How to Engage on Social Media: LinkedIn
This is part five of How to Engage on Social Media: The Complete Guide. The other parts are here:
Why LinkedIn?
A quarter of online adults use LinkedIn, a proportion that is unchanged from the 28% of online adults who did so in September 2014, according to the Pew Research Center. With over 3 million using company pages, having a solid presence there makes sense. With its focus on business, is it any wonder that LinkedIn has the most mature users, with the highest net worth?
LinkedIn Basics
If you need some basics for how to use LinkedIn, you might want to read:
- LinkedIn: Top Ten Tasks and Power Tips
- LinkedIn: Profile Still Under Construction?
- Ten Ways to Fail on the Biggest Social Media Platforms: LinkedIn
Business to Business
For B2B companies, LinkedIn is a giant. Take a look at this infographic from Social Media Today on Why LinkedIn Matters. If you want a more active presence on LinkedIn, it’s a great article. I particularly like the part about what platforms LinkedIn users don’t use. 83% don’t use Pinterest. So if you’re doing B2B, you want to be on LinkedIn, and probably not so much on Pinterest. After all, 94% of B2B marketers distribute content on LinkedIn, with many of them making purchasing decisions on LinkedIn.
Not Just for Job Seekers
LinkedIn has had to overcome its reputation as merely a place for job seekers, and those looking for gigs. To do that, it has begun to offer users the ability to publish. Bloggers who share on LinkedIn receive over four times as many leads to their home page than publishing on Facebook or Twitter! If you use stats to make decisions, that should be pretty convincing.
The Sleeping Giant
LinkedIn is like the shy guest at the party whom you later discover is the CEO of a major corporation. She may not want to talk to anyone, so if you decide to engage with her, you’ll be doing both of you a great favor.
How to Engage
There are many ways to engage on LinkedIn. Here are four:
- Give recommendations. Be generous and reach out to people first! Don’t wait to receive and then react. Like other forms of social media, your generosity will be rewarded.
- Write testimonials (to those you’ve done business with). Say what you liked about the business.
- Comment on others’ posts. Start a discussion on an article or post and see where it leads, like you would on Facebook or Twitter.
- Share others’ posts. Once you comment on an article, share it. Don’t forget to tag that person so they’ll realize you’ve shared!
- Offer introductions. This is my favorite part of social media. Connecting people you know to others you know. Like you’d do in person, you can say something like “Sharon, do you know Ellie? I think you two have a lot in common!” or words to that effect.
Groups
Groups can be a great way to start a conversation since by being in a group you already have something in common with everyone else in that group. So you might be in U.C. Berkeley’s alumni group, where you can ask people where they’re working now, or what project they’re excited about. Or a group for marketers where you can post or answer questions for those in your area.
Company Pages
Company pages are a way to brand your company, share the pain points of your audience, and offer unique ways to fix your potential clients’ problems. Speak directly to your ideal client when you’re on LinkedIn and offer solutions. Social Media Examiner has an excellent article on ways to improve your company page, by the way. I couldn’t say it any better.
Are You Linked In?
How do you use LinkedIn? Or would you like to start using LinkedIn? Leave me a comment! And thank you.
These are all good points. LinkedIn is like a quiet giant. People totally forget about it. And when you want a better breed of clients, remember that a lot of the C-suite isn’t on Twitter; they’re on LinkedIn.
Hi Bridget,
Yes, LinkedIn is the introvert at the social media dinner party, and they’re not on Twitter. In fact, they may barely be on LinkedIn!
Thanks for your support. You’re always welcome at my dinner parties!
Carol
I’ve found LinkedIn to be the best network for connecting with B2B clients. It’s great for making contact and for initial discussions. After that I tend to move it to email.
LinkedIn Groups are a good idea, but most of the ones I’ve seen are just depositories for spammed links. Very few discussions going on at all.
Nevertheless I often have interesting discussions with my LinkedIn connections, outside of any group.
Happy New Year by the way! I hope achieve all your goals for 2017.
Hello Clement,
B2B and collaborative partnerships are what I’ve found on LinkedIn. Email is a great way to connect after that initial contact (as well as direct/private messages).
Happy New Year to you! May your 2017 be even more than you hope for.
Sincerely,
Carol
LinkedIn also has a good deal of potential for really small businesses, because of the ability to target people based on geography PLUS occupation. On other platforms it can be difficult to filter with both criteria simultaneously. LinkedIn is the best way to find “web developers in Allentown” or “accountants in San Jose.” This makes it a really powerful B2B platform! Great article, Carol.
Hello Lynn,
You’re right about LinkedIn’s power to support small businesses, too. The targeting is really critical for those who want to attract locals.
Thanks so much for stopping by!
Carol