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CONTENT / INFLUENCE / SCALE LINKEDIN CONTENT MARKETING GUIDE Whether youre a business- or consumer-focused brand, if youre not using LinkedIn or dont have a content marketing strategy for the platform, there are loads of reasons why you should.o look at certain stats, you might think LinkedIn was the sad also-ran in the content marketing and social media world. The 2017 State of the Creator Economy study ranks it as a “solid tier 3” platform. Its not used nearly as much as Facebook or YouTube, and lags behind sites like Instagram and Pinterest. But when it comes to content marketing, LinkedIns definitely not an also-ran. Fact is, its in a class all by itself. LinkedIn is a bit different from the other social media networks out there. While Instagram and Facebook seem to focus on fun and reconnecting with friends and past acquaintances, LinkedIn means business. It describes itself as the worlds largest professional network. To date, it has more than 500 million users from more than 200 countries. Unlike other social media platforms, LinkedIn doesnt track its users by their activity. While youll hear Facebook or Instagram talk about daily or monthly active users, LinkedIn is focused just on the number of users. In the US, LinkedIn is one of the least popular social networks, according to Pew Research Center, at least in terms of the number of adults who use it. Just a quarter of the US adult population is on LinkedIn. But its not so much about the number of people who use LinkedIn as it is the type of people who are on the platform. According to Pew, nearly half of all college graduates in the US are on LinkedIn, putting it in second place (behind Facebook) when it comes to the education level of its users. LOOKING AT LINKEDIN T LinkedIn users are also more likely to be high income earners, with 45 percent of US adults who earn more than $75,000 per year on the platform, as well as 30 percent of US adults who earn between $50,000 and $74,999 annually. More than 40 percent of millionaires use LinkedIn. That makes sense, given the sites purpose. Its goal is to connect professionals around the world, and to help them be more successful and productive. While LinkedIn might not have the billions of users of Facebook, it does have some pretty big names in its corner. In 2016, Microsoft purchased the professional social networking platform for $26.2 billion in cash. LinkedIns professional focus makes it an ideal place to be for businesses large and small. The platform is also throwing its weight behind content marketing, meaning that if your brand doesnt have a LinkedIn content marketing strategy, it should. BUSINESS ON LINKEDIN LinkedIn isnt just a tool for employees and professionals to find work or connect with other people. Its also a great tool for businesses to connect with top-level executives at other companies, and for businesses large and small to connect with a customer base. 1Nearly 60 percent of companies have a company page on LinkedIn, according to Hootsuite, and there are more than seven million company pages. Company pages offer brands a range of features that arent available on personal pages. Whether your businesss goal is to attract new talent or convert new customers, having a well-thought-out company page is a must. LINKEDIN AND CONTENT MARKETING The people behind LinkedIn have really thrown their hats into the content marketing ring, promoting the platform as the go-to for B2B content marketing. LinkedIn has its own marketing division, LinkedIn Marketing Solutions, which offers tips and advice for using the social network for marketing. The division also offers stats and facts about the effectiveness of LinkedIn for content marketing. shock,” according to the Content Marketing Institute. Content shock is what happens when the volume or amount of content is more than peoples ability to consume it. Any content created in a “content shock” environment is essentially a waste of time and energy. Either no ones going to read it, or very few will. Perhaps worse, people who do read the content dont trust it. But that doesnt seem to be the case on LinkedIn. LETS NOT FORGET B2C CONTENT MARKETING! “OK,” you might be thinking, “thats fantastic that LinkedIn is so ideal for B2B marketers. But I work for a B2C brand. Whats in it for me?” A lot, actually. Content marketing on LinkedIn isnt just for B2B. B2C brands have also had a fair amount of success putting together content marketing strategies on the platform. According to the Content Marketing Institutes 2017 B2C Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets & Trends - North America report, 66 percent of B2C marketers used LinkedIn to distribute content. For B2C marketers, LinkedIn is behind email, Facebook, and Twitter, but ahead of YouTube and Instagram. Additionally, LinkedIn was ranked by B2C