How to Grow Your Business with LinkedIn Pages

Last week I attended the annual Content Marketing World. I sat in on a few different sessions, but the one that caught my attention the most was “How to Grow Your Business with LinkedIn Pages” presented by Michaela Alexis, a LinkedIn Trainer and LinkedIn Learning Instructor. 

With LinkedIn becoming more and more of a key driver in the B2B marketing sphere, I wanted to summarize the session and add some additional thoughts on the topic:

Alexis started out the presentation by having the viewers close their eyes. Why? To picture 740 million users. That’s how many users are on LinkedIn. These people could be potential clients, a connection to a future sale, an industry expert worthwhile of a partnership, etc. “LinkedIn hands you a mic to speak to those people for free,” Alexis said. But how do you start?

A huge team is not needed to execute a strategy for your page. In fact, the fewer the better in my opinion. It’s important to keep a consistent tone and messaging. In addition, a huge budget is also not needed to have a successful page. But I personally recommend a mix of organic and paid advertising to reach your target audience.

With that in mind, Alexis laid out four steps to grow your business’ page:

Step 1: Build it right and they will come 

• Cover image – Your coverage image should clearly display what your business offers and who the page is intended for. By identifying this in the cover image, you make it obvious from a first glance.
• Overview – This section allows for you to highlight items such as your company’s mission statement, who you serve, how you can help those in your industry, etc. Alexis recommended adding a call to action as well, and if applicable, a gift of sorts, such as a discount at checkout. 
• Hashtags – You can associate your page with up to 3 different hashtags. When selecting which 3 fit your brand best, consider the hashtag’s activity, how general vs. specific it is, and if your ideal client is searching for it. For example, Alexis recommended adding events.

Step 2: Show them what you’re made of 

• Video – The options seem endless for what you can display in video format these days. Alexis gave a number of great suggestions, such as behind-the-scenes, highlighting individual team members, audiograms, and more. When selecting which to send out, Alexis suggested testing the video out on your staff to gauge interest. 
• Documents – If you haven’t discovered yet, LinkedIn has the capability to upload documents for preview. Some ideas include checklists, blog posts, technical briefs, etc. When uploading, be sure to include the necessary contact information and a reminder to download. Encouraging sharing isn’t the worst idea either! 
• Images – When it came to images, Alexis encouraged the audience to spice them up. This is a great opportunity to showcase your company’s personality. “We often use humor to break the ice, so don’t be afraid to use it on social too,” she said. 
• Articles – When developing articles, don’t forget to repurpose content. This can be from videos, podcasts, etc. Articles are also great to recap a company event, announce a product or project, and more. 

Step 3: Amplify your efforts 

She knocked this point out of the park by starting with calls to action. These should always be clear, relevant and in her words “make it hurt.” By being clear, you eliminate multiple actions. By being relevant, you create a natural next step and/or show the benefit. And by making it hurt, you stress the importance of not delaying action and putting a time or number limit in mind. 

With this, LinkedIn offers two amazing benefits to create employee advocacy and allows you to invite connections easily. The first is the “Notify Employees” button on each post. Once this button is clicked, employees associated with the page will be notified. Doing so can maximize the efforts of engagement. You can promote one post every 24 hours. And a newer feature allows you to invite connections to follow your page. Each admin receives 100 credits per month. 

Step 4: Review and adjust 

Alexis said, “Think of LinkedIn as the world’s largest networking event.” So with preparation for that event in mind, be sure to review your analytics. See what is or isn’t working for your strategy and optimize as needed. 

In summary, to grow your LinkedIn page, you should consider optimizing, creating cool community content, amplifying efforts through free, easy-to-use tools, and checking your analytics to see what’s working.