A Linked Company Page is a unique profile for your brand. LinkedIn is an excellent platform for B2B businesses and professionals. It can bring social proof to your business, and it can be a source of leads for your sales pipeline.
LinkedIn is an excellent platform for B2B businesses and professionals. Not only can it bring social proof to you and your business, but eventually, it can be a source of leads for your sales pipeline. The blog article includes information and tips on how to grow on LinkedIn with robust content and an engagement strategy.
LinkedIn Personal Profile vs. LinkedIn Company Page
LinkedIn Personal Profiles and Company Pages are two different animals. Your LinkedIn Personal Profile is built around your individual professional life. It’s essentially a digital CV, where you can include information on your work history, certifications, education, professional skills, and more.
A Linked Company Page is a unique profile for your company or brand. Users can learn about a brand, engage with their posts, see its employees, and more on Company Pages. Employers can also post job openings and utilize LinkedIn’s robust application management tools.
If you are the owner of a small business, it’s recommended that you have both a Personal Profile for yourself and a Company Page for your business. It keeps things tidy and separate, and allows users to interact with your Company Page but not you personally, and vice versa.
Posts on each of these can be the same or overlap, especially if you are the owner of the business.
What is “Creator Mode” on your LinkedIn Personal Profile?
LinkedIn allows you to turn on “Creator Mode” in your Personal Profile settings. Turning this on gives you access to more tools and features that can help you grow on LinkedIn and increase engagement. According to LinkedIn, here are the features you unlock:
1) Follow Button. Your profile’s “Connect” button will be replaced with a “Follow” button. Don’t worry; people can still connect with you.
2) Connection Requests. When someone sends you a connection request, they will automatically follow you, regardless of whether or not you accept your request.
3) Business Topics. You can insert hashtags of business topics you post about on the top of your profile.
4) Live and Newsletter. You can take advantage of LinkedIn Live and Newsletter. LinkedIn Live is simply a video streaming tool, while LinkedIn Newsletter is a tool that allows LinkedIn users to subscribe to your articles.
5) Better Analytics. You get access to creator analytics.
6) Clickable Link. A website link can be added to the introduction section of your profile.
7) Featured Creator Eligibility. Your profile can become eligible to be featured as a suggested content creator to follow.
If you plan to post content on LinkedIn regularly, you should switch to a Creator account. To do this, navigate to your Personal Profile, scroll down to the “Resource” section, and toggle on Creator mode.
LinkedIn Growth Metrics to Watch
It’s important to define what “growing” actually means. “Growing” means a steady increase in the number of people interacting with you and your content. In the LinkedIn Creator analytics, it breaks it down into the following three metrics.
1) Impressions: The number of times your posts were displayed to users. It’s important to note that this is not the same as the number of users who have viewed your posts, because some users may have viewed your posts more than once.
2) Engagements: The number of times your posts were liked, reacted to, commented on, or reposted.
3) Followers: The number of users following your LinkedIn Personal Profile. Note that this is different from the number of connections you have; just because someone is following you, doesn’t mean someone is connected with you.
How to Grow On LinkedIn
Typically, two categories of people hire a social media manager like Two Step Social:
Category One: Businesses/professionals who would like a consistent, professional presence on social media platforms like LinkedIn, and they aren’t necessarily looking for rapid growth. These people know that existing and potential customers are following them and searching for them on social media. They want to consistently post content to appear active and legitimate. These folks are not necessarily looking to increase their follower counts or engagement; they just want a steady presence, and don’t want to spend time creating posts.
Category Two: Businesses/professionals who would not only like a consistent, professional presence on social media but would also like to grow their follower counts, impressions, engagement, etc. If you have read this far in the article, it probably means you’re in this category, and you want to grow on LinkedIn. Those in this category are more likely to want tangible leads, followers, customers, etc. from their social media efforts.
