9 Powerful LinkedIn Marketing Tips (That Actually Work)

If you run a B2B business, it’s essential that you have a presence on LinkedIn.

The social platform has some of the highest ad conversion rates, and it boasts a network of nearly 800 million members across the globe. Even better, four out of five LinkedIn members influence business decisions at their companies.

How do you make the most of your time on LinkedIn? Follow these proven LinkedIn marketing tips.

Sections

1. Optimize your “Let’s Connect” message.

LinkedIn invites you to customize your connection requests, so take advantage of this marketing opportunity. Instead of sending a generic “Hi, nice to meet you,” introduce yourself and offer a CTA that grows your business.

For warm connections, a link to your landing page or a downloadable whitepaper works. If that feels too pushy, include a direct link to sign up for your email newsletter.

Pro Tip: Make sure the benefit is clear. Explain the type of value your email marketing list offers, whether it’s the latest in industry trends, best practices, or how-to content.

2. Tap into LinkedIn’s targeting.

Does your small business serve particular verticals or company sizes? LinkedIn allows you to reach them directly.

Refine your targeting to people who work at businesses in the exact size, location, and industry you typically cater to. Then, refine your targeting further to ensure your ads reach people with the specific titles or roles you typically work with.

3. Splurge on a Sponsored update.

Sponsored updates are an ideal way to get your CEO’s thought leadership in front of more eyeballs. They’re also great for high-value content, like a new whitepaper or industry report. You can target these posts just like any other ad on LinkedIn — dialing down to specific job titles, skills, or companies.

LinkedIn offers four main ad types:

Sponsored Ads
Message Ads
Text Ads
Dynamic Ads (pictured below)

Learn more in our guide to creating LinkedIn ads.

4. Explore LinkedIn groups.

You can use LinkedIn groups for product innovation and marketing insights, but you can also play a more active role and use them to network and generate leads.

Join groups likely to contain members of your target audience. Since you’re already part of the same group, people are more likely to accept your connection requests.

5. Post the right content.

Thought leadership and news content does well on LinkedIn. Hard sales and impersonal promotion? Not so much. So, do what works:

Repost your blogs on LinkedIn. You can either copy and paste the entire blog into your post, or share short snippets.

Check in with your network by posting a daily status update or asking a Question of the Day.
Promote your upcoming webinar, or share links to your whitepapers. You can even share PDFs and PowerPoints!
Tease your latest webinar or podcast episode with a Headliner video.

Pro Tip: For the best results, tag your content with up to three hashtags.

6. Pay attention to your profile.

New and potential connections are most likely to notice whatever shows up above the fold, before they have to scroll. So, optimize the top half of your profile. Include a stellar headshot and compelling header image. Include keywords in your title.

And, add a summary! You can use those 2,000 characters to effectively pitch yourself to your ideal audience. Be personable and authentic.

Use the rest of your profile to show off your company’s latest awards, case studies, whitepapers, or reports. Add these as they’re published to keep your profile fresh and up to date.

Get more tips in our guide to boosting your LinkedIn profile.

7. Give your company page some love.

Likewise, optimize your company page by filling it out completely. Make sure to:

Link to your website and social media profiles
Add a header image and your logo.
List your services.
Share content regularly.

Pro Tip: Include keywords in your About section. At Your Marketing People, we mention our expertise in PPC, SEM, and social media advertising.

8. Enlist the team.

Help your content go viral. Email a link to your latest LinkedIn post and ask your team to reshare it. Give them ideas for how they can introduce the content, even writing out a few pre-scripted options. This makes them more likely to share it, and their own followers more likely to notice it.

9. Feed the algorithm.

Like any social media platform, LinkedIn likes to promote posts with high engagement. Stay consistent, and keep on posting. Pay attention to what works and double down on it.

Remember: You don’t have to overdo it. Engagement trumps quantity on LinkedIn. According to research from Onalytica, those who post between 10 to 30 times (daily to a few times per week) a month see the highest engagement rates.