Overview: 5 Ways to Leverage the Secret Power of LinkedIn

Yes, LinkedIn is a search engine. Yes, people use it for job searches. But did you know it’s a leading source for B2B marketing opportunities? Thought leaders and companies worldwide leverage LinkedIn for quality, usable leads — and you can, too. The key is to alter your content to align with LinkedIn.

1. Share Research and Opinions

Thought leadership content fares really well on LinkedIn. Honestly, it’s the perfect place for it. This is a prime place to post information about research, essays, and studies. If you want to spark conversation about what’s new or changing in your industry, this is the place to do it. People may disagree with your views, but that leads to higher post engagement, which leads to more views on LinkedIn.

2. Use Poll Posts

LinkedIn loves Poll Posts. Create interesting and authentic polls specific to your area of expertise that engage people to participate. Invite your employees to take part. The greater number of people that interact with your poll, the more the poll gets seen on LinkedIn. 

3. Generate Leads

Turn your LinkedIn company page into a lead generation page by developing it as a pipeline through which leads can filter. Instead of merely providing basic information about your business, get people to click through to your website by using a company pitch in your company description, posting images advertising your main offerings, and inspiring calls to action in your updates.

4. Create a Networking Group

Creating a LinkedIn group is easy, and it’s really effective if you want to connect with businesses that need your services. It also can position you as an industry expert. When posting in your group, be helpful and informative. Suggest solutions to problems. Be friendly and approachable, and don’t worry about hard selling. 

5. Videos. Videos. Videos.

Like other social media platforms, LinkedIn loves a good video. Posts with video fare well in the LinkedIn algorithm. Harness high engagement by posting videos about your products and services. Talk about your vision and goals. Get that traffic flowing to your website.

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According to Wikipedia, LinkedIn had more than 830 million users from more than 200 countries worldwide as of February of last year. At its core, it exists so that professionals can connect and share with each other. Now that it’s owned by Microsoft, it’s a massive entity with endless B2B and career development opportunities.

Most of us know that LinkedIn can be an outstanding site to search for jobs and connect with recruiters, but it can be leveraged as much more than merely a job search engine. There are now countless ways for brand managers to network, collaborate, and share opinions. Put simply, LinkedIn is not Facebook. Strategizing content for LinkedIn is going to be an entirely different experience (as it should be). 

Here are some things to remember as you start crafting your LinkedIn B2B campaign. 

Thought Leadership is the Star

Unlike other social media platforms, LinkedIn highly values thought leadership content. This is an arena where people want, and are actively seeking, views and opinions from industry leaders. People visit the site in order to spark conversations and engage in informed dialogue. You can make the most of this by sharing your brand’s thought leadership content, including (but not limited to) opinion pieces, articles, case studies, research, and whitepapers. Remember that not everyone may agree with your ideas and opinions, but that’s human nature – and posts with lots of comments and varying opinions tend to be rewarded with higher engagement. 

Use Polls

Polls are a thing. Poll posts perform highly on Linkedin so they continue to promote them. Consider creating polls related to your brand or industry in which other LinkedIn users can participate. We all (well, at least, most of us) love sharing our opinions, and these polls have the added benefit of building a connection with potential customers and employees. If you’re so inclined, you can even use LinkedIn polls as a lead generation tool.

The polls let you ask your audience a question and have them vote on up to four different options. After users participate in your poll, they can see the results instantly. Share the poll as widely as possible on LinkedIn through your internal channels. Take it a step further by interpreting and applying the information you receive from the polls to make decisions about your business. And if you’re so inclined, talk about the impending changes, shifts, or improvements you’ve chosen to adopt based on the LinkedIn poll results.

Remember to keep your poll posts concise and use hashtags to help LinkedIn categorize your poll in the right place. Stay away from any topics that could be construed as offensive, and don’t have too many polls active simultaneously. LinkedIn polls can’t be edited once they’re posted, so edit and re-edit them before posting. 

Foster Employee Input

LinkedIn IS like other social media platforms in that it prioritizes posts by their level of engagement. Your goal is to create posts that rank high in their algorithm. Your brand’s team members can help boost engagement of your LinkedIn B2B posts by sharing them and commenting on them. It’s as simple as that.

Generate Leads Through Your Company Page

Instead of simply having an informational company page, as so many businesses do, consider developing your LinkedIn company page as a pipeline through which you can funnel leads. The easiest way to do this is to restructure your company page, which encourages users to click on your website. This includes (but is not limited to) rewriting your company description so that it reads like a pitch, using compelling header images that showcase all of your brand’s key offerings, and ensuring that all of your page’s recent posts and updates are optimized for conversion actions.