If you’re in Category One, posting content daily or every few days will help you accomplish your goal. Those following you will see your content, and those who look you up on LinkedIn and other social media platforms will see that you’re active.
If you’re in Category Two, posting content is essential to getting followers, leads, customers, etc., but it also requires an engagement strategy. It’s first important to note that you won’t go viral overnight. At Two Step Social, we believe content is the rocket, and engagement is the rocket fuel. Without content, potential followers will be unable to interact with you or learn from your posts. In other words, any engagement strategy efforts without content will be like rocket fuel with no rocket. On the other hand, posting content without an engagement strategy is like having a big, powerful rocket on the launch pad but no rocket fuel to help it take off.
Those in Category One tend to be okay with having an eye-catching rocket on the launchpad. Those in Category Two want to launch their rocket from the launchpad. To do this, you need an engagement strategy.
What is a LinkedIn Engagement Strategy?
An engagement strategy is simply a set of actions one must take on the platform to generate more organic views and engagement. A LinkedIn engagement strategy will help your account grow when combined with high-quality content. Here are some engagement strategy actions you should consider:
1) Switch to a Creator Account. If you haven’t done this already, make the switch. This will allow people to follow you, increase the likelihood your posts get organic impressions, and let you add additional information on your profile.
2) Comment on Posts. LinkedIn is a unique platform in that when you comment on a post, many of your followers and connections will see that you left a comment. Regularly commenting on industry-related posts can increase your organic impressions and followers.
3) Connect with Others. To grow on LinkedIn, you must “make connections” with other professionals. Send connection requests to colleagues, clients, and potential leads/customers. Don’t overdo it, but make a habit of sending a handful of connection requests each week.
4) Follow Industry Influencers. It’s crucial to follow executives and influencers in your industry and like and comment on their posts. This can help LinkedIn’s algorithm figure out with whom your content will likely resonate.
5) Profile Picture. This one’s easy, but it’s worth noting. Your profile picture should be professional, crisp, and recognizable.
6) Post Valuable, Impromptu Content. In addition to the regular, consistent content that you or your social media manager is posting, also try to post the occasional poll, article, or news commentary. Don’t just post for the sake of posting; your content should bring value or knowledge to your audience.
7) Use Hashtags. Hashtags aren’t going to “make or break” you, but they can help you generate a few more impressions than you would have otherwise. No need to include more than a handful; we generally recommend adding three to seven hashtags on a post.
8) Tag Others in Comments/Posts. By including others in your comments, they’re more likely to interact, and then their networks are more likely to interact.
9) Respond to Comments. If people are commenting on your posts, then make sure to respond to them. From LinkedIn’s standpoint, the post appears more “interactable” and engaging.
10) Make Your Content Interactive. This doesn’t have to be the case with every post, but some posts should end with questions or prompts to leave a comment/link. For example, some questions to end a post would be “What do you think about [topic]?” or “Which tool for [task] is your favorite?” Another great interactive post idea is soliciting reactions to the latest news/trends.
So, What’s Next?
It’s time to grow on LinkedIn, so here are your next steps. First, make sure your profile is squared away and configured correctly. Fill out your “About” section, make sure your Education and Experience are listed correctly, and switch to a Creator account.
From there, get started on creating interesting, professional, and engaging content. This is often the most time-consuming piece, so Two Step Social can help. Here are some examples of content we have created for other clients. In addition to the content your social media manager is creating for you, also try to write an article or post a poll now and then.
Lastly, create a daily regimen for engagement. This part is more difficult to outsource than content creation. Every day, dedicate ten or fifteen minutes of your calendar to leaving comments, liking posts, and sending connection requests. Obviously, this takes time, but this part is somewhat tricky to outsource. While you could hire a VA or have someone internally take this over, only you can connect with others you have interacted with.
Contact our team today if you have questions about LinkedIn content creation or engagement strategies. We’ve helped dozens of brands grow on Linked by creating content, and we’re happy to help discuss the best path forward for your brand.
