Everyone Wants to BeReal, But You Just Need to be LinkedIn
Phil Mandelbaum
Fractional CMO | Agency President + CEO | Brand, Digital, Social, Content, PR and Political Strategist | Award-Winning Writer, Ghostwriter and Editor | Sold 1 Business
Why LinkedIn is the Best Business Opportunity for B2C Brands, and How You Can Use it to Gain a Competitive Edge
While all the fashion, makeup and fast food brands?race to be the realest , you could be on LinkedIn generating leads. And you don’t have to be B2B.?
No, I’m not referring to paying for LinkedIn Premium and ‘cold-calling’ all your contacts; I’m talking about the very thing that makes the leading professional networking and career development platform just like all the other social media apps: “the central endless-scroll structure .”
LinkedIn users scroll their TL, just like?Twitter , Instagram and TikTok users do. The only difference is what they’re looking for. Are they looking for you?
Here’s how to find out — and how to?optimize your LinkedIn marketing and LinkedIn advertising to demonstrate your expertise, expand brand awareness and generate sales leads that convert.?
(Also, bonus, LinkedIn’s the best social media platform for?employee engagement and employee experience , too.)
Who is on LinkedIn?
Globally , LinkedIn has more than 850-million members in 200 countries and regions; more than 191 million of them are in the United States. Fifty-eight million-plus companies have listings on LinkedIn, and there are?more than 10,000 software product pages ?on the platform, as well.
Among LinkedIn’s users, nearly six in 10 are?between the ages of 25 and 34 , the tech-savvy, decision-making, mid-career demographic most commonly targeted by brands. Additionally, 20.4% of the world’s 1.8-million millennials?— the largest generation, of avid online shoppers and (future) decision makers — use the platform.
Across age groups and geographies, the average income stands at?close to $50,000 per year , or nearly 300% more than the global average, with the highest number of users?earning $75,000 or more .?There are?more than 61-million senior-level influencers ?and 65-million-plus decision makers on LinkedIn; in fact, four out of five LinkedIn members?can make rulings on behalf of their business .
In other words,?your audience on LinkedIn, however small or big, comprises professionals with the money and the freedom to deliver unparalleled ROI.?
And that’s not all:?
Why? Even though, like all social media platforms, LinkedIn?is?susceptible to security breaches , it's?repeatedly named the most trusted?— and more than nine in 10 C-suite executives, specifically,?rate it?their favorite app for relevant content .
That’s why so many brands are already using LinkedIn for much more than?recruiting ?— and why you need to join them,?yesterday.
Marketing and Advertising on LinkedIn
Including brands and consumers, there are two-million active publishers on LinkedIn?— dropping?more than 200-billion articles, posts, videos, surveys and other feed updates annually .?
Among the listed businesses, 97% of B2Bs?use LinkedIn for their content marketing .
As for LinkedIn readers,?45% are CEOs, VPs, managers and other senior executives , and they:
That’s serious competition for eyes and sales, but if you’re a B2C company there’s also serious opportunity. In fact,?there's more ROI on the table on LinkedIn than on any other social media platform , with only 4% of all?B2C?marketers rating LinkedIn their go-to site.
For all content,?LinkedIn leads in lead generation : at 2.74%, the not-just-for-biz platform’s visitor-to-lead conversion rate is almost 300% higher than Facebook and Twitter. (And, from a UI and UX perspective, LinkedIn looks and feels a lot like Facebook.)
And that’s not all.?Paid?social works on LinkedIn, too.?
With a LinkedIn ad,?you can reach more than one-billion people ?— at?a cost 28% lower ?than advertising on Google. In fact, brands see?a 200% to 300% increase in brand attributions ?when advertising on LinkedIn and experience?a 33% increase in purchase intent ?due to LinkedIn ad exposure.
How to Demonstrate Your Expertise, Expand Brand Awareness and Generate Hot Leads with LinkedIn
Needless to say, LinkedIn is more than a job site;?there are 15 times more content impressions than job postings .?
The duty of?your digital marketing team ?is to determine how to use LinkedIn to outperform all the other brands also marketing and advertising on the app.
Since imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, start by observing these 10 B2C brands doing big things with the supposedly business-only app:
Then, put my top tips to the test.
The Top 20 Tips for Optimizing Your LinkedIn Marketing and LinkedIn Advertising
01.?Create a brand page, and use it as a hub for all potential customers and employees.
02.?Post at least three times a week, and no more than twice a day.
(Fewer times per week or more times per day will decrease engagement/conversions.)
03.?Don’t schedule posts.
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(There’s no reason not to be as timely as possible, when you’re only posting a few times a week.)
04.?Do use your social media management software?for its advanced real-time and historical analytics.
05.?Do use your CDP?to ensure all LinkedIn user/lead data is properly collected, standardized and validated.
06.?Create?a newsletter , and publish one?value-add?(non-promotional) article per week.
(Articles are posted in the feed and are also emailed to subscribers.)
07.?Run regular polls?to increase engagement, demonstrate your brand values, and collect valuable user information.
08.?Celebrate occasions?— recognizing employees, welcoming new team members, and announcing new product launches and brand initiatives — to enhance?and showcase?your employee experience, increase brand awareness, and generate more leads.
09.?Post images and videos.
(Posts with images generate?200% more ?engagement; users are?2,000% more ?likely to share a post with a video.)?
10.?Post long-form content?(e.g., your weekly article).
11.?Capitalize on trending topics ?to stay up to date on developing stories, access diverse perspectives, and join the conversation, demonstrating your expertise.
12.?Host events?to further demonstrate your expertise, increase engagement, generate leads, and deepen your relationships; i.e.:
13.?Go live?to?create excitement , announcing new products and special deals, and promote the exclusivity of these (rare) occurrences.
14.?Leverage your personal profile?to amplify the reach of brand content and improve B2B networking, by:
15.?Assign a social media marketing manager?from your digital marketing team to:
16.?Assign a social media coordinator?to:?
17.?Assign a community manager?to:?
18.?Share on other social networks?your newsletter articles, polls, events and any other exclusive content to grow your total social media audience and improve the customer experience.?
(According to Google, 98% of Americans switch between platforms and devices in the same day, and 90% of all consumers expect cohesiveness in their interactions no matter where they are.)
19.?Commit to LinkedIn advertising:
20.?Gamify ?LinkedIn across your organization?by offering incentives to employees for reposting brand content and, perhaps even more importantly, sharing their work experiences and glowing reviews of your brand and products, in turn engaging more and more of your staff, exponentially amplifying the reach of your content and enhancing your reputation among the platform’s top talent.
Need Help Creating for LinkedIn?
At Customer Engagement Insider, we specialize in event planning and hosting, as well as content creation, for the world’s most distinguished digital brands and online advertisers. Download?our media kit ?today:
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Absolutely! LinkedIn is a goldmine for both B2B and B2C. By the way, at ManyMangoes, we've seen incredible results by teaming up with CloudTask for our sales needs. They have an amazing marketplace of vetted sales professionals. You can check them out here: https://cloudtask.grsm.io/top-sales-talent ??
Fractional CMO | Agency President + CEO | Brand, Digital, Social, Content, PR and Political Strategist | Award-Winning Writer, Ghostwriter and Editor | Sold 1 Business
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