Why LinkedIn is a vital element of your marketing mix in business

Why LinkedIn is a vital element of your marketing mix in business

LinkedIn may be the underdog of the social platforms – but it has cemented its place as the go-to source for businesses when finding and hiring talent, establishing and maintaining network connections, and sharing industry news amongst peers.

LinkedIn differs from its more lax brother, Facebook, in that it is for developing your career and is great for B2B companies who are trying to grow their business as they can connect with professionals who are in their targeted industries. 

LinkedIn has become a vital element in the marketing mix as it is in the unique position of being able to offer avenues for both the business development side and the talent retention side. 

Having a presence on LinkedIn makes it easier for businesses to actively seek out potential candidates with the right mix of skills and experience that would be a great fit for roles they are hiring. 

On the flipside, job seekers who are looking to make a career change can utilise LinkedIn to find their next role – as many employers advertise fresh vacancies in their company through LinkedIn. The bonus to this approach is that many people in the employer’s network can also share this information – so knowledge about open roles can get shared to candidates who could be a great fit, but wouldn’t have known otherwise.

Additionally, employees can be the biggest and best advocates for an organisation. Talent attracts talent – and having active employees linked to your business can boost the profile of your company; making it a desirable place to work. 

Advertising on LinkedIn can yield more effective results for niche target markets that aren’t possible on Facebook and Google.

How to get started on LinkedIn? 

Getting started on LinkedIn couldn’t be easier!

As a working professional – you’ll need your own account first. Think of it as your online resume with all the work and accomplishments you’ve ever done. It is important to have a polished profile and to continuously update it every few months or so, as this is one of the first things employers will check when sussing out a new or potential employee. 

Not only will they be measuring to see if you will be a good fit for the company, they will check to see if your online profile is likely to be a liability for them in the future as having your name linked to their company can have second-hand consequences for them, should you ever post anything that violates their code of conduct or core beliefs. 

This is why it is important to keep your LinkedIn profile clean, and updated at all times. Aside from your resume, it is the only thing that will tell an employer (and any clients of the employer, if you’re agency side) about you, who you are, and what you are like as an employee.

 

LinkedIn Content

Content on LinkedIn is an entirely different beast to the more ‘fun’ social platforms, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat. 

Given the angle of the platform, content is expected to err on the more professional side. However, ‘professional’ is not synonymous with ‘boring;’ content on LinkedIn should still be engaging and within the brand voice of your company. It’s just a matter of ensuring that content displayed is appropriate for the platform.

Things like memes, screenshots of Twitter captions, and silly videos are not appropriate for LinkedIn. These belong on Facebook. 

Make no mistake, LinkedIn can still have images and videos, but the images should feature the heroes of your company – the staff, and any work produced for clients. Videos can range from Behind The Scenes, sneak peaks of upcoming works, and informational clips that are industry relevant. Blog posts and articles shared should also be industry-relevant.

Any professional award winnings or nominations can also be shared on LinkedIn.

Essentially, LinkedIn is the place to establish yourself as a knowledgeable leader in your field; showing to your connections that you are someone they can comfortably trust and turn to if they have any questions or issues about something related in your industry.

 
Advertising on LinkedIn

With advertising on LinkedIn, you can get granular with your targeting, and reach very specific audiences that you wouldn’t normally be able to reach. 

When executed correctly, ads on LinkedIn can yield good quality conversions. LinkedIn has levelled up over the years – you can read more about it here.

As it so happens, we also have some services to help you with managing your LinkedIn Advertising Campaigns, you can check them out here.

 

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Marie Carbone

Marie Carbone

Marie is a Solutions Architect at Digital Marketing AOK. With a coffee in one hand and her phone permanently attached to the other, Marie is on a mission to change the world one digital channel at a time.