Wish shopping app was built by ex-Google employees on the back of Facebook ads. You can still build a new business on Facebook and Instagram, the platforms are more mature now and have more advanced features. While still underpriced and effective, the ads are more in demand now and hence cost more. LinkedIn is not that advanced, and to compensate for that they are keeping organic reach insanely high. Is this a chance for your cash-strapped startup?
One of our previous speakers at Arctic15, CEO and Founder of VarnerMedia, Marketing and Social Media influencer and businessman Gary Vaynerchuk, has got the answer. For years Gary has been known to consistently and accurately spot consumer trends right before it is time to strike. He’s been talking about Linkedin for a while now. This year, he mentioned LinkedIn as one of the strategies to implement in 2019. It’s not just a socialised resume depository anymore. LinkedIn can bring you and your business attention, influence and sales.
LinkedIn has a strikingly low content per user ratio
There are 610 million users on LinkedIn as of 2019, and 44% use the platform at least once a month. And yet, with all of these users and the frequency of their visits, only 3 million people (!!) share content each week. This means there is likely a massive gap in LinkedIn content for your industry. Still, knowing about this opportunity means nothing to you if you have no idea what content to produce and how to distribute it, so let’s discuss it.
How to post content on LinkedIn
Log into your Linkedin profile. You will see your profile photo on your left, and directly next to it are two important features which could give you a clue about what you should produce for LinkedIn. At the centre of your Home page is a “Start A Post” button with a pencil icon. To the right of this “Post” button is a list of some of the most read articles in your region. The LinkedIn interface is clearly trying to incite its users to produce written content and to read the articles of others. Therefore, if you are a strong writer or have one on your team, don’t hesitate to start producing value-driven articles that would benefit your potential customer.
If you aren’t a great writer, don’t despair: LinkedIn also lets you upload videos within your posts, which enables more charismatic and well-spoken individuals to shine, even without a great copy. Consider adding subtitles to your videos, as video content is often consumed on mute. If a customer happens to see your content while they are, say, at the office supposedly writing a report, they will miss your message if the video is not subbed
If you prefer to share audio, you can do so by hosting it on Amazon AWS, iTunes, Soundcloud, Anchor, Libsyn or other service and sharing a link to it in your post.
How to write long-form articles for LinkedIn
LinkedIn posts are limited to a maximum of 600 characters. They are great for sharing short updates, thoughts, links or resources. If you want to build influence using your deep industry expertise, long-form articles are a better way. They have no character limit, you can pin them to your private profile and you can also share them as links on other platforms.
The link to sharing a long-form article is right below the button for a LinkedIn post:
A long-form article requires a cover image. The best size would be 600 x 322 pixels. It helps to allow for 20 pixel margin on all sides that does not contain any crucial information as LinkedIn automatically crops up to 20 pixels to accommodate for different devices.
How to be relevant on LinkedIn
Gary’s $1.80 strategy is as relevant on LinkedIn as it is on Instagram or other platforms. You may write articles and if they are insightful some people will likely notice. However, to expand your reach it helps to engage with others’ content.
Engaging with others’ content means looking up articles relevant to your industry, reading them and leaving the most relevant comment. Valuable comments receive likes and show up at the top of the comments section. People who read the article are likely to read them and click on your profile if they feel that your input has added value.
What else to do on LinkedIn
In his 2019 article, Gary mentions two more things: adding your LinkedIn profile to your email signature and using LinkedIn to host beneficial events for key people in your industry. The former helps as most professionals, especially in B2B, have a LinkedIn account. The latter is a good way to build and maintain trust and reputation by bringing people in your industry together purely for the benefit of each other. (This is what we do at Arctic15!). Learn more about this in Gary’s article about using LinkedIn for B2B marketing.
What NOT to do on LinkedIn
It seems straightforward, but has to be said: do not do what you would not want done to you on LinkedIn. So, no, do not use automated bots to leave generic comments for your $1.80 strategy. People can tell and it does not bring you results. It is better to write 10 meaningful comments that others can benefit from than 100 generic “Good job”, “Love this” or other automated messages.
And no, do not spam people with messages in their LinkedIn mailbox unless you are providing value. And no, “Hey, I noticed you work in real estate, we have a special offer on our great SaaS product…” is not an example of providing value. “Hey, I noticed you posted about X, I’ve recently read an article by this other person which talks exactly about this: (link). Let me know if you find it helpful!” might work.
Have you tried LinkedIn marketing for your startup yet? Test it out & let us know how it went!
