There’s no better social media platform than LinkedIn, particularly for B2B opportunities. The sole reason is its algorithm. Linkedin marketing strategies, if applied well, can give you a better organic ROI than other platforms.

Obviously, ‘Quora is one of the better platforms for branding.‘, as stated in my previous article. But…But…It’s more indirect. Quora highly depends on the engagement of the audience, quality of content, and many other minor algorithms in itself.

On the other hand, LinkedIn is more direct.

No question that LinkedIn has its private algorithm for better overall user experience, but it’s more predictable and leveragable than any of the social media out there.

First and foremost, an acknowledgment is due. I might not be knowing this(Linkedin marketing strategies) or using LinkedIn extensively if it wasn’t for Gary Vaynerchuck. I watched the following video and listened to an episode from his podcast around a month or two back and decided to understand and execute it on LinkedIn.

Here’s my take on how to use LinkedIn to build a business (relationship):

LinkedIn Marketing Strategies

LinkedIn is gold today solely due to its organic reach. And, there’s no better time than now to leverage this opportunity.

1. Build your Network:

LinkedIn is for professionals. On this platform, you build networks/connections – not friends. Of course, some connections turn into friends but not most.

One of the first things to do on LinkedIn is to develop a connection base.

There are three types of people you would want to have connections with:

• People in the same Jobs/work as you are.
• People who might be prospective client.
• Individuals who have influence.

People in the same field:

These are the people who make LinkedIn a better place for you. You can learn from them. You can comment on their posts with what you know. You can get content ideas from their posts.

The best part? When they like or comment on your post, most of their active connections will get to see what you posted. The power of LinkedIn reach indeed! The same goes the other way ’round, of course.

People who are your prospects:

I believe this doesn’t need an explanation.

People who might be needing your services in the future are the must-have connections because that’s what you are eventually there for.

These people can/will look at your posts and get to know about your expertise in the subject matter, your attitude, and many other tangible & intangible aspects of you, which might lead to a future job/business opportunity.

Individuals with influence:

These are the people who might not have anything to do with your subject expertise or possibly never going to be your client or employer.

These are people with huge networks. People with connections in thousands and tens of thousands.

Having such a connection is a game of possibility and luck. Maybe, someday, on a summer afternoon, you post a video. They like it so much that they comment on it or share it. Here’s where LinkedIn’s algorithm enters. LinkedIn reach will go insane. You will get thousands and thousands of views on that one video just because you had the person as a connection.

Therefore, having such connections is also crucial and the final sub-category of one of the strategies of LinkedIn Marketing.

2. Take care of your profile:

Not that I am the perfect person to display this, but here are a few basics of LinkedIn profile building.

• Fill out all the basics(Name, studies, experience, etc.)
• Add a cover photo based on the work you do.
• Make the profile SEO friendly:

How to make the profile SEO friendly?

Making your profile SEO-friendly is crucial. Not everyone knows your name. In fact, most doesn’t.

LinkedIn is a Professionals platform. People know you by ‘what you do’ or ‘what skills you have’. Therefore, when they search, they search for the “Job Title”, and you need to be ready to have your profile shown to them. That’s what SEO is about.

To make your profile SEO friendly, you need to follow these steps:

1. You can write your area of expertise with your name:

I personally don’t use it or recommend doing so, but if we are discussing Search Friendly profile, this definitely comes into the picture.

Here, as you can see in the above screenshot, I searched for the term “Digital Marketer”. The auto-suggestions by LinkedIn showed me those profiles which had “Digital Marketer” in their name.

From my point of view: Definitely worth a try, but looks cheap nonetheless.

2. Never forget to add your location:

“Location” is crucial, especially if you are looking for local opportunities like Jobs.

One can search for a particular term in a particular location, as you can see in the above screenshot.

Most HRs and Recruiters use this function to find candidates.

Also, if you do freelancing like me, local companies might want to hire you as a freelance but just want to meet once a week or something like that.

Therefore, Location is crucial and an important part of “LinkedIn marketing strategy”.

3. Use people-search-for Heading:

This part – the one right below your name – is what LinkedIn likes to call “Heading”.

“Heading” is another crucial part of the LinkedIn algorithm. Use it to your advantage. Write the skills you have in a form that is used by the “Searchers”.

For e.g., I am a freelance content writer, and hence my profile’s heading must have the titles for which the “searchers” search.

Sidenote: That Heading isn’t perfect either. Just realized. Will edit it as soon as this article goes live, connect to see the updated heading.

4. Use summary as well:

Summaries don’t affect SEO on LinkedIn as much as the abovementioned. However, what summary does the best apart from being a minor SEO factor is- It sells!

The above screenshot is the summary from Neil Patel’s LinkedIn.

Here, he is showing his expertise and selling himself, and that’s what you need to do.

• Show your expertise.
• Share your experience.
• Tell your story. Sell your story.

Also, try to insert the “searchers” keywords as well.

3. Push Content that pulls:

Once your profile is set, push content that pulls.

It’s all an interaction game. Either put out content that pulls interaction, or interact with the valuable content. Because, if there’s no content, there’s no LinkedIn success.

Tip: Use a social media management tool to schedule multiple posts at a time for productivity.

Push content:

Content is your gateway to the connections. Push quality content — Content that educates or entertains. Doesn’t need to be perfect all the time.

Content builds relationships. Relationships are built on trust. Trust drives revenue.

– Andrew Davis

Content can be something as small as a question:

I am a content writer, as you might have noticed by now, so I asked the people of the community about how many words of content they write on a daily basis, and despite having around 800 connections only, the post got around 4400+ views.

Again, the power of content and LinkedIn reach. Many other posts of mine have 1000+ views.

Therefore, it is high time to push out content on LinkedIn. Maybe the reach will die in upcoming months or years. Same happened to Facebook a while back and many regretted not building communities at its prime.

Interact:

Interact with others content as well. That’s the least you can do if you don’t have any good content idea.

Interactions matter. When you interact with something like a comment, not only your connections see that comment, the other person’s community sees as well.

The content is the investment; Interaction is the ROI.

4. DO NOT Spam!

Like in Quora, as in any other platform, spamming is the devil.

I recieve several spam messages day in and day out, and what do I do? Ignore or Block the other person.

Be empathatic. Put yourself in the other person’s shoe, and ask yourself “Will I entertain such message?” If the answer is NO, skip it and start providing value.

Do not rush into sales. Make a connection first; Build a relationship second; Provide value third; Go for the ask last.

Final Words:

LinkedIn reach is at its prime now, and has been for several months. The chances of the reach being this green in the future are very thin.

Jump on the train now if you haven’t, and leverage the Golden reach right now!

Thank you for reading this article. Hope you liked these “LinkedIn Marketing Strategies”. Comment below your views on LinkedIn or social media in general. We will have a discussion over in chat, until then, Goodbye!

If you are looking for a content writer, contact me.