For B2B brands, LinkedIn is the pathway to more clients, more collaborators, and more engagement. To reap the rewards, we’re told, all you have to do is show up.
So you did. As did hundreds of millions of other professionals.
Now you’re stuck in a time loop of posting too much and getting burnt out and not posting at all.
Leads are hard to come by, let alone quality leads. Every once in a few months, one of your posts sees some action, but you have no idea what made it different. And you don’t know how to juggle LinkedIn with having a business and a life.
This next part might sting a little, but LinkedIn success really does depend upon showing up. Albeit with a few qualifiers:
- In front of the right crowd.
- Saying the right things.
- Preferably at the right time.
In this guide, we demystify LinkedIn marketing and show you why it’s not just “deceptively simple” but deceptively hard.
Read on for a straightforward yet effective approach to creating a LinkedIn marketing strategy that breaks the loop and points the way forward.
Understanding LinkedIn Marketing
LinkedIn’s user base comprises of professionals who are there to learn, engage, hire, and buy.
They want to be sold to, they just don’t want you to let them know you’re doing it.
That is why to master your strategy, you need to understand the trifecta that is LinkedIn marketing:
- Profile
- Content
- Outreach.
LinkedIn might not be the best place to sell a viral $10 makeup brush, but if you want to crack a $10,000 enterprise software sale, it’s the place to be.
And as with any big-ticket dish, you have to slow cook, not flash fry your way to glory.
The Importance of a LinkedIn Marketing Strategy
If done right, your LinkedIn marketing strategy can result in:
Increased Brand Awareness
LinkedIn’s billion-strong user base provides quantitative reach, but it’s the qualitative aspect that matters more. LinkedIn’s audience is attentive, affluent, and organically engaged.
A sustained presence helps you build:
- Brand identity,
- Brand reputation, and
- Brand loyalty.
It puts your business front-and-center not just for the small sliver of current buyers in the market right now, but for the vast majority of potential ones.
Lead Generation
LinkedIn is responsible for 80% of B2B leads — and we’re not just talking about any leads. Because of its reach, LinkedIn offers you access to the high-hanging fruit — CEOs, VPs, founders — that you’d be hard-pressed to find elsewhere.
Gartner reports that B2B buying decisions now involve 11–20 stakeholders. LinkedIn can help you reach these critical decision-makers, simplifying your sales journey.
Building Professional Relationships
LinkedIn is not just for finding clients but also for building relationships with peers and professionals from complementary fields.
Leverage LinkedIn’s reach to build partnerships and networks with reputable experts and influencers. Together, you can offer more diverse and comprehensive advice and solutions to your combined following.
Establishing Industry Authority
Posting original, insightful content over time builds a loyal following.
Your conversations with peers — in online events, on podcasts, in professional groups — demonstrate your understanding and expertise to both peers and audience members.
Enhanced Credibility
- Publishing regular updates,
- staying in touch with customers, and
- providing educational content
all encourage repeat purchases and up-selling.
Your track record, connections, and content also make it easier for new customers to trust you.
Steps to Create an Effective LinkedIn Marketing Strategy
The most effective LinkedIn marketing strategy for your business is one that is created with your goals in mind. So start by:
Setting Clear Objectives
For your LinkedIn marketing strategy to be a success, you need to have clear, defined goals. The platform offers a host of benefits, and it’s easy to lose momentum and direction if you don’t have a strong vision.
Your purpose for using LinkedIn can range from broad to specific:
- To get visibility, e.g. to get 20k followers
- To connect with target audience, e.g., founders of start-ups that launched in the last year
- To promote a product, e.g. book demos
Next, link your goals to KPIs to make them measurable.
- 2k followers per month or 50% month-on-month follower growth
- 20 InMail messages or 10 connection requests per day
- 5 demo calls per week
Chart a path to your goals keeping the specifics in mind.
The fastest path to visibility is through a mix of sponsored content and collaborations. But a business that wants to bag demo bookings needs to push content containing lead magnets and case studies.
Identifying Your Target Audience
In the last two years,
- generative AI,
- leaner teams, and
- the economic landscape
have reshaped and resized sales funnels.
Update your ICP and buyer personas to factor in these shifts.
It’s also essential to reconcile who you believe your audience is with who they actually are.
Review the user demographics available on your profile’s LinkedIn Analytics page and match these characteristics with your ICP.
A significant discrepancy between them indicates a potential mismatch in content intent and impact, which may require a complete strategy overhaul.
Once you have a refined list of audience characteristics, find prospects by searching keywords and applying filters based on company industry, location, and size in LinkedIn’s native search.
Alternatively, you can use a B2B lead database like Hunter Discover. It contains a directory of B2B businesses that can be qualified per your ICP’s demographic and firmographic features.
Export your list to a spreadsheet, then identify key individuals from these organizations to reach out to.
Before making any outreach moves, reassess buyer motivation and perceived barriers. If you have a wide audience, divide them into segments.
Doing this helps you maintain relevance and align content topics and offers with audience expectations.
Optimizing Your LinkedIn Profile
Your LinkedIn profile is an important touchpoint that links users who engage with your content to your business.
