There are a number of great ways to do your B2B marketing online these days. Any business owner that wants to grow and increase their reach would be wise to consider multiple options.
With this in mind, it is now worth considering whether or not the time is right to use LinkedIn for this important job. The answer is that it could be very worthwhile if you take the time to go about it in the right way. So how will you do this?
Spend Time on Your Profile
Your LinkedIn profile is vitally important. This is what other people will see when they have to decide whether or not you are a person worth doing business with. You only have to do this once so you should take the time to do it well. Complete all of the sections and make sure that you make it all look professional and accurate.
If you are self-employed then give yourself a good title. Swap in ‘Director’ for ‘Business Owner’, ‘Marketing Director’ for ‘Internet Marketer’. You need to think about the people you want to engage with and place yourself at their level.
Add a Picture
As with just about every other site you use online, adding a picture can make your profile stand out. A good clear picture will let others feel some sort of connection with you the first time that they come across your profile. You should use a picture that is friendly, yet professional at the same time. If you aren’t sure whether or not you have got the balance right then you could check out a few profiles from your rivals, or potential customers, and see what kind of picture they have gone with.
It is well worth getting the photo done professionally. This small investment can make a huge difference to the influence you develop on social media.
Add a Company Page
The company page you set up on LinkedIn can give you a wonderful opportunity to showcase your business to a wide group of receptive people. This might not seem like something vitally important when you first start out but if you spend time on it at the start then it is just a question of adding updates later on. You might get more visitors on here than you do on your main business site, so it makes sense to let people see what you do well.
Make sure your voice is consistent across all social channels, and across your website and marketing. Think carefully about how you want to say what you have to say. Just as you choose certain fonts and colors for your business consciously choose a style and tone for your corporate voice.
Start Sending Mails
Once you are happy that you have your profile and company page looking good it is time to reach out to some of the other business people you are interested in dealing with. LinkedIn has a very good data analysis tool that you can use to build a list.
Once you have the list ready you need to write the messages you want to send to them. At this point, it pays to keep it short and simple. If the person is interested in finding out more after receiving your message they can check out your profile and company page. If they are excited by what they see then you can expect to get a reply from them before too long.
Think about the time you are sending the messages. When dealing with organizational decision makers you are normally talking with very busy people. They will have hundreds of emails through daily. Many are in the habit of clearing their inbox on a Sunday evening. It is therefore a great idea to try about 8PM on a Sunday. At this time you might get responses from people that will simply not be motivated enough by your message to reply at any other time of the week.
As you can see, using LinkedIn for B2B marketing campaigns takes a bit of time, but then what worth doing doesn’t? Reach out to people based on what they need and you will get results.
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