This chapter takes a brief look at LinkedIn and talks about how it can be incorporated into a social media marketing strategy, including looking at LinkedIn pages, which can be created for a company or for an individual. We also touch on LinkedIn groups and cover LinkedIn’s increasing options for advertising.
LinkedIn : To Do or Not to Do?
In general, establishing a presence on LinkedIn is probably most useful to a B2B (business-to-business ) company, where your customers are other businesses or organizations, including people who are potentially more likely to be spending time on LinkedIn. As a social media marketer, the priority might be for you to strengthen your own profile on LinkedIn. For example, you can create a LinkedIn group, and it can be a way for people to discuss a topic. In order to build a network for finding work or clients, you might want to search for and join LinkedIn groups and work on adding examples of projects you to do expand your LinkedIn portfolio.
In other words, the suggested prerequisite for considering LinkedIn as a social media channel is to first get in the habit of strengthening your own presence. Not only will it help you with your career, but if you do end up getting involved in establishing a presence on LinkedIn for a client, people will most likely look at your profile, especially if you create or interact in LinkedIn groups .
My general, strong recommendation is to explore LinkedIn. Maybe set aside a half hour at least once a month to look at your profile. Build it up a bit and get in the habit of getting involved on LinkedIn. Work toward thinking of LinkedIn when you create a new project or work on one and posting the results to your profile.
In terms of general social media marketing, I also recommend getting at least somewhat familiar with the options LinkedIn has for B2B social media, including how a company/organization page can be created, as well as looking at some of the advertising options LinkedIn has.
It’s not strictly B2B (business to business), as there are plenty of companies and organizations that have at least some LinkedIn page presence, even if it’s passive. Increasingly, even in general and “B2C” (business to consumer ) situations, LinkedIn is used for recruiting, posting jobs, etc. It’s a good idea to become familiar with it. Even if you’re in a large organization, don’t “assume” anyone is managing LinkedIn. As a social media marketer, you might be able to explore how it can be leveraged.
As with other channels, I think it’s important to consider ROI . With LinkedIn in particular, it has become a default hub for businesses, non-profits, and just about any job seeker, so at a minimum, your organization should have a page and someone making sure the information is accurate. They should be posting updates once in a while, or at least posting jobs, opportunities, projects, etc.
The importance of this increases tenfold if your employer or client is a B2B entity, where people may look you up on LinkedIn as a company. It’s also true that when people search on Google, it might turn up the company or organization page. It’s a good idea to keep an eye on it and potentially leverage it.
For example, here’s an example of a familiar company and their LinkedIn page:
Just like with other social networks , you can make posts and provide updates:
Understanding LinkedIn
To understand LinkedIn, the best thing to do is use it regularly. If for some reason you don’t have a LinkedIn account, I highly recommend you get one. If you have one but don’t have many “connections,” I invite you to go on to a place like Vista Print, go for the free business cards (where you pay for “shipping only”), and consider making a business card with basic contact information, including your LinkedIn Profile link.
The reason I suggest a simple business card (even if you have an “official” one) is to just have some around, so that when you think of it, you can get in the habit of inviting people to connect with you on LinkedIn. You’ll also want to get in the habit of inviting people by e-mail, such as colleagues at work, or clients, or alumni if you went to college. Don’t overlook relatives, neighbors, and people you see each week.
The general value of taking a bit of time and expanding your network on LinkedIn is that it can be a helpful, very valuable tool for connecting to jobs and new clients. For example, you might want to contact someone to ask about a particular project, job, etc. Although you might not know them personally, someone you know does, as you can see from LinkedIn. LinkedIn basically helps you connect to people, which for many people, has a more powerful, sustainable impact than Facebook in establishing networks. But don’t be shy if you’ve never tried it!
Note
Get on LinkedIn, get a Gmail address if you don’t have one (mail.google.com)—because Gmail rocks—and then learn how to use Google Calendar. Set a monthly reminder to spend half an hour on LinkedIn. That’s my suggested way to get started.
To get on LinkedIn, go to linkedin.com and sign up!
Creating a LinkedIn Page
Actually creating a LinkedIn page requires you to jump through a few hoops. It’s not like creating a random web site—it really does need to be official.
Having said that, if you’re learning social media marketing, I recommend considering creating a web site for yourself, with an “official” web site name, such as blahsocial.com/net/, and getting an “official” e-mail address ([email protected]). In part, this will be helpful as an exercise in learning how to set up an Internet presence, period.
In order to do this, I recommend exploring the least expensive web site plans at places like godaddy. com and 1and1.com, and making notes, even calling up and talking to a live person, about the cheapest way to make a web site with your own name.
