One of the most powerful marketing opportunities for any company is their strategy across various social media channels. LinkedIn has become arguably the most impactful social media platform for growth-equity-backed businesses. This overview outlines a few of the best practices to help take your Linkedin presence to the next level.
1. Identifying the North Star
Like any marketing function, when it comes to Linkedin, it is integral to have a detailed outline of your strategy and goals. To assist you with identifying your Linkedin strategy, we recommend starting off by identifying what your #1 goal on the platform is – your north star.Â
It is important to remember that there is not one right answer to this question and that different companies will land on different goals. Some possible answers to this question can include: increasing brand awareness, generating inbound leads, drive demos to a product, or bringing traffic to your website.Â
2. Creating Content Buckets and a Calendar
There are different “content buckets” that can and should be a part of your Linkedin strategy. Taking some time to outline what those are will help you effectively create an engaging, diverse posting strategy.
Some of the most popular content buckets include: case studies, customer spotlights, media coverage, industry news, newsletters, and thought leadership. Consistently alternating from one content bucket to another can help create a fresh and dynamic Linkedin presence. Specifically, industry news can be valuable from a posting strategy perspective as it is a great opportunity to “news hack” into something associated with your business. Also, always remember that Linkedin audiences do not necessarily want to be sold on something, but rather, provided with value.Â
In a similar vein, the easiest way to ensure that you are consistently posting from each bucket, is best to build out a content calendar well in advance. It is most effective to have a content calendar built for at least two months in advance that aims to have 2-3 posts a week (spread out a day apart) from different buckets.Â
The reasoning behind 2-3 posts a week is two fold. First, this ensures that each post gets the most “juice out of the squeeze” as it has time to cycle through followers’ timelines. Second, you do not want followers to get in the habit of just ignoring your posts if you post too often – something that posting every day can lead to. However, remember that everything is best in moderation. Research from HubSpot found that once you begin posting more than five times per week, the ROI drops significantly.Â
3. The Posts Should Be Clean and Slick
An underdiscussed component to a successful Linkedin strategy is the copywriting and structuring of the caption on the post. The copywriting should be punchy and to the point with the goal of having individuals interact with the attached content, not just the copywriting itself.
Always remember to lead with the most important information first. Generally, the first ~25 words of a Linkedin post are visible within their feed. Everything else requires them to click to see more. If you only have a split second to grab someone’s attention, what is it that you want them to see?
Below the fold, copy should only continue for a max of 2-3 paragraphs, with 1-2 sentences per paragraph. Use this as a moment to sell whatever it is that you’re sharing. Give people the reason why they should read more, not a copy and paste of the content itself. . Your post is the the hook for the content, not the content itself!
For some helpful tips on writing better Linkedin posts, check out this list from Social Pilot.Â
4. LinkedIn Newsletter
Is there any hotter topic in the marketing space currently than newsletters?! Okay, maybe AI, but other than that!
Sometimes, it is important to be wary of the hype, but this is not one of them. Newsletters in general give you the ability to create a direct communication channel with key stakeholders and grow your audience organically.
When it comes to LinkedIn, a newsletter is a particularly powerful tool. Specifically, this gives you an opportunity to engage with your current and future followers more deeply as creating a Linkedin newsletter will invite current and future followers to subscribe. Additionally, from a content calender perspective, a Linkedin newsletter is a great media asset to make a part of your regular posting cadence.
Specifically, to start building your Linkedin newsletter, make sure to check out this Linkedin tutorial on newsletters.
5. Treat Linkedin Like a Team Sport
As a marketer, is there any worse feeling than creating a phenomenal case study that took hours and hours to design and prepare just to receive 2 likes on Linkedin?! It has happened to all of us, and it is the absolute worst!7
Thankfully, we are all a part of fantastic teams that can support you on socials and ensure that this does not happen. If you have not done so already, we recommend creating a “marketing channel” on your Slack/Teams app where you can request coworkers to like and repost a key piece of content.
When messaging team members, it is important to be clear about what you would like their action to be: like vs. comment vs. share. Additionally, it’s always best to provide people with a caption or two when asking them to share a post in order to keep things as simple as possible.Â
This can be an extraordinarily powerful weapon, however, it is important to not send too much to this channel as people might get into the habit of overlooking the request. At the same time, breadth and reach are the goal, and it will be very difficult to get there alone. Therefore, we recommend sending 1-2 posts a month to the team!
6. Sharing Wins
Building off of the last point, once your team is invested in social media and your company’s performance, make sure to take the time to update them on the wins! Was there a post that the team got behind that received thousands of impressions? Did your Linkedin page receive a 30% increase in visitors month-over-month? Let them know!
Getting and keeping your team behind the company page can make all of the difference. And of course, do not underestimate the power of positive reinforcement and how much that can help the greater team stay engaged on socials.Â
Another benefit of this type of strategy can also lead to the general team getting more invested in general marketing initiatives and can spark new ideas from outside the marketing team. As we all know, new ideas from a different perspective can become very valuable.Â
7. Repurposing Content
You might be thinking that this all sounds like a lot of work however, with the right planning, it can actually be a lot easier than you might think. Specifically, one of the best ways to be more efficient with your time is by repurposing content and getting the most from each piece.Â
For example, if you were to create a thought leadership piece from your CEO, there are several ways that you could leverage this one-piece into several different aspects of your Linkedin strategy. Here are just a few ideas: you can post the article on a standalone basis, have the piece featured in the newsletter, or even take a key quote and drop it into a beautiful, company-branded background. Successfully learning how to repurpose content effectively and efficiently can be extraordinarily valuable.