marketers as the fifth most important content distribution channel. About 57 percent of marketers ranked it as either a 4 or 5 out of 5 on a scale of importance. Research from LinkedIn itself has demonstrated that consumer users of the platform are receptive to marketing messages. In 2014, the platform interviewed 600 members and made the following discoveries: LinkedIn members are two times more likely to trust information they see on the platform compared to other social media sites. Members view the content they come across on LinkedIn as more valuable than what they might find on the “NY Times” or other publications. Members on LinkedIn have twice the buying power of Facebook users. LinkedIn members tend to be brand loyal, and will keep buying a brand once they find one they like. 2 92% OF B2B MARKETERS USE LINKEDIN OVER ALL OTHER TYPES OF SOCIAL MEDIA FOR MARKETING According to “The Secret Sauce: How LinkedIn Uses LinkedIn for Marketing,” nearly 80 percent of B2B marketers think that social media is an effective marketing channel. More importantly, 92 percent of B2B marketers use LinkedIn over all other types of social media for marketing, and 94 percent of B2B marketers are distributing content on LinkedIn. When it comes to lead generation for B2B marketing, LinkedIn leaves the other social platforms in the dust. According to Hubspot, LinkedIn had a visitor-to-lead conversion rate of nearly 3 percent. That might not seem like a lot, but its three times higher than either Facebook or Twitter, both of which were under one percent. LinkedIn is a must-use for content marketing in part because people who are visiting the platform are coming there for content. The platform isnt just for checking out job postings or seeing what former co- workers are up to. According to “The Secret Sauce,” there are more than nine billion content impressions on LinkedIn every week, more than 15 times the number of job postings that appear in peoples feeds. Although theres an awful lot of content on LinkedIn, the platform isnt yet showing what is called “content 3 2 3 2 THE ANATOMY OF A STELLAR COMPANY PAGE How your brands company page looks and the type of content you share or publish on it can mean the difference between a successful content marketing campaign on LinkedIn and one thats dead in the water. Heres a look at what makes a company page stand out: Photos and logo. Include your companys logo on your company page. The logo shows up when people search for your brand, and can help Linke- dIn users easily see if they got the right company or not. According to LinkedIn, pages with a logo get six times the traffic as pages without. Youre also able to choose a cover image for your page. Pick one thats high-quality and compelling, and that somehow reflects your brand. Company description. Who are you and why should users care? Write up a short and sweet description explaining what your brand does and what makes it one- of-a-kind. Follow button. You want people to follow your brand on LinkedIn, right? Including a follow button right on your com- pany page makes it easy to do so. Showcase pages. If your brand has a lot of divisions or projects, it might be worthwhile to create showcase pages for them to really show them off. The showcase pages are linked from your main company page and offer your visitors a chance to learn more about a specific aspect of your business that interests them. Regularly published con- tent. Posting content, such as company updates or long-form pieces, on a regular basis will keep followers interested in your page and help them stay up-to-date about whats going on. Some types of content do better on LinkedIn than others. The platform also offers a suite of content options. Search-friendly. Your brands company page can show up on Google, so make sure you write it with SEO in mind. Tak- ing a search-friendly approach can also increase the chances of people finding your page when doing a search on LinkedIn. WHAT CONTENT WORKS BEST ON LINKEDIN?The type of content that works best on LinkedIn varies based on the platform where youre sharing the content. The platforms Content Marketing Tactical Plan recommends taking the following approach for each area or opportunity on LinkedIn. Content to Share on Your Company Page or Showcase Page When deciding what type of content to post on your companys page, it helps to consider how useful the content is for your followers. People arent looking at your page to find out about your brand. Odds are theyre looking for some type of information. Heres how you can give it to them: Post ebooks. Post white papers. Post how-tos. Post case studies. Post interesting articles about your industry. Post infographics or visuals.Best Practices for Posting on Your Company Page Use images or video. People are more likely to share posts with video, and more likely to comment on posts with