LinkedIn—A platform created on May 5, 2023 as a professional networking platform designed for business owners has grown to amass over 1.15 billion active users worldwide.
This platform is now one of the most powerful tools for B2B marketing. With its diverse network of professionals, LinkedIn provides a unique opportunity for business owners to connect with their audience, generate leads, establish themselves as industry leaders and close sales.
Therefore in this blog post, we’ll look at how you can use this platform effectively for your B2B marketing because the question has moved from why should I use it to how. Let’s dive in.
Understanding what is B2B marketing on LinkedIn
B2B marketing on LinkedIn can be seen as the practice of using this platform to engage with other businesses.
This helps you as a business owner to generate leads and build relationships that result in sales, partnerships or collaborations.
Although, when it comes to B2B marketing, logic is appreciated over emotions, but a bit of the two is needed to create an effective B2B strategy for your business.
Unlike other social media platforms, LinkedIn was specifically built for professionals. This has made it the ideal place for B2B companies to engage with each other and grow.
However, to make your business visible to other businesses on the platform, there is need to optimize your LinkedIn profile.
This helps you to showcase a professional presence and leverage LinkedIn’s amazing features.
Why is LinkedIn essential for B2B marketing—The benefits
According to sprout social.com, a significant majority of B2B marketers use LinkedIn for content marketing. With this in mind, let’s look at why LinkedIn is essential for B2B marketing.
Narrows your target audience search
LinkedIn’s search features allow you to filter your target audience using categories like job title, company size, industry, followers of, connections of, seniority level and other key factors.
Makes it easy to generate leads
Linkedin has made lead generation very easy. As a B2B marketer, LinkedIn is the best platform for finding and reaching potential leads, especially when you set a good strategy in place.
Builds trust and credibility
Showing expertise through creating valuable contents, engaging with your networks, building relationships in the DMs and offering insight is a great way to build trust with your audience.
Simplified the networking process
LinkedIn is home to millions of professionals in different industries across the world. This makes it more than just a platform but a powerful tool used in networking with other thought leaders and business owners.
How can you effectively use this platform for B2B marketing? Let’s find out.
How to use LinkedIn for B2B marketing
Create and optimize your LinkedIn profile and company page
Before diving into any marketing strategy, you need to make sure that you’re visible to your audience. Creating and optimizing your personal and company pages is the first step to bringing your marketing goals to actualization.
Your profile creates the first impression potential clients will have on your company.
Why do I need a personal profile when I’m into B2B marketing?
I know this question must be going though your mind and here’s the answer:
LinkedIn is a platform that consists of B2B marketers, freelancers etc. However, majority of the people on the platform connect with the individual behind the business.
Just like Jasmin Alic would always say: It’s human to human (h2h) before business to business (b2b). Therefore, creating a personal profile helps you to showcase your authentic self and boost your company page.
a)Personal LinkedIn profile
To optimize your personal profile, the following should be done:
I. Headline: Craft a simple, detailed and engaging headline that clearly states who you work with and how your business helps them.
II. Headshot: Upload a clear headshot photo of yourself on your profile.
III. Banner: Create an eye catching banner with relevant details on why your business is the best thing for your audience.
Iv. About section: This section on your LinkedIn profile helps you go into a little more detail on why your audience needs your services. Summarize your audience’s pain points, what they need and how your business can help them. Put a clear CTA (call-to-action) at the end to let them know the next step to take.
V. Featured section: Showcase your top relevant content. It could be a case study, a testimonial, or a top content that details what you do as a business.
b) Company page
When it comes to your company page, the following should be put in place:
I. Professional profile: Use a high quality professional image of your company’s logo.
II. Company Bio: Include a keyword-optimized description of your business that outlines your mission and services.
III. Showcase your products/services: Use the products section to highlight the specific product or services you offer.
Identify and build your LinkedIn network
For successful B2B marketing, it is important to grow your LinkedIn network with the right audience. Sending out connection requests or accepting from anyone who sends one does more harm than good to your business. Here are a few steps to do it right.
Identify your target audience
Before you start sending out connection requests, you need to understand exactly who you need to connect with. LinkedIn’s powerful search feature allows you to filter users by industry, job titles, company size, locations, seniority level.
Send personalized connection requests only
Personalize your connection request by adding a note while sending it out. This increases your chances of being accepted and actually starting a conversation with your potential client. Don’t be too salesy or spammy-find a common ground and use it as a means to start a conversation.
Follow up: Don’t let leads go cold especially the ones that have potential. After the initial messaging, follow up with additional insight or something valuable.
Create and share valuable, engaging content regularly
Content is king on LinkedIn. It’s not just about promoting your products or services, it’s about educating, inspiring and engaging your audience with relevant content. Additionally, you can create content in different formats like Infographics, carousels, videos.
Use LinkedIn ads for targeted campaigns
LinkedIn ads offer great targeting options for B2B marketers. This allows you to reach the most relevant audience for your services. Sponsored content is one way to utilize LinkedIn ads—this type of ad promotes your content and gets them in front of your target audience’s feed.
Sponsored inMail is another way to send promotional messages to your target audience’s dm.
Utilize LinkedIn sales navigator
LinkedIn sales navigator is a premium tool that provides advanced features for B2B lead generation. Just like the name implies, it is used by companies that are serious about generating leads and sales from LinkedIn.
This premium tool contains features like advanced search, lead recommendations and personalized inMails.
Utilize employee advocacy
This is an important strategy to utilize for your B2B marketing on LinkedIn.
Your employees can amplify your brand’s message by sharing content related to the company on their personal profiles.
This helps to boost the brand’s image and humanizes your business. It is also an amazing way to reach audiences not in your reach.
Best practices for LinkedIn B2B marketing
If you want to make the most out of this platform, you need to be consistent with your marketing strategy.
Post regularly in order to stay top of mind in your industry.
Discover your audience’s pain points and create targeted contents around them. When it comes to the DMs, there is need to send personalized messages that leads with value.
Just like we said before, your potential clients are humans before they are business owners.
Additionally, leverage LinkedIn analytics in order to monitor exactly what works such as your post impressions, leads generated, and engagements.
All in all, always lead with value. Focus on helping your audience solve their problems. On LinkedIn, it’s more than just promoting your business, it’s about building relationships, helping your audience solve their problems and building a strong community.
Conclusion
LinkedIn offers the best opportunities for B2B marketers to thrive and succeed. By optimizing your profile (company page), sharing valuable content, strategically building your audience and leveraging on LinkedIn’s advertising tools, you can create a marketing strategy that drives leads and conversions.
Moreover, it’s important to note that success on LinkedIn comes down to being authentic and consistent on the platform.
The more you focus on providing value, the more success you’ll see in your B2B marketing efforts.
So take action today, dust that app on your phone and go achieve your marketing goals.
