Top tips on increasing LinkedIn engagement for the remainder of 2019

As of May 2019, LinkedIn had over 610 million members, it is now the largest professional network in the world. With that, 80% of B2B leads that come from social media come via LinkedIn. 

Maybe you’re new to LinkedIn and want to make the most of it. Maybe you’ve dabbled in the past, but feel now it’s time to get serious. Let me walk you through some of my top tips on how to get great engagement and results on the platform.

Your profile

Let’s start with an obvious one, but one that is often overlooked or neglected – your profile. Whether you’re new to LinkedIn or have been on it for some time, your profile needs to be tidy, professional and up to date. Proof-read all copy and text to make sure there are no mistakes. A professional profile photo is imperative (preferably smiley - minus the beer bottle, kids or the beloved pet!) and make sure your career history and profile information is up to date. This gives the right impression and the best chance of you appearing in relevant searches.

Your posts

Check your last activity: the last 5 posts should be a mixture of company updates, shared from your page, and content that LinkedIn members can engage with. Industry news is always a great one, you’ll be known as the ‘eyes and ears of the industry’, the ‘go to’ for news and updates. You don’t want to be spammy, so avoid only sharing your company updates. Use it as an opportunity to network, share your connections’ updates to build on your relationships. TIP: When you like a connection’s post, it appears in your network’s news feeds. Like and support as much as you can for exposure too. 

Optimise your company page

So, you have a company page, but you haven’t logged in for quite some time. Company pages that are fully completed get 30% more weekly views. Pages that post monthly generally gain followers six times faster than those that don’t.

A page helps members to learn about your business, it helps to build trust with your network and ultimately gives your business exposure on the platform. An up-to-date banner that reflects the brand image is the first thing members will see. Then, make sure you feature your services or products. Three to four updates per week to your company page and no more than one a day is optimal, with a mixture of content from your website and industry articles. This will keep your company visible and relevant. Questions are another great way to encourage engagement.

Groups and networking

Take full advantage of LinkedIn’s community features. Groups are good for targeting your audience without you having to pay. Networking with people of similar interests and expertise will warm them to your business, but be careful not to over share or spam them with posts. Be a person of trust, answer questions, engage in conversations and build relationships. Don’t post constantly about your yourself and your business. Best practices for groups.

Employees are your biggest advocates

Encourage employees to engage with content on the company page and ask them to link their workplaces to their profiles. By connecting with them, you are, in turn, expanding your network hugely. Employees typically have 10x the reach of their company. Encouraging engagement from your team, from sharing posts to likes and comments, will really expand the number of people that see your posts. 

Content is king

To be valuable, social media content should fall into one of four categories: education, entertainment, engagement or empowerment. If it doesn’t tick any of these boxes, think again about posting. Although content is ‘king’, so too is consistency. Be organised and use a scheduling tool to make sure you have regular content going out. There are some great tools available to help you do this.

Analytics

Utilise the tools provided. Analytics will help you assess who is visiting your company page and how they interact. You can see geographical locations and demographics, such as job titles. Once you know this, you can post accordingly.

Paid Ads

Using paid ads allows you to promote your page’s content to a broader relevant audience and encourage more engagement, followers and leads. You can even specify what groups to target. The combined effect of building relationships through your day-to-day LinkedIn activity and targeting ads to the groups you’re in, will make your audience more open to what you have to offer. With LinkedIn ads, you can test the waters with a daily budget and elect to pay-per-click or pay-per-impression according to your objectives. Use the Campaign Manager to track your ad’s performance and test to see what works best for you.

I hope these tips give you some new ideas and will help you make the most of the world’s biggest business community. Above all, remember LinkedIn is a professional platform, so use it accordingly.

At the Marketing Eye, we manage the LinkedIn presence for many clients and would love to help you with yours too. Please get in touch to learn more.