won’t be the right forum to post pictures of your every meal or your new haircut. Save that for Instagram! However, be sure to remember that it’s still a social media platform, so it should have a casual tone that’s warm and fun – the content just has to pertain to your work.
Sharing workplace parties and birthdays are fine, but the content that’ll benefit you long-term will be anything that showcases you as a thought leader in your field. Blogs covering market updates or that provide value to professionals in your area will show others that you’re ahead of the curve and one to look out for. More and more people will want to engage with you in order to gain your expertise. Find out what’s trending in your field and start brainstorming some potential blogs or appropriate imagery that you can showcase on your page.
Get started with video on Linkedin
We stress that your video content should be short and snappy. Stats show that people usually watch videos that are 2 minutes or less so forget posting a 10-minute short film.
On the whole, people find video easier to consume, retaining its information 10x better than reading pages and pages of text. With that, why not opt to take short videos that cover your day and provide a professional tip? You can post these on your LinkedIn page regularly, but once again, be sure to determine if this format is appropriate for your purposes or if a written post is a better choice.
Also, be sure to consider captions, as these are great for accessibility reasons AND an option for people who want to watch your video on mute in a public space.
Posting Links
You can post blog posts straight onto LinkedIn, however, if you have a website that you want to redirect readers to, keep in mind that LinkedIn likes to keep people on their own platform. Hence, any posts that feature a link to another site will automatically be penalized and appear lower in rank on feeds. A hack that helps evade this is by placing your link in the first comment of your post. Make sure to indicate to readers that the link is attached to the comment and you’re good to go!
Posting updates regularly
The best way to remain on the top of the minds of your leads is by posting regularly. One of our successful strategies includes daily posts excluding weekends. You don’t have to be in every video either. Perhaps sharing posts written by someone else can be your contribution for the day. Just ensure that your page is a treasure trove of relevant content.
Creativity
We keep drumming on about how LinkedIn is a professional platform, but we also want to note that the best-performing posts tend to be those that boast a bit of creativity and personability as well as value.
The platform already has plenty of people showcasing professional content, but a post with a bit of flair will stand out from the rest. It’d be a good idea to work closely with your design team to create content that’s engaging and different.
An excellent example of a creative post used on LinkedIn is Netflix’s job application for a “Witcher” – a character from their popular series “The Witcher”.
The position was actually in security but the post was so popular that fans of the show responded with glee and shared the content online, leading to greater awareness of the show. A true display of how creativity aligned with a business’ essence can make headways.
Active outreach
Now that your profile is looking swanky and you’re putting out great posts, it’s time to do some active outreach!
If you’re after prospective leads, you’ll need to meet them where they are. In order to connect with them and build a healthy relationship with them, follow these simple tips.
No cold-adding
While it seems to be common practice to add as many people on Linkedin as possible (even if you don’t know them), you’ll fall not obscurity if that’s all you do. Don’t just add people randomly. In fact, don’t add anyone before making a connection with them…
Personalization on LinkedIn
With the former point in mind, your first move should be to send a personalized message to leads before adding them. You can always use a generic email blast via Linkedin, but these are commonly impersonal and are often deleted on sight. If you can personalize them enough and get a response, good on you. You’ll be one of the lucky ones. We however propose more creativity.
Creative posts
A technique our firm has championed and is getting some great returns! In order to stand out from our competitors and gain the attention of your prospects, why not post a short video singling out your prospect and tagging them. You can incorporate their logo or brand colors into your video cover shot for some extra pizzazz. You can even post a case study focused on why they’re so successful. Once posted, get your connections on LinkedIn to like and comment on the post, drawing even more attention to your post and making your video too hard for your lead to resist. When it comes to creativity, the sky’s the limit, and so are your opportunities for success.