If you want to try the Google route and have the cheapest monthly cost, you can sometimes just register the web site name (such as blahsocial.com), which includes e-mail capability, and not use godaddy.com or 1and1.com for hosting the web site. Instead, you can point the web site name at a free service, such as Google Sites. I also recommend looking at strikingly.com, wix, weebly, and shopify. Just try them out. After you’ve tried all the free ones, choose one for your “official” site. It’s good to become familiar with them all in case a client wants help in establishing an Internet presence. If you’re employed by a larger company, it can still come in handy to know how to create a microsite based on a particular campaign.
You can start by glancing through this section to understand in general what you need to do to create a LinkedIn page. Once you have your official site and an official e-mail, come back and try making a LinkedIn page.
To get started making a LinkedIn page, visit https://www.linkedin.com/company/add/show .
If you try to wing it, LinkedIn will politely refuse:
Basically, LinkedIn is looking for an “official” web site address, based on a web site name and an official e-mail address .
Tip
Even if you have an official e-mail address , you can still check it “through” Gmail. I believe Gmail has the best, easiest, most flexible framework for searching/managing e-mails, as well as the best spam filtering. You create a Gmail account and then add e-mails in the Settings area. Google also enables you to have your own private Gmail interface for an official web site name. In other words, you get all the Google tools, but under yourname.com. I worked at a startup that used this approach, and it was very helpful. Inquiring minds should look into Google Apps . It might very well be the kind of thing that a new client, a non-profit, or any sized business would be interested in for that matter. For example, many colleges are using Google Apps increasingly, so that students can use the Gmail interface for the school.edu address. It can often be cheaper and less hassle for IT to manage a Google Apps account, than have to manage all the moving pieces of other e-mail systems.
Eventually, you’ll end up entering something like this:
Then you get a confirmation e-mail :
You’ll need to confirm it.
There are standard pieces to starting a company page, such as having a logo and basic information . (Read Chapter 2 on content and learn how to work with digital images or go to 99designs.com and get a logo the crowd sourced way.)
Posting to the Page
LinkedIn pages can be pretty straightforward; you just go on and share an update.
You can think of the LinkedIn page as a directory listing, in a way.
Something Really Interesting and Important
One of the interesting things to me is that a tool like Hootsuite, which we’ll look at in a later chapter, allows you to post simultaneously to multiple networks. I worked at a B2B startup, and they wanted to actively engage across multiple social media channels. I would make a blog post which was the central, official place for new content. Then, using Hootsuite , I automatically posted to Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. In the case of LinkedIn, it wasn’t that there had to be a lot of work put into it, but when the right pieces were put together, it was relatively easy to post content to it.
ROI Strategies for LinkedIn
So how do you calculate ROI on LinkedIn? Technically, if you built up followers, you might post offers/deals once in a while, and you could theoretically track what resulted. Another fair way to think about LinkedIn is as an outlet for PR, or just another way to build credibility with relevant content. This is especially true in a B2B setting, where developing content and sharing it on social media can be a way to help people learn about relevant topics and boost credibility.
LinkedIn also has advertising, and in some cases, especially in a B2B setting, the overall cost of a product or service might be higher. I’m not tracking or analyzing the particulars of cost, but in general, LinkedIn ads could end up being more costly than general ads on Facebook or Google. This is because it is a highly focused, business audience. Because you might stand to gain more from a successful sale in a B2B setting, there’s probably more appetite in that context to pay for the ads.
As a learning experience, try creating ads on LinkedIn: https://business.linkedin.com/
Then explore the marketing side: https://business.linkedin.com/marketing-solutions
Personal LinkedIn Development
I also recommend taking a look at these links to get more information about how to build your own LinkedIn presence:
http://jobsearch.about.com/od/linkedin/ss/linkedin-profile-tips.htm
http://www.inc.com/janine-popick/5-easy-steps-to-get-started-on-linkedin.html
http://www.powerformula.net/free-resources-for-learning-linkedin/
LinkedIn Learning Webinars: https://help.linkedin.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/530
Learning More
Unfortunately, LinkedIn’s help section leaves a bit to be desired. It makes the mistaken assumption that you know what questions to ask, rather than having an easy to find Getting Started section. However, this link is worth exploring in relation to specific pages:
https://www.facebook.com/help/364458366957655/
This link also has some general information that’s worth reviewing:
http://business.linkedin.com/marketing-solutions/company-pages/get-started.html
Conclusion
Thanks for reading! LinkedIn is an important tool for social media marketers, including for building your own presence and understanding how to set a company or organization up with its own page. If you intend to do freelance, this can also be a service. In other words, something that may be overlooked, or something you could do for a local business or organization to get experience.
You might also want to search for other social media discussion groups on LinkedIn. It can be a nice badge on your profile and a way to learn about new things.