LinkedIn used to be known as just a professionals-only platform. But over time, new features and updates have turned this job-seeking platform into a B2B marketer's dream. From driving website traffic and generating quality leads to creating meaningful connections, it's also become a space for individuals looking to market themselves and build a personal brand centered around thought leadership.
In this guide, we'll walk you through how to effectively manage your LinkedIn presence on both personal and business profiles. Read on for valuable tips on everything from social selling to finding potential clients to curating content for your Showcase Page.
Table of Contents
Social Selling on LinkedIn
Having a LinkedIn marketing strategy
LinkedIn Showcase Pages
Five tips for a stellar LinkedIn Showcase Page
Social Selling on LinkedIn
What is LinkedIn's Social Selling Index?
LinkedIn's Social Selling Index (SSI) scores how effectively you portray yourself online based on four predetermined pillars: establishing your professional brand, finding the right people, engaging with insights, and building relationships.
You'll get a LinkedIn SSI score out of 100, with each SSI pillar accounting for 25 points each, to give you insight into how your profile fares against others within your industry. This SSI score is also updated daily so you have multiple opportunities to improve on it.
Establishing your professional brand
Scoring high marks for this SSI pillar means having a complete LinkedIn profile — that includes having a profile picture, headline, summary, background, and skills. You also increase your chances of scoring high if you post content that helps establish yourself as a thought leader.
Finding the right people
Growing your network and building strong relationships with second-degree connections will help you ace this SSI pillar. Try joining LinkedIn groups that cover topics you are interested in or that have members within your industry. Make connections by reaching out to people who view your profile. Engaging with LinkedIn posts from like-minded people also helps you build a strong network on the platform.
Engaging with insights
This SSI pillar is about discovering and sharing content that is conversation-worthy and creates networking and relationship-building opportunities. Increase your score for this pillar by engaging with LinkedIn posts that your connections share on the platform.
Building relationships
Building strong relationships helps you score high with this SSI pillar. Strengthen the ones you have with current connections by engaging with their content and sharing their posts with your audience. If you are a B2B marketer, you'll want to engage and nurture relationships with key decision-makers.
How to find your LinkedIn SSI score
Follow these steps to see your personal LinkedIn Social Selling Index Score.
1. Click on the “Work” menu
On your LinkedIn home screen, click on the “Work” menu in the right-hand corner of the navigation bar. You'll find it next to the “Me” menu that shows your LinkedIn profile picture.
2. Go to Sales Solutions
Select the “Sales Solutions” option.
3. Go to "Resources"
You'll be redirected to LinkedIn's “Sales Solutions” page. Here, hover over the “Resources” tab to reveal the dropdown menu.
4. Go to "Social Selling Index"
Select “Social Selling Index”.
5. See your SSI score
Select “Get your score free” to reveal your LinkedIn SSI score. The highest possible score is 100.
Does LinkedIn Social Selling really matter?
If you work on a sales team, chances are you've come across social selling more than once. LinkedIn is a prime platform for this, especially with its enablement tool, Sales Navigator, which helps users find prospects and build relationships through social selling.
But when it comes to whether or not LinkedIn's Social Selling Index actually matters, the answer is yes, it does. This is especially true if you operate in the B2B space and use LinkedIn as your primary platform for social media marketing campaigns. The downside to LinkedIn's SSI is that it does not provide a score for company pages. However, the strategy used to get a high SSI score on personal LinkedIn profiles can be applied to the content you share on your company profile. For example, you can establish a professional brand for your LinkedIn company page by making sure that it includes:
- Company logo and header image
- Home tab
- About section
- Product listing
- Available job posts
You can also build relationships by sharing valuable content on your company page for your audience to engage with. For ideas on what kind of content to share, see how these four brands are getting their content marketing right or watch this webinar on how to create captivating B2B content.
Having a LinkedIn marketing strategy
Creating a successful LinkedIn marketing strategy is not a daunting task. Given that the social media platform has more than 750 million users in 200+ countries, LinkedIn has great potential for anyone looking to use it for marketing purposes. Especially since adopting features found on other social media platforms — such as hashtags, stories, and live video content — LinkedIn has truly become a dream for businesses who are B2B and B2C. However, as with any platform on social media, you need to have an effective marketing strategy in place to not only increase brand awareness but reach the right audience and improve your online brand presence.
If you are looking to create or adjust your own LinkedIn marketing strategy, here is what you need to know.
How to post on LinkedIn
Posting on LinkedIn begins with clicking on the "Start a post" box at the top of your feed from either desktop or mobile. From there, you can add photos, videos, or event details to your post. Select the + icon to see more options.
