I’m currently in love with LinkedIn in that “6 months into a relationship” sort of a way. We’ve passed the awkwardness of figuring each other out. We realize how compatible we are. I’m still discovering new, exciting things about this beautiful relationship. And I’m hopeful about our future together.
LinkedIn is hands down out-performing all of my other social media platforms in visibility, engagement and conversion.
Here’s the breakdown of why I am loving LinkedIn and what it can do for your business
The Community- LinkedIn is the largest, most interactive, and most accessible professional database you’ll find. There are over 500 Million users who’ve come together with the intent to network and do business. Unlike the other platforms where the users come for a social experience and then connect for business, LinkedIn flows the opposite direction. Users come for business, and highly value relationships. Because of the professional nature of the platform, you are less likely to see all the things that annoy us as users on other platforms. I.E. Spewing political opinions, arguing over differences of opinion, general anger at everyone that is different than you, unresearched “news” stories, and SPAMMY posts… my list could go on. On LinkedIn you are more likely to find relevant business articles, congratulations for professional accomplishments, and great articles. I love the articles. I’m not suggesting that LinkedIn never has spam, just check your messages and you’ll get a slew of less than personal connection messages asking if you want their product or service. As with any platform, there’s a right way and a wrong way to connect. But overall, the community in LinkedIn is much more productive and positive.- The Research- LinkedIn is the only platform that allows you to research your ideal client, and actually find personal profiles. JV relationships have always been a staple in our marketing plan. And whenever someone asks how I find so many amazing partners, my answer is “LinkedIn Sales Navigator.” If I need a business finance expert, a leadership expert, or a mindset guru all I have to do is search and LinkedIn will generate a list of profiles. I can narrow the search by state, title, size of team, or several other useful classifications. I can then reach out and invite them to train on an expert summit or be a guest on my radio show. This feature can be used in many other ways. Think PR, collaboration, connecting with services you need for your business, and of course, connecting with your ideal client. If you aren’t using this tool yet, I recommend you start!
- The Data- I am a data girl, and LinkedIn is the only platform that gives me the extra data that makes doing business so much easier. For example, when I have a high performing post, I can see the top companies that read the post. If you’ve got an article circulating around an office, wouldn’t it be great to follow up with that office and see what challenges they are facing? You can see who has viewed your profile recently so you can reach out and start a connection. You can see who has liked your content. And it even shows you by geographical area where your content is most popular. This is great data for your follow up, but also for planning future marketing campaigns.
- The Offline Connections- Because LinkedIn’s focus is being a great place to do business, people are more eager to take the connection offline and have a conversation. I’m not suggesting I jump on a call every time I’m invited to a discovery call to “see if we have synergy.” In fact, I think these types of vague requests hurt the platform as a whole. But the process of connecting, identifying a mutual need, and converting into a real conversation moves faster on LinkedIn than it does on other platforms. People are there because they want to connect for business. And we all know that doing business through email is not ideal. Requests for lunch meetings, phone calls, or coffee collaborations are much more common here than I find in other places.
- The Reach- I just can’t say enough about this one! LinkedIn as of, March 19th, 2018 is giving awesome visibility! I can take the same post, put it on my business page on Facebook and post it on LinkedIn and LinkedIn kills FB in post performance. If I pay to boost the post in FB, it will get higher visibility numbers. But even boosted, the comments will probably be higher on LinkedIn. Facebook is a powerful tool for business! Check out my blog post from last week for more tips there. Our cost per lead is lower on Facebook than LinkedIn. But, LinkedIn is currently outperforming Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for free engagement in my business.
Here’s the caveat in all of my LinkedIn Love. What’s right for me, might not be what’s right for you. I am a small business strategist. I create business content. LinkedIn is full of business people. So it’s a great platform for me. If you make cute children’s hair bows, you might get better performance on Instagram! But if your ideal client is on LinkedIn, you might want to give this platform more attention in your overall social media strategy.