Over the past three years, LinkedIn’s active user base grew by a staggering 48%, from 500 million in 2018 to 740 million in 2021. Business owners and entrepreneurs can leverage the platform to grow their brand, generate new leads, build partnerships, and make connections.
These seven actions can help you use LinkedIn to grow your brand and gain a competitive advantage over your competition.
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1. Optimize your company profile and connect with people
If you haven’t worked on your LinkedIn profile, take some time to perfect it. Make sure it provides all the essential details about your company’s products and services. Put more emphasis on the title and summary to make sure it’s compelling, engaging, interesting, and professional. Also, optimize it to generate more B2B and B2C leads.
Before long, you’ll start seeing the ‘someone has seen your profile’ notification. Don’t just look at the profiles that visited you, also keep track of those who saw your company profile. If he’s an ideal prospect, invite him to connect. It’s very likely that a person who sees your company profile will discover more about your brand. There could be a possibility that they may also be interested in your products or services.
2. Publish valuable content on LinkedIn Publisher
You can use LinkedIn Publisher to publish blog posts that users can interact with and share. With more shares on your blogs, the impact on the growth of your brand will be greater. Publishing can also get prospects interested in your products, which opens the door to more partnerships.
Make it a habit to post content on LinkedIn consistently, but remember that quality is key. You can build a community of loyal followers who admire your brand. Through them, you have ambassadors who can create a good reputation about your business. When users see value and information in your content, it gives them the conviction to know more about your company. It’s one of the simplest and most subtle ways to promote your brand on LinkedIn without being aggressive.
3. Follow other companies
Don’t forget to follow other companies within your industry, including those you’ve partnered with and those that may be potential partners. This way, you have the opportunity to learn about them and what they offer. Still, don’t just rummage, as they could open your eyes to the techniques other companies use to get more leads. In addition, the more you position yourself, the greater your chances of making a profit.
4. Join LinkedIn groups where your target customers are
The right groups can be a very powerful tool to grow your brand. Through advanced search, you can locate professionals within your sector and your company. Group conversations can give you vital information about your industry. You can also learn about emerging industry problems and the options you have to solve them.
While you’re in the group, know the rules for whether content sharing is allowed. If so, build your credibility by sharing relevant content that captures potential prospects. You can include links to articles about your brand, relevant blog posts, event notices for webinars, and posts that cite your company. However, make sure the materials you post are a useful source and avoid dominating the conversation.
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5. Use add-ons
LinkedIn can be an even more powerful lead generation tool on its own when you use plugins. Take advantage of the following:
- LinkedIn Connection Revealer. LinkedIn’s connection revealer shows you how tracked your connections are. By identifying users traveling in large circles, you can interact with them to leverage their platform and promote your brand.
- LinMailPro. It’s a Chrome extension that gives you the ability to automatically search and invite people who have viewed your profile recently. You can also send them personalized messages about your brand or send them marketing messages.
- Headlinr. You may have had a great story, uploaded ads or posted posts, but without a big headline, your target audience may not click on them. When you use Headlinr, a paid Chrome add-on, you automatically generate multiple combinations of titles with the keyword you specify based on your industry. You’ll get engaging titles that enr users to click on your ads and stories.
- Rapportive. If you’re a Gmail user browsing Chrome or Firefox, Rapportive can be a useful tool to get more leads. This allows you to find among your contacts LinkedIn profiles that have email addresses. You can then send them personalized invitations to their inbox to help you expand your network.
6. Create a sponsored InMail messaging campaign
By using sponsored InMail messaging campaigns, you have an easier route to evade chaos and reach the inbox of those who are important to your business. You can send attractive offers and rich content to your target prospects.
7. Ask your employees to publish your company’s content
In most cases, entrepreneurs are looking for powerful brand advocates who can share their blogs and brand case studies. However, you can also do it through your employees. Research shows that around 50% of workers already post on social media platforms about their employers. Ask them to post blog content and other pieces related to your brand to generate more traffic and leads. In fact, some organizations allow their marketers to choose company-approved content that their employees can share on LinkedIn.
LinkedIn can be a gold mine for attracting new customers and growing your brand, but the right execution is critical. Take your time to create your LinkedIn strategy, clarify how you can deliver value to potential customers first, and then implement it like crazy.
