With most social media platforms, the driving force behind their success (and subsequently the success of the businesses that use them) is a youthful energy that inspires disruption. Yet when it comes to LinkedIn, something different happens.
Truth be told, LinkedIn shouldn’t exist. Its user base has the oldest average age by a country mile at well over 35 years old, and if you ask most Millenials and Gen Z-ers, they’re not using it much, if at all. less than half of young people aren’t using LinkedIn.
But it survives. It thrives.
But demographics aside, the long-lasting platform acts like the older brother of other social media platforms. The one people turn to when they’re sick of cat memes and would rather do an online course on personal accounting than go clubbing.
If you hadn’t guessed it, this week, we’re looking at LinkedIn as part of our ongoing series about how to leverage social media to grow your brand online. Our previous entry was on Twitter – and you can read it here.
Not Just a Glorified Job Board
That’s right, LinkedIn is far from a fancy job-seekers forum. Over the last few years, the platform has rolled out some extensive changes to both how users interact with each other, and how they interact with the businesses and brands that are also on there.
The few millennials and Gen-Zers who use it now will no-doubt be looking for a new era of professional interaction, one that allows them to drop a goofy meme on a comment and be respected, not looked down upon.
As the demographics of LinkedIn change (and if it survives these fast trend/demand fluctuations), so will the way businesses and professionals interact. In fact, with interactive polls, quick reactions, and even LinkedIn stories, the platform is already relishing in a new era of professional interactions.
For businesses, this pivot opens up new marketing opportunities and the chance to build a strong network of professional followers.
Unlike other social media platforms where selling a product or service may seem more appropriate, LinkedIn offers the perfect location to attract new and diverse talent, raise profile with potential investors or brand ambassadors, and even reach potential new customers.
Optimise Your Pages
LinkedIn may look like Facebook at times, but it works more like Instagram when it comes to leaving an impression.
On LinkedIn, it’s important to get the values of your brand across in an instant. This can be best achieved by optimising your page and creating a strong and consistent profile that can instantly elevate your brand and encourage users to follow.
But remember, LinkedIn is a place for mutual benefit – simple CTAs don’t work here. Brands who grow on the platform regularly consider who their target audience is and target their Company Page to them specifically.
For example, if you’re mainly targeting potential new hires, you may want to include details about your hiring policies, employee benefits, or team building activities. If you’re looking for new clients, use real examples of how both parties benefited from the project.
Get Visual
Remember we said LinkedIn was more like Instagram? Well, that extends to visual interaction too. The truth is, people are reading less and enjoying images and video more, and like most other platforms, LinkedIn is becoming a visual-first platform.
In fact, the current LinkedIn algorithm prioritises posts containing images or videos.
When creating content for LinkedIn, adding images or even a carousel of images can give you far more real estate on the Home Feed than a text based post, helping your brand stand out from the crowd even more – or keep up with the competition at the very least.
LinkedIn Documents feature lets users post a series of images, or even wide, scrollable documents. As a brand and businesses, this opens a new world of sharable dynamic, engaging galleries of images that other platforms don’t provide.
Myk Baxter Marketing has a team of expert social media marketing designers and creatives who can help your brand adapt and develop visuals for your brand specifically for LinkedIn.
Expose Yourself
Okay, not like that – you’ll be off the platform in no time. But given the updated features like hashtags and algorithms that increasingly share popular posts with non-followers to expand your reach means there’s never a better time than now to expose your brand to those who matter.
Adding hashtags to posts and comments act as a gateway to new users or non-followers to discover your content. The system even suggests tags for you based on the content of your post, so there’s really no excuse to not have them.
As they develop this feature, there’s a likelihood that we will see more features around hashtags emerge, so getting on the #LinkedInhashtag bandwagon now is a great idea for those looking to grow their brand.
As for engagement, there’s a new world of engagement driving features too.
LinkedIn Live, which offers a live webinar or talking head post much like Facebook Live (perfect during Covid times), gets on average 24 times more comments than native videos produced by the same brand according to LinkedIn themselves.
LinkedIn Stories share content in much the same way as Instagram or TikTok, attracting the younger user to keep up to date in an easily digestible fashion. Much like other platforms, LinkedIn Stores have proven to be huge – ideal for sharing quick, professional updates that keep dialogue fresh and increase your brand’s visibility.
Polls and Reactions also play a significant part in boosting engagement and exposure, and can also be a great way to discover what your audience cares about on LinkedIn. Remember, LinkedIn is more of a two-way, mutually beneficial platform. You vote in my poll, I create a service you need. I scratch your back, you scratch mine.
Keep Growing
From personal professional connections to attracting new clients or tapping into a pool of strong job candidates, LinkedIn can help you and your business grow – albeit in quite an atypical way for social media.
If you take away one thing from this blog, it’s that you need to approach LinkedIn differently. It’s a black sheep in the social media world and has a lot of benefits for it, and arguably a lot of flaws.
As new features evolve and are revealed, there’s no doubt that LinkedIn has a job on its hands to stay relevant to the new generation of young professionals. But as it carefully balances fun usability with professional demand, businesses can bridge the gap, source talent and grow their brand by doing something a bit different.
LinkedIn is like Marmite; you either love it or you hate it. The trouble is, that like Marmite, it’s probably quite good for you.
At Myk Baxter Marketing, we can help tailor your LinkedIn strategies to best suit your brand. From eye-catching visual posts to clever brand development marketing and job hiring strategies, we get brands noticed. Find out how MBM can get you linked in with LinkedIn by visiting www.mykbaxtermarketing.com today.
