Mike CubberlyYou know the modern day cliche, “It’s not what you know, but who you know”? It may be an overused cliche, but it has never been more true. Your 
network is everything, and what better place to garner relationships and turn them into MQLs, than every B2B marketer’s favorite network, LinkedIn?
“LinkedIn is responsible for more than 80% of a business’s social media leads”¹
There are many reasons why LinkedIn wins, but possibly the most notable is that it has become a true publishing platform, and brands everywhere are taking advantage—and prospering from it.
Q1 2015 –LinkedIn Publishing Platform Now Accessible To 230 Million Members In All English-Speaking Countries
LinkedIn now has over 364M users and its custom publishing platform (not just for Bill Gates anymore) is largely to thank for this massive increase in network size.
Brands wanted to speak directly to their buyers and LinkedIn answered the call — by publishing content to this professional network of buyers, brand advocates, and industry influencers, it is now easier than ever to target who we need to, with what we’d like to, and at a time that’s appropriate.
That being said, the engagement and return that a brand receives from their published content is only as “good” as the content they produce. Substance is important, but a huge part of cultivating success from what is published on LinkedIn, relies heavily on the abilty of the content to spark a conversation — that is, that readers are not only drawn to read the content, but engage with it, as well. This is what truly separates a piece of content from a piece of literature that understands return.
As Andrew Gaffney of Demand Gen Report and our own Dana Harder explained in their webinar last week, content CAN spark conversations with buyers, and it’s happening every day.
So, you know all about messaging and how to capitalize on buyer centricity when creating great content, but did you know that links also play a major part in opening up dialogue via LinkedIn?
LinkedIn, Emphasis on the “Link”
You certainly don’t want to be the person that includes 100 links in a 200 word article, but you should feel encouraged to take some promotional liberty and link to relevant and appropriate pages/articles external to LinkedIn (i.e a company blog), like I did above ⇧. These links will help to position yourand your brand as a leader in the space and help drive the right traffic to your site at the right times.
Be generous with the links for brand promotion, but also leave room for links to others’. That being said, don’t name drop in every article written, but be sure to link to other influencers and their work when appropriate. This will [likely] lead to a share and, as we all recognize, shares help to expand thereach of your content.
If it is truly who you know, and it is, then show the world just who you know! Get others involved in your passions by leveraging LinkedIn’s new[ish] publishing allowance and begin creating the conversations that garner relationships!
¹https://blog.kissmetrics.com/linkedin-strategies-b2b-marketing/
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