Although some users only go to LinkedIn when they’re job hunting, that isn’t the sole purpose of the social media network. It’s a great place for people and businesses to interact with other professionals and potential business partners, to build a robust client base, to gather referrals and to learn about an industry.
For many companies, LinkedIn has the makings of being a powerhouse marketing platform for professionals. In fact, “LinkedIn is now responsible for a staggering 64 percent of all visits from social media channels to corporate websites,” reveals a study by Econsultancy.
Your business’ LinkedIn page is where you can build relationships with your current and potential customers. Use it to share content that’s valuable to your audience, address their questions and try to solve problems. This will help you nurture genuine ties with your followers and build brand awareness with your prospects.
Here are eight ways to start driving traffic to your website from LinkedIn.
Post Regularly
Share content regularly from your company page as well as your personal profile for better reach and visibility. The more content with rich media you share, the more exposure you will get. And by continuously sharing good content, you’ll be exposed to a larger audience. According to Buffer, “LinkedIn has found that 20 posts per month can help you reach 60 percent of your unique audience. But there are those who have the time, resources and content to post more than 20 times. LinkedIn’s best-in-class marketers post three to four updates per day, which could mean up to 80 posts per month.”
Also, use images and videos in your posts. According to research done by LinkedIn, images in posts can increase the comment rate by 98 percent.
Respond to All Comments on Your Posts
By having multiple conversations within the comments section of your LinkedIn status, your post will be viewed in many more LinkedIn news feeds. Your replies don’t need to be long — they could be something as simple as a smiley face emoticon, or you asking the commenter to elaborate on their comment. Remember that the more you engage with your readers, the more visibility your post will get in the news feeds of your first-, second- and third-degree contacts.
Engage with Other Users’ Content
The comments you make on other people’s posts show up in the news feed of your first-degree network. So when you comment on someone’s post, it’s like you writing a mini post. The more comments you write, the more visibility you’ll get on LinkedIn.
LinkedIn also sends notifications about trending posts. Take advantage of the attention that LinkedIn is giving to such content by posting something insightful on the thread. You can also post a link back to an article you published as a comment, if relevant.
Mention Your Company Page in Your Posts
If you are the founder or CEO of your business, you can use LinkedIn to let your viewers know about your company’s LinkedIn page. Without getting in their faces, simply tag your company profile in a post that has something to do with your business. However, don’t add the link in the main post; rather, add it as the first comment just under the post. And if people find your update interesting, there’s a greater chance that they’ll visit your company page and may even become a follower.
Study Your Analytics and Take Corrective Action
Using LinkedIn Analytics allows you to access a variety of metrics, such as followers, clicks, shares and comments, that represent the performance of your company’s LinkedIn page. And tracking these analytics is essential in determining what content your target audience identifies with. For example, the Impressions metric can help you identify the best time and days to post content. Use LinkedIn Analytics to your advantage by posting on select days and times.
Join Relevant Groups
Join LinkedIn groups that are related to your business. Participating in discussions on such groups can help establish you as an expert in your field. However, don’t only talk about yourself and your business. Instead, answer questions and be a resource that other members can trust. It helps to maintain some level of activity in these groups and can nurture leads as well.
Republish Your Existing Content
LinkedIn Pulse aims to keep traffic on the website when its users are sharing long-form content with their connections. One way to use Pulse as part of your LinkedIn marketing strategy is by using your company’s existing blog posts and repurposing them as LinkedIn articles. Once you are done publishing the article, share the link in a post using excerpts from the article to attract followers. Then, link to the full article for them to click through and read.
Make Your Profile SEO-Friendly
LinkedIn sorts search results by relevance. For instance, when searching for a company, your first-degree contacts will show up first. Out of these, those with a completed profile will be listed first. The next category will be your second-degree connections and then your third-degree connections. These results will be followed by those you are connected to via groups, and finally by everyone else.
Also, the keywords that you use should range from broad to extremely targeted. Use as many keywords that relate to you and your company as possible, because you never know what someone is looking for. You can put these keywords in a variety of different places, including your name, headline, job title, company name, skills or even your company’s Career page.
