LinkedIn is the largest and most powerful B2B networking platform in the world. With over 30 million companies, the platform represents a massive opportunity for your B2B to establish itself as an industry leader. Take a look at some of these stats:
- 61 million LinkedIn users are senior-level influencers, and 40 million are in decision-making positions.
- LinkedIn is the #1 channel B2B marketers use to distribute content at 94%.
- LinkedIn makes up more than 50% of all social traffic to B2B websites and blogs.
- 91% of marketing executives list LinkedIn as the top place to find quality content.
- 80% of B2B leads come from LinkedIn versus 13% on Twitter and 7% on Facebook.
- LinkedIn generates 3x more conversions than Twitter and Facebook.
- 97% of B2B marketers utilize LinkedIn as part of their content marketing strategy.
- LinkedIn has 675 million monthly users.
To get the most out of your LinkedIn business page, use these six tips to improve your presence, authority and recruitment prospects.
1. Have a well-designed profile image and banner
The first thing customers are going to see when searching on LinkedIn is your profile image. This is why it must make a good impression. According to LinkedIn, Company Pages with profile pictures get six times more visitors than Company Pages without them.
When choosing a profile image, take your company’s logo and resize it to fit with LinkedIn’s requirements. This should be the same logo your B2B uses on other social media channels to ensure consistency and maintain your brands reputation.
LinkedIn Company Profile Specs:
- Recommended 300 x 300 pixels
- Minimum 300 x 300 pixels
- Maximum 4MB (Square layout)
- Image types include: PNG, JPG or GIF
The profile banner is the image above your company logo that spans the width of the page. This is the space where you can get creative. There are no set rules for this space except for sizing requirements.
Elements you can include:
- Call-To-Actions
- Phone Number
- Email Address
- Business Hours
- Product Images
Remember, this image should reinforce what your B2B is about and visually support the written portions of your company profile.
- Recommended between 1536 x 768 pixels
- Minimum size of 1192 x 220
- Maximum 4MB
- Appears as 1400 x 245 pixels
- Image types include: PNG, JPG or GIF
2. Develop a strong “About Us” section and use relevant keywords
Your profile image and banner will entice your prospects, but its the content that will hook them. This is why your profile page must have a strong, well written “About us” section.
This paragraph should tell your customers everything they need to know about your company. Use easy-to-understand language that includes industry keywords to outline your business goals. This paragraph should be 2,000 characters or less.
Like any good “About us” section, your B2B should answer the following questions:
- Who are you?
- Where are you based?
- What do you offer?
- What are your values?
- What is your brand voice?
- How can people contact you to learn more?
An excellent place to start is with your competitors. See what keywords they are using and make sure you are targeting them as well. Also, make sure your brand voice comes through. You want to make sure your customers know who you are and what you stand for.
3. Fill out all key fields
The more information your B2B provides, the more likely it will come up in searches. In fact, according to LinkedIn, completed Company Pages receive two times as many visitors than those without.
Your Company Page should have the following six items filled out:
- Company description
- Website URL
- Company size
- Industry
- Company type
- Location
Having this information filled out will not only create a better user experience, but it will make your B2B look more legitimate and professional. Legitimacy and professionalism are critical for brand image and provide customers with all the information they need to connect with your B2B when they are ready.
4. Create showcase pages
Showcase Pages are extensions of your LinkedIn Page, designed to spotlight individual brands, business units and initiatives. These highly customizable pages are basically tailored news feeds on specific aspects of your B2B.
Customers might come here for content about your B2B’s product ranges, ongoing charity efforts and sponsorships, or regularly occurring events like meetups, conferences and expos.
Showcase pages have their own sets of followers, separate from the Company Page. To make these pages successful, make sure your B2B is posting regularly with relevant articles, videos, slide presentations and other content that provides your customers with significant, long-term value. This is also a great place to share Sponsored Content and get better value from targeted advertising.
On these pages, you can target your post by location and other fields, including industry, company, job type, seniority, groups and more. Showcase pages also have higher engagement rates because the people following have shown an active interest in that area of content. This means they are more likely to read and share the content among their networks.
A great example of a company using Showcase pages effectively is Microsoft. They have set up Showcase pages for each of their products. While the overall style, imagery and tone relate back to the brand, each page has its own voice, strategy and brand story.
5. Join Community hashtags
A recent addition to the LinkedIn platform is the ability to allow companies to follow topic-based communities. This feature enables companies to associate not just specific posts with a hashtag, but their entire Company Page. Each business can choose up to three communities by selecting the relevant hashtags.
By selecting hashtag communities to follow, it will allow your company to view and comment on updates bearing that hashtag. This will allow your business to increase its brand awareness beyond its follower base and encourage these new users to get to know your brand outside of segmented post.
The trick for success is to make sure that you are providing thoughtful and engaging comments. You want to show that you are a thought leader in this community. This will lead to more engagements and followers for your Company Page.
6. Use custom CTA buttons
Another recent addition to the LinkedIn Company Page is the ability to use custom call-to-action buttons. Before now, the only option available for Company Page visitors to further engage with your company was to Follow Your Page or Visit Your Website. These buttons will help brands drive more desired action from visitors.
The new CTA buttons available for LinkedIn Pages include the following five options:
- Contact us
- Learn more
- Register
- Sign up
- Visit website
Along with adding the button, LinkedIn will also provide analytics to see what kind of response your chosen CTA button gets. This will allow your business to experiment and see what buttons work best.
When it comes to B2B marketing, LinkedIn is an essential item that cannot be ignored. By optimizing your Company Page, you will improve your presence, authority and recruitment prospects. This will lead to more followers, engagement and ultimately increase sales.
Ready to get the most out of LinkedIn? Contact us at hello@eisenberginc.com or call 214.528.5990
