Unsure about how your B2B company can capitalize on the social movement? Here are 5 things you need to do right now and they all start with LinkedIn.
 
1. Optimize your company page. Don’t have one? Get one. LinkedIn is the most-used social platform by B2B brands to generate leads and awareness (eMarketer). Why? Because 74% of B2B decision makers say they use LinkedIn to help make purchasing decisions (Webbiquity). Use your company page to share thought leadership and demonstrate your expertise. You’ll want to post 20 times per month to reach 60% of your followers, a much higher organic reach than you’ll get on other platforms. Your audience is present, hungry for content and is more likely to follow your page than give up their email address – and, properly nurtured, can lead to a more valuable relationship.  

2. Employee Advocacy. Employees’ collective social footprints are 10 times larger than your company’s followers and their posts typically generate 8 times more engagement than your company page. Why? Because they have developed connections with their industry peers, former colleagues, customers and prospects who are more inclined to trust them than a marketing message. Plus, there’s very little overlap between their followers and yours which allows brands to tap into a new audience. Leverage your top talent to advocate on behalf of your company through a SME program to advance your business goals. 

3. Find your next great hire. LinkedIn makes it easy to connect with candidates and manage applicants within the platform. Users can apply for jobs with a single click and employers can quickly see who’s qualified through the Suggested Professionals feature. And site usage continues to grow with recent graduates as the fastest-growing demographic. 

4, Engage prospects. Send targeted messages directly to people who matter most to your business. With LinkedIn InMail, you can target prospects based on select criteria such as industry, title, location, company size, etc., and create tailored messages relevant to the recipient. InMail messages are delivered in real time so users only see them when they are actively engaged on the channel. These personalized communications are a great way for sales teams to connect with new audiences and generate leads. 

5. Build your email database. LinkedIn offers lead generation forms to capture users’ names and information. Brands can entice users to share their information by offering up a rich piece of gated content served to users based on their industry, title, location, company size, etc. Forms offer pre-filled fields making it easy for users to share their information in exchange for content and brands can add up to three additional customer questions to further qualify and categorize your leads. 

Ready to get started but still feeling a bit gun-shy? Contact akhia and we’ll score how your LinkedIn efforts are helping to drive your business goals.