images. Post in the morning it creates more engagement. Post at least once a day. Include a link, as posts with links have a 45 percent higher engagement rate than those without. Using Slideshare Another way to use LinkedIn for content marketing is by publishing content on Slideshare, which has around 70 million unique visitors each month. Think visual when it comes to content to put on Slideshare, such as: Presentations Webinar decks Videos Infographics Product-specific tips and how-tos Using LinkedIn Publishing Along with letting you share content youve created on other sites, LinkedIn offers its own publishing platform. More than one million users are on the sites publishing platform, and around 130,000 posts get published weekly. Content that tends to do well on the publishing platform includes: Long-form industry trends Long-form experience pieces Long-form reflections or “lessons learned” Content to Share Through InMail You can connect directly with certain followers by sending sponsored messages to them via InMail. InMail is a great way to share news about a variety of different types of new content, such as: Infographics eBooks Upcoming webinars or events Your brands blog InMail Best Practices As with regular email marketing, there are a few best practices you can follow to make sure your InMail messages resonate: 4 LINKEDIN CONTENT MARKETING DONE RIGHT What does a successful content marketing campaign on LinkedIn look like? Here are a few examples. LinkedIn Marketing Solutions LinkedIn Marketing Solutions has done an excellent job of “showing how its done” when it comes to using LinkedIn for content marketing. If the entire point of the division is evangelizing LinkedIn marketing, you better bet that they do it right.LinkedIn Marketing Solutions used sponsored content and a quote from an influencer on the platform. They ended up getting nearly 700 new blog subscribers.Target Remember how we said that LinkedIns not just for B2B marketers? There are a few great examples of content marketing on the platform from consumer-focused companies, like Target. Content shared on Targets company page highlights the people behind the company, as well as news about developments and changes at the store. The big-box retailers LinkedIn marketing allows it to give a human face to what would otherwise be a faceless corporation.Starbucks Starbucks is another B2C company thats found a way to make content marketing work for it on LinkedIn. The coffee brands company page is full of a mix of job postings, company news, and posts calling for engagement by asking followers to share their thoughts and ideas.7 Keep it personal. Youre more likely to get a response if you add a personal touch to your message, according to Fast Company. Keep it short. Less than 1,000 characters is ideal. Include a call-to-action. You should be doing this with all your content, but theres also a special banner for it with InMail. Sponsored Content on LinkedIn Sponsored content lets you reach users who dont follow you on LinkedIn. Its similar to promoted posts on other social media platforms. Content that works best as sponsored content includes: Updates and news about your company Blog posts Case studies Visuals (infographics, photos, videos) News and research about your industry TOP BENEFITS OF LINKEDIN CONTENT MARKETING More traffic to your website. A two-year study that looked at monthly visits to more than 60 corporate websites found that LinkedIn was responsible for more than two thirds of all social referrals to a brands website. Facebook and Twitter might send people to your site, but youll get more clicks and traction on LinkedIn. Higher conversions. Once those people do get to your brands site, theyre more likely to become customers, as 43 percent of marketers have landed a customer thanks to LinkedIn. Direct connection to decision makers. Your content is more likely to land in the lap of decision makers when you share or post it on LinkedIn, or use LinkedIns publishing options to create it. There are 40 million decision makers on the platform, including 4.1 million IT decision makers and 10.7 million opinion leaders. Full range of content options. Whether you share a link to a video, blog post, or ebook, create a long-form opinion piece, or share a presentation on Slideshare, LinkedIn offers more content marketing features and options than pretty much any other social platform. SEO-friendly. Even better, your company page or publications on LinkedIn get indexed by Google, which can boost your brands SEO and make it easier for searchers to find your content. Depending on the size and reputation of your company, posting a blog or other type of content through LinkedIns publishing platform might be a better bet that posting directly on your website. LinkedIns got high authority, so content on i
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