In 2021, our world is more digital than ever accelerated by the pandemic, and this constant bombardment has resulted in a need for marketers to strive harder to create a trustworthy and organic conversion channel for their potential customers.
LinkedIn is a great platform for B2B marketers to reach out and create potential leads at lower conversion costs. This isn’t just applicable to big business but also small business, professionals who want to leverage on great internships and mentoring opportunities and LinkedIn with around 660 million users is emerging as a winner in the category.
But why is LinkedIn emerging as a win for users?
Interestingly, LinkedIn was voted as the most trustworthy social networking platform continuously for the past 3 years. Compared to other platforms, LinkedIn was able to leverage on industry leaders, thought creators to create exciting and valuable content and create engagement on its platform.
So how can you utilize LinkedIn to market your personal brand?
- Profile Optimization
Your LinkedIn profile is the cornerstone of your professional brand online. Yet many sales professionals create a LinkedIn profile that looks like their résumé or CV. To start, make your first visual impression count by displaying an optimized professional photo. Next, customize your profile URL so you can easily tell people how to find you online.
Further, Optimizing your headline, which appears directly under your name, is especially important because it’s highly visible, as well as searchable. The headline is limited to 120 characters so be sure to use valuable keywords that your target audience uses often. For example, adding terms like SEO expert, Content Writer etc can lead to higher searchability.
Visual Marketing is one of the most trending strategies from 2020 as it has the ability to connect with other people and market your personal brand better, so be sure to add samples of your written and video content in your profile.
Add in relevant experiences only, and keep them updated. Make sure to display relevant courses and certifications on top and while seeking endorsements, make a priority order for your top skills, so that you can personalize your profile according to your brand.
- Engaging in meaningful conversations
Inclusivity is becoming a raging topic of discussion in 2021. So are topics like sustainability, climate change etc. Create small content based threads to discuss with your community on these topics. In LinkedIn, according to several studies, short 50-100 word content pieces on currently trending topics or general work based topics tend to create more engagement. So, get out of your comfort zone and start engaging with the community online.
Are you facing difficulty getting people to engage with you?
To combat that, you can join LinkedIn groups, an innovative feature that helps people meet like-minded people and build meaningful connections. So are you into marketing? Here are some potential LinkedIn groups, you can join:
- Marketing I Social Media I Business I Digital Media I Investing Strategies
- Social Media Marketing Group by Connect365.io
- Marketing Communication
- International Association of Digital Marketing Professionals (IADMP)
- B2B Marketing
By joining a like minded LinkedIn group, you can find people in the industry interested in the kind of niche content that you are interested in. These can also be beneficial in finding freelance opportunities, potential internship opportunities or even selling a niche product!
3. Put up Value Add and actionable posts
So you recently got a certificate? Or completed an internship? Perhaps launched a new product? It’s great that you want to let people know about it. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that they are gaining any value additions out of the post. Solution?
Add in 3 insights, you got out of that course, lessons you want to share, perhaps even an interesting fact about the organization/course/person/product. The reader will now gain more insights into the programme and would be better interested to engage rather than a generic “I won so and so..” post.
Further adding some actionable insights that you wish to take will project you as an individual that is action focused and forward thinking. Thus, making people more interested in your content in the future. Psychological studies have shown that getting people to engage with you makes them subconsciously feel committed towards you, thus make sure you create small actionable posts to boost engagement.
4. Localize SEO
Local SEO is a search engine optimization (SEO) strategy that helps your profile be more visible in local search results on LinkedIn. Are you looking for a job in a particular geographical location or sell a particular product in a particular market? In that case, optimizing your SEO, to include particular locations. This can be very helpful for recruiters/ collaboration/ freelancing to find opportunities in that area.
Start by adding your location in the upper left corner of the profile. This is viewed almost immediately, so make sure it stays relevant. Similarly, add in details in the experience section, making sure to add endorsements and recommendations from local experts that will lend credibility to your brand. This is particularly useful for small businesses to reach out to their target market.
These are some tips to make your brand stay relevant on LinkedIn.
Let me know in the comments what tips you have for 2021 in creating a stellar LinkedIn profile!
Article on LinkedIn Marketing Tips 2021 – Written by – Anjali Sunil (Intern)