Why LinkedIn is Essential Marketing Tool for B2B Businesses
Imagine a place where you could meet some of the most influential people in your industry, where you could introduce yourself to anyone, introduce your business and the products and services you offer, and share your expertise and discuss the hot topics of the day with them.
Well you can and all without leaving the comfort of your office, because what we just described is, in essence, what LinkedIn is all about. Fast becoming known as the businessperson’s social media channel of choice, LinkedIn has a community of over 300 million business professionals and is structured in a way that presents a variety of options for connecting with clients and fellow businesses.
LinkedIn offers directors and managers in the B2B sector with many ways of getting value out of the time they spend on the channel – discussion groups, search functions, company pages, updates and posts. With over 80 per cent of leads generated through social media for B2B marketers coming from LinkedIn, there is a far greater chance that you will connect with someone valuable to you here than on any other social media.
So, how do you get started?
Find your contacts
Join LinkedIn and the site automatically starts suggesting people you may wish to connect with. Search the site and you’ll find a never-ending list of people who could be useful to you. Not only that, you have the option of connect directly with known and unknown contacts or of being introduced to them through one of your existing contacts. The idea of being introduced by someone else gives greater value to the network of people you connect with. These are not just chance encounters, they are people who know you are part of their industry.
Find your expertise
LinkedIn enables you to post updates and articles which can be shared across your contacts and further again by those contacts. Write something about your industry and see how far your expertise travels. If you have a particular technique or service you want to get out there, LinkedIn lets you get the message directly to the people who matter.
Be found
With a strong profile illustrating who you are and regular posts discussing topics and subjects you are knowledgeable about, you can get yourself on the radar of businesses who may want to work with you. Combine this with visibility in a relevant group and you’ll soon bag some worthwhile business leads.
Find your group
There’s a group on LinkedIn for everything. A swift search for ‘engineering’ delivers thousands of options. Plenty of scope for narrowing down your search and finding someone in your niche.
A valued network
The power of LinkedIn lies in the people who are in the network and the reason why they’re there. It is the most affluent social network – its members have an average household income of over $100,000 – which means LinkedIn members can either make a big difference to your business by buying your products, or they hold positions of power and influence to get their businesses working with your business.
So what are you waiting for? Get the most out of LinkedIn by contacting us today on 01903 790100 or via info@lwsmarketing.co.uk.