7 Tips To Help You Boost Your Content On LinkedIn

As the preeminent businesses-to-business networking platform, LinkedIn can have a tremendous impact for brands in industries of all types. From brand awareness to acquiring leads and beyond, it presents a number of options to target specific demographics and boost social media marketing efforts.

With LinkedIn advertising options becoming much more effective as of late, brands are smart to include them within their overall LinkedIn marketing strategy. And, with organic reach on social media networks chalked to decline (maybe even disappear) in the near future, experimenting with LinkedIn promotion methods early on is a good idea.

Currently, the main issue faced by many marketers on LinkedIn is how, specifically, they can leverage the network to promote their content. With the recent roll-out of LinkedIn Publishing, it seems the B2B network is cognizant of this challenge, and looking at providing ways to facilitate content promotion. And with more options likely to emerge for advertising on LinkedIn, marketers will need a solid game plan to break through the noise.

To this end, we’ve compiled a list of tips to help your LinkedIn promotion efforts elevate your content – and your brand – to the next level. By using these organic and paid tactics, you can boost your LinkedIn marketing strategy and maximize the impact of your content.

1. Track And Capitalize On Engagement

As a B2B platform, LinkedIn tends to be active at particular times during the week. If you’re just venturing into LinkedIn promotion, begin by posting at 6am, 12pm and 7pm. Track your engagement in LinkedIn’s analytics to determine which updates receive the greatest level of interaction from your community. Boost the engagement of your posts by scheduling your updates just before or just after the hour to take advantage of users who are checking their social feeds just before or just after appointments or meetings.

2. Throw Paid Linkedin Advertising Into The Mix

Consider incorporating paid tactics into your LinkedIn strategy, but test each build accordingly. Sponsored Updates are ideal for sharing and promoting your original content. They are also great for increasing the visibility of what you post. Target your updates according to offer type and industry.

In addition to executing Sponsored Updates, LinkedIn also has a self-serve ad platform. However, this LinkedIn advertising platform only contains remnant inventory. The ad space itself is less than premium. Having said that, LinkedIn’s targeting is quite advanced – regardless of ad type. You can filter your targeting by role, industry, company size, company name, role function, and more to easily find your sweet spot.

Source: LinkedIn Content Marketing

3. Have An Editorial Plan

A content calendar can help aid your LinkedIn marketing strategy. When you develop an editorial strategy, you should include a LinkedIn promotion plan (along with plans for other social media platforms). However, always leave room for flexibility so that you can capitalize on topical issues, news and trends. While your calendar will impact the frequency of your LinkedIn updates, you should aim to post about once a day.

4. Share The Right Kind Of Content

One of the most important aspects of promoting content on LinkedIn in making sure you’re publishing the right kind of content. The network lends itself better to certain types of content than others, and you should consider this when developing a LinkedIn promotion strategy.

Do share:

• Relevant, engaging content (tips, lists, posts with strong CTAs)
  
• eBooks
  
• Case studies, reports or white papers
  
• Job opportunities

Avoid sharing:

• Updates with questions
  
• Videos
  
• Updates that are emotionally charged – the tone on LinkedIn is even and professional

5. Format Your Updates Properly

Using proper formatting when posting is a simple yet oft overlooked aspect of effective LinkedIn promotion. By using the following parameters, you can help boost your reach and improve your LinkedIn marketing efforts:

• More than 100 characters
  
• Include a brief summary of what your LinkedIn post is about, even if you’re only curating the article
  
• Include images
  
• Links – like Facebook, you can use a link preview on LinkedIn updates

6. Get Your Team On Board

One LinkedIn promotion practice that most organizations fail to include as part of their Linkedin marketing strategy is using internal resources to help promote content and updates. If your employees are on LinkedIn, encourage them to follow your business page and share your content updates. This will help extend the reach of your content as their networks – a wealth of connections who may not be aware of your brand – will be exposed to your content. And, if your employees know when their networks are most active (see tip #1), they can post at optimum times to maximize impact.

7. Join And Participate In Groups

LinkedIn has a plethora of interest groups that you can join and participate in. Since these groups are tied to specific interests, industries, and demographics, they contain an already segmented audience to target. Identify groups that are relevant to your industry, join and participate in them. This can help increase your influence within a specific industry, as well as establish thought leadership. If you want to create and manage your own group, Janet Fouts offers some great tips for doing so. You can also target groups (up to 100 active groups, to be exact) via LinkedIn advertising.

Conclusion

When marketing on LinkedIn, using a combination of paid and organic tactics is best practice. The network is a great medium for promoting your unique content, and with LinkedIn advertising options rapidly improving, now is a good time to start experimenting with some features to maximize your reach, if you haven’t already. LinkedIn offers some impressive targeting options – if you want your content seen by the right audience, you can’t afford to ignore it.

Now Read:

• How To Promote Content On YouTube
  
• 7 Ways To Promote Your Content On Twitter
  
• How To Promote Your Content On Facebook
  
• How to Promote Your Content on Google+

^{* Leader image with photo by Shields}