Did you know most companies don’t have an effective LinkedIn Marketing Strategy.
A dynamic LinkedIn Marketing STRATEGY which connects and engages with the right audience will set you apart from your competition. A LinkedIn Marketing Strategy builds brand awareness which drives demand and creates revenue opportunities. Having a static LinkedIn presence is not an option and does nothing for building brand.
You would be surprised at the number of organisations jumping into social media, making the first fatal flaw - they “set and forget”. They complete the building blocks required to be present on LinkedIn, however they give little or no thought to the strategy which drives and nurtures the community they create.
What happens after connections are made (how are they're going to turn that prospect into a client?).
What content will they post and how does it position the company’s brand?
How will they drive prospects who engage on LinkedIn to the company website, blog or elsewhere?
What is happening when a prospect lands on the website or blog, how are you continuing the conversation?
Here are FIVE STRATEGIES that companies need to think about when engaging on LinkedIn.
Strategy 1: Your LinkedIn Presence
Look at your LinkedIn profile. Did you really take a strategic approach to creating it?
How are the rest of your employee profiles looking? Do they reflect the company brand well? Is there uniformity whilst still reflecting the individuals’ value, skills, experience and achievements?
If you treat your profile as a cover letter and resume, you're missing lead generation opportunities. Prospects don't care about what you've done, they want to know how you can help them.
** Optimise your LinkedIn Profile - Prove your Value **
Demonstrate your deep expertise and articulate the client challenges you can solve. Your profile should spark interest and start conversations with key decision-makers that lead to revenue opportunities. Include rich media files, video, white papers, case studies and other marketing collateral.
One of my clients, a financial services group, approached and engaged me on the back of a case study I posted on my profile. The case study clearly articulated the value I brought to the table. This led to a direct sales conversation and revenue opportunity.
Strategy 2: Subject Matter Expert
Make sure you have a content market strategy which uses tailored content to pull prospects in.
Work on your content marketing, set THEMES for 2016. Schedule your content marketing. Plan out what type of content will have decision-makers thinking twice about the approaches they're taking. Think about the discussions you can create that make you stand out as a subject matter expert.
Be smart with your content, slice and dice it in different ways for different marketing channels
** Be relevant - identify your audience - Inspire prospects to take action **
Strategy 3: Smart Prospecting
Review your connections. Chances are most of your connections are irrelevant to your business because you were focused on quantity instead of quality. It is time to focus your time and energy on the key decision-makers and influencers who can positively affect your bottom line.
A smart prospecting strategy should define who your target audience (prospects) and influencers are, be clear about why you’re connecting and what value you will add - Start and continue conversations with your connections, with the aim to ultimately gain revenue from your LinkedIn marketing and social-selling efforts.
Strategy 4: Build Your Community
LinkedIn Marketing is not about how many connections or followers you have. It's about the people you reach and engage with. Decision-makers are looking for quick access to trusted experts with relevant quality content and solutions that will help solve their business challenges. Your targeted LinkedIn community is the perfect place to communicate your deep expertise and area of specialisation.
Strategy 5: Lead Generation and Social Selling
Most of the prospects you connect with on LinkedIn don't realise why they need you.
You need to nurture your connections and provide them with relevant quality content that turns their head and inspires them to reach out.
You need a strategy for how you are going to use case studies, whitepapers or third-party research to support your claims
You need a strategy on how you will use content to spark your prospects' interests and inspire them to make contact about your solutions.
You need a strategy on how you are going to generate curiosity about your solutions .
You need a strategy on how you are going to move prospects through your pipeline and get them to engage with you further.
By integrating LinkedIn with other marketing channels including your website and database marketing you will generate more sales opportunitiesand thereby increase revenue.
We specialise in LinkedIn marketing, and would be delighted to talk to you about effective ways to connect and engage with your target audience on LinkedIn. You will build brand awareness and create business opportunities.
We also host LinkedIn Marketing Webinars which teach individuals and companies LinkedIn marketing, social selling & lead generation techniques.