Don’t rush into paid ads! Boost your organic reach on LinkedIn first
Last time, we launched the first blog entry in the Social Savvy B2B series on how social-savvy B2B businesses should leverage social media networks to flourish. This time, we’ll examine organic reach opportunities on LinkedIn before looking at how to create paid ads on Campaign Manager.
Before diving into paid social, make sure to maximise your organic presence on LinkedIn because nothing will turn new potential leads off more than a boring page (if you’re not excited about your page, why should the lead be?)
Follow these 5 simple steps to boost your organic clout:
1) Build your follower community to expand your reach
Think about your connections on LinkedIn: are they personal or business-related? If you have business connections, carefully consider who you think would benefit from engaging with your page. Or, if your connections are mainly personal, think about expanding your reach and connecting with new people in your industry.
Once connected, invite relevant contacts to follow your page by heading to your business’ LinkedIn profile and clicking under Invite Connections to Follow. Inviting existing contacts is a great way to increase brand awareness and generate interest without using paid ads.
2) Engage with niche influencers to build credibility
No matter if you are a seasoned business with a solid understanding of influential people and competitors in your industry or a new player still finding your footing, now is the time to leverage new or existing contacts and build meaningful relationships online.
Why? Because people in your niche trust influencers and if influencers are seen to actively engage with your business online, then that trust is likely to extend to your business as well.
Reach out to influencers to build a personal connection and make your business more trustworthy.
3) Optimise your page so that every search counts
Look at your business’ LinkedIn page and ask yourself: does it look and read engaging? It’s crucial to remember that your LinkedIn page and profile is searchable on and off the platform, so users may find your company as a result of the terms they use.
Your LinkedIn page will be one of the first points of contact, meaning your image and bio have to sell the business while clearly summing up who you are and what you do. Think about a time when you had to describe yourself in a sentence—hard, isn’t it? The same can be said about your business, but once you nail that perfect one-liner, it’ll do wonders for your LinkedIn presence.
Make sure to include your business’ website URL, phone number, and other relevant information while keeping the profile up-to-date and accurate.
4) Ensure every employee in the business updates their personal profiles to help the cause
You’ve optimised the company page—great! Now what? Remember that your LinkedIn page AND profile is searchable online meaning that potential customers can find your business through first engaging with your employees’ personal profiles.
Give your business the best chance of being spotted by a potential new customer by encouraging employees to update their LinkedIn bio to include key buzzwords relevant to your business.
5) Post content to stay relevant and position yourself as a market influencer
After putting all that hard work into optimising and inviting people to connect, it would be a shame to just let your business’ LinkedIn page sit there, empty. In the world of social media, good content equals opportunity to attract new and engage with existing customers to produce loyal followers.
Plus, when your business delivers maximum value in free content, your potential and existing customers will feel reassured of the fact that you deliver invaluable paid services because you care about every aspect of the business, even that which doesn’t bring profit.
Craving more LinkedIn insights? Tune into our social selling read for more tips and tricks on the top LinkedIn tools that you should be using.
Jump here to get the full lowdown on LinkedIn Campaign Manager, getting you paid-ad ready!