Perhaps you are keenly aware that LinkedIn continues to gain traction as a critically important business platform. And, why Microsoft fought so successfully to keep it out of reach from Salesforce CRM.
Let’s start there and consider what’s next.
As of July 2021, the social media site had more than 774 million users across 200 countries… and those numbers are only expected to continue to grow.
Yet leveraging what’s “new and different” is vital, to take full advantage of best practices. Just this past week, LinkedIn projected $4 billion in annual revenue for the year… due largely to its emphasis on more precise targeting around “buyer intent”. Clearly, identifying and pursuing prospects is crucial to better aligning sales and marketing for building product brands. And recognizing buyer intent helps us focus on more motivated audiences. Who have a higher likelihood of making purchases.
What’s more, LinkedIn recently rolled out a new video chat feature — accessible via the platform’s messaging system — eliminating the need for separate video apps. Each user’s information is displayed, providing context during the conversation… allowing connections to be much more seamless than was previously possible.
Getting down to business
Unlike most other social media sites, LinkedIn is used primarily as a business networking site. Where connections represent real sales and marketing relationships.
In short, the platform functions as an online tradeshow, job fair and professional association… all at the same time. It’s designed to grow brand reputation. And to build brand equity.
All well and good, you might be thinking. But what are the reasons-to-believe now more than ever, for investing both time and treasure?
- LinkedIn conversations increased by 55% in 2020.
- The Cost Per Lead is some 28% lower than Google Ads.
- 80% of B2B leads come from LinkedIn.
- 6 out of 10 users actively look for industry insights on the platform.
- 61 million senior-level influencers and 65 million decision makers use LinkedIn.
- There are 17 million opinion leaders and 10 million C-Level executives there.
- Over 57M companies are listed.
- 80% of people on LinkedIn drive business decisions.
- LinkedIn is the top network for B2B content marketers for organic social marketing at 96%.
Yes, developing an integrated LinkedIn strategy for building product brands is essential. Your employees and your customers use it. Your industry’s key influencers are actively engaging there. But perhaps most importantly, your competitors … and your future customers are waiting there.
A token page or two is a start. But to create a thoughtful presence on LinkedIn… a building product brand requires an integrated plan. And a commitment to a fully aligned sales and marketing program.
Following are 12 tips for optimizing your building product brand’s LinkedIn campaign.
Start small
- Consider providing a premium membership to your key team members (or leveraging their marketing agency spokespersons) to advance the goals of the company.
- Pages should be linked to each of your team members. So that everyone can introduce the company. Describe your products. And explain why your brands are different from the competitors.
- Create a LinkedIn Showcase page — that can be used to spotlight a particular product, brand, business unit… or strategic initiative.
- Link to each brand’s webpage. And to other social media sites Why?. Including these links will increase your search engine page rank and contribute to a better web presence.
- Share content that’s highly relevant to your target audience. But don’t limit activity to only blog posts and other social content. Educate users about your product. And showcase thought leadership. Drive more traffic to your brand’s other sites — and campaign landing pages — to better convert leads into customers.
Getting on board
- We recommend a formal company description — for everyone on your team to use — in their personal LinkedIn profiles. Ensuring that all forward-facing representatives leverage the same language to describe your organization… will create a stronger, more cohesive brand impression.
- Actively managing posts from your team members will help them comply with social media best practices. While self-expression is encouraged, we don’t want it to come at the expense of the brand.
- Setting team goals for LinkedIn use is critical. For example, assuming that architects are the influencers you need to reach — to specify your building product brand — then every team member should reach out and connect with those audiences. We recommend a fully accountable strategy: “if it wasn’t measured, then it didn’t happen” is a philosophy to help us set goals and timeframes for adding traction to LinkedIn connection efforts.
Develop a strategy
- While maintaining an active presence is time consuming, targeting LinkedIn — without fully embracing it and committing to a long-term integrated strategy — reduces the return on time and resources.
- You only get one chance to make a first impression. Ensure that the platform includes professional photography. And graphics that showcase your brand story effectively… and memorably.
- Strategic content marketing and LinkedIn best practice are inseparable. This is an ideal platform to help your brand demonstrate thought leadership. So, where is there a better forum to feature longer-format and educational articles… that highlight industry trends? Target to the influencers and decision-makers that matter. Regularly update content and consider partnering with an agency — who will not only write these pieces — but also develop an ongoing plan to promote them.
- Placing ad campaigns on the platform can generate leads… only if those ads are seen by the right people. It’s important to leverage user-data to target the right audiences… who can make purchasing decisions.
- Refine strategies, testing LinkedIn campaigns for effectiveness in real time. Monitor to identify who is viewing. And what actions they are taking.
Make it count
Consider LinkedIn as an online business card. It’s a place to showcase exactly what you want people to know about your building product brand.
Share knowledge. Endorse influencers’ expertise. And connect with your next customer.
Interested in accelerating your brand’s social media presence… for increased recognition and more leads? Send an email to Steve Kleber at sk@kleberandassociates.com to learn more and get the conversation started.
