Bishal Mukherjee

 Best LinkedIn Marketing Strategies in 2017 The world speaks numbers these days. Data drives business these days and LinkedIn is without a doubt the largest professional networking site available today. Most e-commerce, corporates use it to expand their networks as well as finding relevant talents suitable for their business needs. Since its inception in 2002 as a small networking site for B2B startups, LinkedIn has changed a lot. The latest update backed by robust features helps enhance its functionality and power as a tool for marketing. Today, LinkedIn is not just another social media platform but it is the largest virtual business hub. The recent updates revamped LinkedIn as a lead generation platform. Recent surveys show that 80% more leads are generated through LinkedIn in comparison to other social media platforms. The update in the UX (user experience) brought major changes in the way users use and see the platform. Uber-cool news feeds, profiles as well as company pages which promise more traffic. You can try using relevant images and catchy videos to make your business page for presentable and readable, thereby boosting leads. Use the Lead Forms feature for your sponsored campaigns and its contents. It is mostly filled as it picks up data from the user’s profile. Thus, there is not much hassle. Good news is that hashtags are back in business. This means that you can now find status updates by people outside your network using relevant hashtags (e.g.: #ppc). You can now begin conversations with someone who shares the same ideas as you. This update opened up more roads to share content with potential prospects and the scope for more networking. You try and build a wider network, you generate more revenue. Another great add-on is that LinkedIn is that you will now be able to post video contents directly and not depend on third-party video hosting platforms. The value of video contents in content marketing is vast. As a business, you can now add curated videos that appeal to the masses. Gone are the days when pictures spoke 1000 words. Today, even a GIF is worth a story. Research shows that 90 percent of consumers say a video is helpful when making buying decisions. Data scientists’ project 80% of internet traffic by 2019 will be only on videos. You will have to produce more video content as 64% of consumers saying they’re more likely to buy a product after watching a video about it. Have you seen the “Overview” tab yet? Let’s say a dozen people follow your company so anything you post just shows up on these people’s wall. Now, you have 20 employees out, of which 18 are active on LinkedIn. These 18 employees have their own connections – a wider pool of potential clients, right? The overview option also ensures employee advocacy. Your employees who are active can help broadcast your brand’s updates through their individual profiles. More broadcast equals to more scope of a lead generation which in turn would turn into successful closures. More revenue! Then, there is the “Life” tab which actually shows how it is to work for a certain company. Clients and employees both love to get an insight of the company/business they wish to deal with. A curated content which is well scripted will definitely help your business flourish. We also have the “Sponsored InMail” – LinkedIn’s own email marketing solution that will allow you to send direct messages to targeted audiences. In easier words, you now have the option to send messages with links for lead generation. Wait, the list doesn’t end here! LinkedIn now has a bunch of new notification features to help you up your game. Let’s do a quick run-down of the features – a) Option to customize your notifs  set the frequency of notifications that you receive. b) Mute, unmute or unfollow  choose to mute, unmute posts/users. Don’t worry, no one will know that you unfollowed them c) Daily rundown  get all the top trending news daily with this feature d) Search appearances  this can help you strategize your marketing plan based on the number of times you appeared on the relevant search made throughout the platform. Now comes the question – as a business entity, how am I supposed to maximize my gains using them? Well, here are a few tricks that should help your business flourish – 1) Keep your content fresh and unique 2) Use relevant and catchy images 3) Try comprising catchy content 4) Make your company page more presentable and readable 5) Always and I mean always use separate header and landing pages The above are tricks to set the perfect bait in generating leads. So, what comes next? The next big thing is to have a strong, meaningful and engaging pitch for your business. Build a compelling pitch so that the generated leads do not go away. Best practices include – 1) Make sure you use keywords 2) Use professional names, please. (You’re a business, not a gimmick) 3) Be serious with the profile photo. It might not seem so but it does build an image of yourself as well as your business 4) Mention the correct location of your business 5) Ensure that you include information that would encourage the potential visitor to try and find more about you 6) Mention the correct industry, your business motto, ethic, and goals 7) Most of all, be active and update your status (relevant and fresh content of course) The biggest problem most business face is that they go into oblivion after posting a status update. That’s a big NO! Be available and cater to their attention. Endeavor to build a transparent communication bond with the potential targets/leads that can be converted into a sale down the line. Make use of the “Showcase page” option. The ideal use of this option is to try target one segment in one showcase page. Ensure that the name for the page is small enough to fit in the display sidebar. Again, use simple and relevant keywords. Let’s take a birds-eye view of the benefits of this page – 1) You get better analytics 2) More presence in search results Have you heard the term “remarketing”? Matched audience is LinkedIn’s way of remarketing. This feature utilizes the insights tag and helps create an audience based on visits on your website. In addition to this, LinkedIn allows you to upload a list of your contacts and then those available on LinkedIn will be available for targeting through ads. Let’s say that you have successfully created a video content that has got a handsome number of likes and comments. What now? Grab a coffee and wait? Nope, just waiting for inbound would not be enough. You should now explore features like Advanced Search and try expanding your network. This option definitely offers a business what it needs. It helps you to narrow down the prospects from an ocean of irrelevant targets. Now have a list of possible prospects. Yes, you found the right people. Use the “Save search” feature so you remember them. Also, keep in touch with them so you can understand the trend. You will have to cater per the demand. If you aren’t reaching out to people, you will be left behind in understanding the market trend, thereby, losing clients. (PS* You get just 3 saves if you don’t upgrade). Be a part of groups and the conversation as being there would increase your chances of acquiring clients manifold. However, try being part of the average sized “active groups”. And yes, you can always create your own group. Find like-minded individuals, explore, discuss, learn and grow. You should also know that the most important trait to be a successful LinkedIn marketer is to be able to adapt and deliver. You will need to monitor the effectivity of your marketing strategy alongside the market. To check the visits on your webpage and to analyze the same, you should try using “Website visitors”. To use it, add the LinkedIn logo (link) on your website. Another tool that you should make use of is Analytics from “other pages” option. You will need to constantly review and analyze your showcase page and the inbound flow. There is another option which you can try. “Account targeting” – as the name suggests you get to target selected powerhouses who wear the trousers within your target accounts. LinkedIn already has 8+ million company pages and all you have to do is upload a list of target companies. So, that covers up the latest features of LinkedIn. Apart from taking advantage of these features, there are a few other things that you should make a mental note of. The first would be patience. When on LinkedIn, do not just pitch immediately. Build rapport and try increasing your connections first. If you can create awareness about your brand, traffic intensity will increase maximizing closures. Correct content can reach from CEO’s of Fortune500 companies to an executive increasing the visibility and views which will, in turn, increase the reputation of your brand. Stats point out that with LinkedIn, Mahindra Lifespaces saw a 5x increase in leads at about 20% of the cost. So, what are you waiting for? Go ahead and make sure that you make full use of this perfect platform.