What to post on LinkedIn
More than a job-posting platform or social networking tool, LinkedIn has big potential to elevate your personal brand as a thought leader within your industry. To do this, posting content that is valuable, engaging, and allows you to stand out from the rest of the crowd is a must. Here are ten ideas for the type of content you should be posting on LinkedIn:
- Original and long-form articles
- Industry news
- Company updates
- Video content
- Polls
- Upcoming webinars and online events
- Behind the scenes of your day-to-day life
- Tips and advice
- Job postings
- Client testimonials or case studies
Once you have an idea of the content you want to create, you will need to figure out when and how often is best for you to post.
When to post on LinkedIn
As with any content marketing strategy, you should have specific goals that you want to achieve on LinkedIn. Keep in mind that LinkedIn isn't quite like Instagram, where high-quality images of your vacation in Bali would guarantee likes. LinkedIn is, at its core, a professional social media platform whose audience consists of C-Level executives, B2B marketers, and other decision-makers. The content that you post there needs to reflect this audience and touch on the four LinkedIn SSI pillars.
LinkedIn's optimal posting times are Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 7 a.m. to 8 a.m., at noon, and from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. Generally, these are top moments of engagement because they fall during hours when people are commuting to and from work or are on a lunch break. You can use these hours as a guide to do A/B testing to identify when your particular audience is truly online and determine your specific optimal posting times. For more on when you should post content on other social media platforms, check out our guide on the best times to post on social media.
LinkedIn Showcase Pages
Though they sound similar, LinkedIn Company Pages and LinkedIn Showcase Pages are different. Let's dive deeper.
A Showcase Page is an extension of a LinkedIn Company Page that is created to highlight individual brands, business units, and initiatives. Think of Showcase Pages as the talent you would highlight on X Factor — use one to spotlight a CSR initiative you are driving, promote a purpose-driven marketing campaign, or target a specific audience. A few examples of Showcase Pages are:
You'll notice that these Showcase Pages, which are listed under the "Affiliated Pages" section of a main company page, have a similar layout to a Company Page.
How To Create a Showcase Page:
- Make sure that you have Admin capabilities for your company page.
- Select the "Admin Tools" dropdown menu.
- Select "Create Showcase Page".
- Add your Showcase Page name and LinkedIn public URL.
- Upload your Showcase Page logo and add a tagline.
- Add buttons to your page header such as "Contact us", "Sign up" or "Register". LinkedIn automatically suggests a "Follow" button for your parent LinkedIn Company Page.
- Complete the Showcase Page overview with a description of the page, website link, contact number, industry, company size, and year the business was founded.
- Depending on what your Showcase Page is highlighting, you can add your location.
- Add three hashtags to your Showcase Page. A branded hashtag works well here to make it easier for users to follow your Showcase Page.
- Upload a cover image according to LinkedIn's image size recommendations.
Five tips for a stellar LinkedIn Showcase Page
Here are some tips to help set your Company Page and Showcase Pages apart.
1. Choose the right name
Much like how Company Pages have business names clearly stated, make sure that you have a clear name for your Showcase Page. You don't want to choose something completely unrelated to your business or the purpose of the page. Best bet? Use your company name along with the initiative you are showcasing or the target audience you are focusing on, like EY's Women. Fast forward Showcase Page.
2. Include a description of the page
Make sure that you let users know what the purpose of your Showcase Page is in the "About" tab and tagline. Take a look at Adobe's Experience Cloud Showcase Page for one good example.
3. Post content consistently
Have a content marketing strategy for your Showcase Page to ensure that you're posting consistently to reach your target audience. You can use the tips above on what, when, and how to post on LinkedIn as guides for publishing content on your Showcase Page.
4. Get visual for engagement
Like on other social media platforms, the more visuals you incorporate into your content on LinkedIn, the better your chances are of getting more engagement. From videos and images to GIFs, include visual content alongside copy to encourage engagement.
5. Track your page performance
Just like your Company Page, Showcase Pages should be analyzed to assess how the page is performing and if your content marketing strategy needs adjusting. You can use social media metrics like traffic, number of visitors, number of followers, and engagement to track and measure how your Showcase Page is doing.
Conclusion
Incorporating the right marketing strategies when creating and managing your LinkedIn presence will help set you apart from the millions of users on the social media site. Showcase Pages can be a very important tool for branding your company on the platform.
Once you've used this guide to enhance your LinkedIn page and you're ready to start measuring its success, reach out to the Meltwater Team to learn more about our Social Media Analytics.