- Begin by filling in the basics: name, organization, designation, location, and contact information.
- Your profile picture should be a professional headshot with a neutral background for a polished first impression.
- Utilize the headline, banner image, and summary sections to communicate your niche and specialization.
- Every part of your profile should be designed to guide visitors toward your call to action (CTA).
Enzo Avigo, CEO of June.so, a product analytics service, uses CTA buttons and featured customers in his banner to build credibility and evoke interest.
- For company pages, consider adding a Showcase Page to highlight specific aspects of your business.
- To increase visibility, use relevant hashtags and create a personalized profile link.
- Adjust your bio, banner, and About section to reflect any changes in business goals or positioning.
- Share updates on milestones, skill certifications, and role changes as they occur.
Plan to update your profile at least semi-annually to reflect new developments, and consider a more comprehensive update every two to three years to keep your profile in line with current trends.
Creating and Sharing Valuable Content
Top-of-funnel lead generation has been impacted by
- shifting buyer priorities,
- team restructuring,
- budget reductions, and
- evolving business goals.
To adapt, restructure older content and create new material that reflects these changes.
The most effective content for you will depend on your niche, audience preferences, and objectives.
If lead generation is your goal, quizzes can engage your audience and drive sign-ups.
For thought leadership, try posting a comprehensive guide in carousel format or breaking it down into daily updates for increased traction.
SEO specialist Jake Ward posted a detailed guide to SEO for beginners, complete with a flowchart. The combination of high-value text and gif turbocharged the engagement on this post, getting him 3 to 4 times the usual likes and comments.
Bulk.ly offers an automatic post generator that creates LinkedIn posts derived from your blog articles. These help you meet your weekly or monthly post requirements.
So, if you’re doing
- 4x high-value posts a month
(case studies, how-to posts, original research, industry outlook, etc.),
- 2x humorous posts, and
- 2x anecdotes,
but want to post every day,
select articles from your blog that tie in with the content theme and let Bulk.ly create posts for the remaining days.
Bulk.ly can also help you recycle and repurpose old posts. Such as those that might not have shown up on your followers’ feeds the first time around due to algorithmic filters.
After selecting the posts you want to publish, create a content calendar.
Head over to the ‘Calendar’ section on your Bulk.ly dashboard. Select the days and time slots for publishing each post.
Consider linking LinkedIn to other platforms to establish cross-channel synergies.
Engaging with Your Network
Growing your LinkedIn presence is a two-step dance.
Step one is creating engaging content, and step two is, well, engaging.
If you’re receiving comments on your posts, that means you’ve executed one-half of your strategy successfully.
Now implement the second half by:
- Replying to these comments
- Interacting with other people’s posts
- Participating in discussions in LinkedIn groups
- Following up on conversations with potential leads and colleagues via DMs
- And eventually moving off-platform to email.
Respond to both positive and negative comments on posts. Be open, friendly, and receptive to their feedback.
Avoid commenting for the sake of commenting. Going to someone’s post only to write ‘Thank you’ or ‘I agree’ doesn’t further the conversation.
Offer genuine advice or opinions. Sometimes, but not always, you’ll be presented with the opportunity to plug your product or service in your answer.
After a productive interaction, deepen ties through a Direct Message. Introduce yourself and inquire about the post topic, or share a resource or update.
Interested connections can be put on your email list and nurtured using a cadence.
In your first email, reference your LinkedIn conversation and ask if they’d like to receive emails on specific topics. Offer an extended list of topics to choose from.
If you don’t receive an answer, schedule a follow-up email 2 to 3 days later, and one more during the week.
Hunter Campaigns, along with supporting tools, can automate your outreach process:
- From finding and verifying contact information
- Personalizing templates
- Sending follow-up emails
- Tracking opens and replies
and help you cement your LinkedIn bond over owned media.
Analyzing and Adjusting Your Strategy
Use LinkedIn’s Analytics page and Bulk.ly’s analytics tools to track the performance of your content.
Important metrics to monitor include:
- Post impressions
- Clicks
- Followers
- Profile views
- Leads generated
- Conversions
Identify high-performing posts to gain insights into your audience’s preferences. Run A/B tests to modify them for increased engagement.
Content formats like videos, polls, carousels, short posts (<400 characters), and longer posts (>500 words) are generally well-received, but test them to determine which resonate most with your followers.
Schedule updates for days and times when your audience is most active, and experiment to find the ideal posting frequency.
Monitor trends over time, especially around significant events like the holiday season. You can easily edit the posting schedule in your Bulk.ly calendar.
View follower growth on LinkedIn and evaluate its impact on engagement.
While a larger following can reduce overall engagement, significant drops may indicate a need for a new communication channel, e.g., a LinkedIn group or a newsletter, to connect with more engaged audiences separately.
Final Thoughts on How to Create A LinkedIn Marketing Strategy
A sound LinkedIn marketing strategy doesn’t require posting boatloads of content every day, or spending thousands on Ads.
LinkedIn users value authenticity and organic reach over gimmicky tactics.
To connect with them, keep your profile updated with professional milestones, publish niche-aligned content, and nurture genuine relationships with your network.
