For a business-to-business startup company, getting as many clients as possible during their early days is vital for a strong start. But that can be harder than you might think. This is where LinkedIn marketing can be a lot of help for you. Let’s look at how you can build an effective strategy for and get more out of it with Virtua Solutions’ help.
How Does LinkedIn Marketing Work?
While there are many social media platforms for engaging with potential clients, LinkedIn stands out for B2B. This is because it is geared towards professionals. As such, you will be able to more easily reach out to businesses that might need your products or services.
Image from Search Engine Journal.
Because of that, marketing on the platform is markedly different from other social media sites like Facebook. For one, Facebook is geared more towards general social interactions. People go there to share personal stories and engage in conversation with others. This is even the case with businesses, who want to reach out to these people on a more personal level.
People on LinkedIn are there to do business. As such, they share their achievements to attract possible clients. Marketing here also means emphasizing how you can help another business serve its customers.
The Benefits Of LinkedIn Marketing For Your Startup Company
With its different approach, marketing on LinkedIn will give your startup company several key benefits. These benefits provide a greater chance at catching the interest of prospects.
The Right Target Audience
Image from Hubspot.
As mentioned, LinkedIn is aimed towards professionals. This means that most of your audience is already there in front of you. With that, you don’t have to go through a lot of trouble searching for them. And as it turns out, it is 27% more effective than Facebook in turning this audience into actual leads.
Maintain Business Relationships
Beyond the initial task of attracting prospects, LinkedIn marketing is also a great way to strengthen your relationships with them. By constantly interacting with them, you can open the way for further business collaborations. Additionally, you can use these relationships as a springboard for growing your professional network.
Build Your Reputation
Image from Top Work Places.
Just like any social network, a strong presence on LinkedIn can help you boost your overall reputation. Through the platform, you can connect with experts in your industry who can provide you with additional clout. This helps you position yourself as an authority that your business audience will look up to.
The Right LinkedIn Marketing Strategy For YOur Startup Company
To have a strong start on your LinkedIn Marketing effort, you need to develop the right strategy. Here, you have the so-called 5E’s to consider.
Explore Opportunities
Through LinkedIn’s various advanced search features, you can better pinpoint your target audience. You can also go beyond just the initial prospects you have. By exploring their respective networks, you can find even more potential clients to reach out to.
Expand Your Network
Image from Indiana University Bloomington.
From that initial search, you can use LinkedIn to expand your network of connections. But you should be strategic in this expansion. You want to reach out to people who are most likely to engage with you in return.
Engaging Connections
That engagement follows the same principles as in any other social media platform. By interacting with your connections’ posts and other content, you become more visible in their eyes. This opens opportunities for continued conversations with them and eventual conversions.
Establish Relationships
Once you have gotten past that initial conversation, you can begin laying the groundwork for a long-term relationship. For this, you need to show interest in learning more about your connections. Here, you want to pay attention to what they share on the platform to understand them better. Additionally, you should be a connector and help them reach out to people in your network.
Position Your Startup Company As An Expert
Image from SendPulse.
This is the final step in your overall strategy. You want to establish what exactly you know and how that knowledge will help your LinkedIn audience. Here, you should share content that you and others have made that will be helpful to your audience. You would also want to continue responding to their questions about this content.
Doing More With Your Startup Company LinkedIn Profile
To have a strong start with your startup company marketing efforts, you need to have the right LinkedIn profile. Think of your profile as an interactive resume or company page. As such, you should make your page an engaging gateway to your brand.
Some of the ways that you can boost your profile page include:
- Status updates: Regularly posting about the happenings around your startup will keep your connections interested in knowing about you.
- Articles: You can readily publish articles on LinkedIn as a way of establishing your expertise on certain topics.
- Videos and presentations: This is another great way for you to showcase your company’s capabilities by providing a demonstration.
- Recommendations: LinkedIn lets your connections post recommendations on your profile page. These recommendations serve as a great push for your brand.
- Accomplishments: Highlight the patents, certifications, projects, and courses you have accomplished that are relevant to your audience’s interest.
With these items on your startup company profile page, you give people a more detailed look into your work. You would want to keep refining your page by testing different elements to see which ones your target audience responds to the most.
Doing Effective Lead Generation Through Linkedin
A major goal of your LinkedIn marketing effort is to generate new leads for your B2B startup company. To achieve this, you need to employ a variety of strategies to engage your audience.
Image from SalesFlow
One of the best strategies here is by going out and engaging the larger LinkedIn community. There are two categories that you want to engage here: groups and influencers. Groups work like other social media-based communities and let you interact with others sharing the same interest as yours.
Meanwhile, influencers are the experts within your industry that have large followings. Here, you can comment on their posts and share your knowledge. With their large audiences, more people will see you. You can also directly interact with these influencers, who can then recommend you to their audience.
Grow Your Startup Company MORE On LinkedIn
With these strategies, you can create a solid foundation for your foray into LinkedIn marketing. But that is just the tip of the iceberg. As the platform changes, you can expect the marketing to also change. And we at Virtua Solutions are always ready to lend your startup company a hand. Contact us today and get ready to be more prominent on the platform.