With more than 12 million users in Australia, it’s no surprise that LinkedIn has become an effective and hugely popular platform for building professional networks. It can also be a great tool for brand awareness, pitching for business, and recruiting and engaging with employees. If your business page isn’t achieving the results you want, follow our top 5 tips for marketing your business on LinkedIn.
1. Review and optimise your Company page
Completing all the information on your LinkedIn Company page can on average increase your page views by around 30%, so the first and simplest step to boosting your visibility is to go back and review your Company page setup.
In your Admin view, click on edit page and select the options below:
Page info tab
- Ensure your logo is current and upload a new logo if needed
- Check your company name and customise your LinkedIn public URL. When you create your Company page you create a public URL that is displayed to members and can be used on your other marketing channels to drive traffic to your page. Your page URL and name must align. You can change your URL but if your preferred URL is unavailable, then choose something similar to your business name, for example an abbreviation that you use elsewhere that is recognised by your network.
- Review your company tagline – Create an engaging, descriptive headline using keywords to describe what your business does, the services you offer or the solution you deliver. You have 120 characters maximum so make them count! We’ll cover more about keywords below.
Buttons
Ensure you have a custom ‘Call to Action’ button activated on your page. This will appear in your profile header. Select the button name from the dropdown list and add the appropriate URL link for that action. For example, ‘Visit website’ will link to your website home page, ‘Sign-up’ might connect to your newsletter sign-up page, and ‘Contact us’ to your contact page or form. Remember to measure the traffic coming to your website from LinkedIn to assess your strategy and see what is working for you.
About section
- Description – this information appears in your profile or ‘About’ section and is essential for telling potential customers, employees, partners and other stakeholders what your business does, your vision and mission and the benefits of your services or products. Your description should include links and lots of SEO or Search Engine Optimisation keywords to gain a better ranking position in online searches. You can search for keywords for your industry through Google Ads or companies like Semrush or simply think about the common keywords people enter into Google search to find the products or services you offer. For example, ‘coffee shops in Ashgrove’; ‘pet friendly hotels Sunshine Coast’; ‘mortgage refinancing’; ‘places to visit in Longreach’. You can include links to website pages where appropriate. There’s a 2,000- character limit so draft and edit to make sure every word counts!
- Select your industry – type in and select an option that best describes your business activities
- Enter your company size, type and location and the year your business was founded
- Add your specialties – You can add up to 20 of your business specialties. The more you add the more chance you have of getting noticed! Specialties, like hashtags, help other users to find you when they are searching for businesses, products and services. For example, as a Marketing business we’d use: #marketingstrategy #socialmediamanagement and #marketingplans as some of our choices.
Locations
Make sure you add your central and other locations if applicable. People often look for products and services by location so this is another way to ensure your business appears in user searches.
Community
You can add up to three community hashtags to your profile that are relevant to your industry, products or services. Community hashtags enable people to find topics they are interested in or want to follow. For example, a health food business might select their name plus #healthandwellbeing and #healthyeating.
Now review and edit other parts of your page:
Background image
To add or change a background header click the edit button and edit or upload a new one. Your company page background image should be 1128 x 191px. Remember when designing the image that your logo image will sit to the front and left of it as shown below.
You can change the background image as often as you like, for example to highlight special offers or major campaigns you are running. Include these ‘banner promotions’ in your content plan to align your marketing activities throughout the year.
Click the Products tab to add your product information
LinkedIn allows you to add product pages if your business operates within the following sectors:
- B2B software
- Computer Hardware
- Financial Services
- Insurance
- Education
- Healthcare
- Pharmaceuticals
LinkedIn recommends starting with two to five products to start with. Follow the prompts to add product descriptions, select the roles that reflect your key target markets, add supporting media (images, videos, product specs), hashtags and link to featured customers if you have their permission. And don’t forget to add a Call to Action!
2. Grow your Company page community through your employees, personal network and website
There are several easy ways to grow your Company LinkedIn following or ‘community’:
- Ask your employees to link to your Company page by ensuring their current job role links to the business page, ask them to follow it and encourage them to share your posts by tagging them or give them permission to link their own work-related content
- Send an invite to your personal LinkedIn network to follow the page – use the LinkedIn function to do this
- Use the LinkedIn function to invite contacts to review your products or services
- Add the LinkedIn icon and link to your company page on your business website header and footer, and on your contact page. Include your profile URL on business cards and other company documents and brochures.
3. Write a content plan
Dive deep into the companies and individuals you want to reach. What are their challenges and what content do they currently engage with?
A content plan ensures you stay on track with a consistent and regular approach to your social marketing. A well-structured content plan sets out your social media goals and will save you time and take the stress out of worrying about what to write or post each day or week. Your LinkedIn posts should be part of a strategic plan that incorporates all the content you create include website content, blogs, newsletters (EDMs), social media, and other online and traditional marketing activities.
How often should you post?
To achieve the best from LinkedIn it’s recommended that you post between two to five times per week. Try not to post more than once a day as this will detract attention from your previous post.
Before you get too stressed about this, remember that one well-researched and informative piece of content is better than several mediocre posts.
What should you post?
Don’t just promote your products or services. Share valuable, informative, and engaging content that establishes you as an authority in your field.
When planning your LinkedIn content mix follow the LinkedIn recommended 5:3:2 rule. This means that every ten posts should be mixed as follows:
- 5 x shared posts from other external sources with your comments added to them
- 3 x original posts – written by your business
- 2 x fun posts – this content supports your brand personality and includes employee news, birthdays, promotions; a fun look behind the scenes, or amusing posts that are relevant to your industry.
Your plan should include a blend of images, videos, articles and shared posts. Consider using infographics, charts, or images to break up text and enhance understanding. Wherever possible use a post image or a collage as these perform even better! Label the image with your business name and keywords that are relevant to the post topic to boost SEO.
Note: The recommended length of LinkedIn posts varies from 25 words for short posts and up to 2,000 words for articles. For posts, the ‘read more’ ellipsis kicks in at 140 characters so make them compelling if you want to write a longer post. The optimum length for videos is 30 to 90 seconds.
4. Post and engage regularly
Make sure you post regularly using your content plan and respond and engage promptly with people who comment on your posts as engagement helps to raise your page ranking. Remember to like, comment on and share content from your network too.
Make your posts easier to find and share
Remember to use topic and company hashtags on your posts to make them easier to find by topic or area of interest. You can also tag another business or LinkedIn user in a post by using the @ and typing their name (no spaces) to facilitate and encourage feedback and sharing.
Content shortcut
If you’re struggling to find or create content for your posts hit the ‘Content’ tab on the LinkedIn menu and select ‘Trending articles’ to repost popular articles related to your industry or target audience. Change the search parameters to extend beyond your industry. Hit ‘post’, add your comments and share to your feed. You can also share media content about your business or your employees’ news in the same way.
5. Review your analytics and tweak your strategy
Don’t just blindly post content. Use the ‘Analytics’ tab on the menu bar to gain insights and see what resonates with your audience.
- Track reach and engagement: Monitor how many people see your content and how they interact with it.
- Click-throughs: Analyze how many people click through to your website or landing pages.
- Content Performance: Identify which types of content perform best with your audience.
Use this data to refine your strategy and create content that gets results.
Want some help?
By following these tips, you’ll be well on your way to becoming a LinkedIn legend. Remember, the key is to be valuable, engaging, and consistent.
Need help with your social media strategy or day to day management? Contact us to discover how Planet Marketing’s social media packages and services can benefit your business.
If you have any questions, comments, or additional suggestions to add to this list, please let us know. We’d love to hear from you. Check out our Blog for other marketing tips; or Contact us.
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