Most people know that LinkedIn provides tremendous networking opportunities for professionals across all industries. But did you know that you can market your business on this platform as well? LinkedIn provides small businesses the opportunity to build connections and boost brand awareness. Businesses and brands can also use these opportunities to develop professionally and improve their marketing strategies.
Let’s learn more about how to build an effective marketing strategy with LinkedIn, as well as some of the pros and cons that come with using the site for advertising purposes.
Key Components of Effective LinkedIn Marketing
Because the audience on LinkedIn is more professional than other social media sites, the marketing strategies used here are more sophisticated and less flashy. Marketing your business on LinkedIn is something that potentially offers great financial benefits if done the right way. Here are a few tips to ensure you’re using the platform to its fullest potential.
Create Targeted Connections
With LinkedIn, the ability to target a specific audience is unmatched; for small businesses, this is especially true. LinkedIn enables you to narrow your focus to a particular industry, and even people who have specific job titles within that industry. For instance, if you own a business that sells bookkeeping software to small businesses, you can target your marketing to businesses that only have a certain number of employees.
Sponsored Updates
This method enables businesses to pay for their content to show up in individual feeds. Like other platforms, LinkedIn allows you to target these updates to specific demographics. However, they take it one step further by enabling you to target people who have specific skills or certifications, have graduated from specific schools, or who work for specific companies. Sponsored content feels more personal to the audience you’re trying to reach, making it more likely that someone will see your content and feel inclined to interact with it.
Post Informational Content
People don’t respond well to advertisements that feel gimmicky or like a blatant ploy for attention. The best informational content on LinkedIn will achieve a couple of goals. First, it will identify your business as an expert and a leader in your field. Second, your content should provide some insight into how your business can help them solve a professional challenge or do their job more effectively. While this might feel like giving something away for free, it demonstrates confidence in your business and shows that you have quality services to offer.
Remaining Active in Groups
On LinkedIn, there are various groups related to specific industries and demographics. One of the most effective marketing strategies with LinkedIn is to join groups related to your business. One of the advantages of being active in these groups is being able to keep your eye on current trends or other discussions your target audience is interested in. Groups also help build relationships with potential customers. There may be times when you can give advice to someone or connect about a similar topic. In general, groups are a great way to demonstrate your knowledge in your particular field and show your audience that you’re trustworthy.
Pros and Cons of Marketing with LinkedIn
There are a few pros and cons of advertising your business with LinkedIn that you’ll want to consider before you dive in. One major advantage is the size and makeup of their network. LinkedIn boasts over 800 million users, and approximately 44% of these users earn more than the median income in the United States. More affluent people generally means more buying power, meaning your advertisements will likely reach people who can afford to invest in your product. LinkedIn also provides companies with a lot of variety when deciding how you want to promote your business. Some of the most impactful ads on LinkedIn are video ads, especially if your organization has a particularly charismatic leader at the helm. Users on this platform also provide a great deal of personal information on their profiles, so capturing the demographics of those who interact with your ads is very simple.
The primary disadvantage of LinkedIn advertising is the cost. The site requires a minimum daily budget of $10. This may not sound like a lot, but if you’re running multiple campaigns this can add up quickly. The cost-per-click (CPC) on LinkedIn is also higher than any other social media platform, and this is on top of the daily fee you’ll pay to keep your campaign active. Marketing with LinkedIn can also be a bit time-consuming. While there are millions of users, not all of them are consistently active. Therefore, it can take some time up-front to grow connections with other professionals.
Learn about Social Media Marketing with Career Centers
Are you a business owner wanting to effectively market your business on social media? Or perhaps you’re hoping to begin a career in digital marketing. Either way, you can check out the social media marketing courses available with Noble Desktop, a partner program of Career Centers. Students who enroll here are offered the flexibility to take classes in person at its campus in New York City or remotely from the comfort of their homes. Additionally, Noble Desktop boasts small class sizes and instruction from industry experts.
If LinkedIn is primarily your target audience, Noble Desktop offers a six-hour LinkedIn Marketing course that focuses on engaging with your audience and best practices for content creation. If you’re looking for a more extensive understanding of marketing with social media in general, the Social Media Marketing Certificate might be of interest to you. This 30-hour program covers marketing with all of today’s most popular social media platforms including LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. Noble Desktop also offers a Digital Marketing Certificate as part of its programming. In addition to covering the social media platforms mentioned above, this course also touches on SEO and Google Analytics.
