How To Know If LinkedIn Marketing Is Right For You

Here at Red Bird Social, we spend a lot of time talking about how to grow your social media presence on the big two: Facebook and Instagram. We’ve even spent a good amount of time covering what it looks like to grow your brand on Tik Tok and through an email list.

But one often overlooked platform that just might be a great fit for your brand or business? LinkedIn. Today we’re diving a little deeper into exactly how LinkedIn works and how to know if YOU should make this platform part of your marketing strategy.

How to Use LinkedIn

LinkedIn has been around since 2002, making it one of the longest-running social media networks. But where Instagram places a focus on photos and videos and Facebook on groups and events, LinkedIn was specifically designed for businesses and professionals.

The aim of LinkedIn? To focus on business-to-business (B2B) connections as opposed to business-to-consumer (B2C).

Instead of funny videos and family photos, this platform mostly centers around professionals finding work, sharing their work, and businesses finding talent.

Apart from your personal user profile, business owners and brands can also create company pages on LinkedIn. Here you can create an About page for your business, share posts, job listings, events and more. This page is essentially your brand’s “website” on LinkedIn.

Finally, there are LinkedIn Groups. These are communities where you can start conversations, host events, and more with your followers and like-minded people. Groups provide a great way to connect with other professionals in the same industry or who have similar interests.

Is LinkedIn right for you?

So how do you know if LinkedIn is the right place for you to promote your new brand, book, or small business?

This may be a platform you should look into if your goals are to:

1. Become a thought leader.

One of LinkedIn’s greatest benefits is it’s much easier to gain attention on the platform than it is on Instagram or Facebook. Ads and promoted posts cost considerably less and there aren’t the same pesky algorithms to keep your content from being seen by the users you want to reach. If you’re posting consistent, quality videos, blog posts, or articles and regularly interacting with others, you can establish yourself as a thought leader on the platform.

2. Expand your business and find new talent.

If you’re a business looking to grow and get the word out, LinkedIn makes this job a lot easier than other social platforms. Whether you’re looking to hire or create industry contacts, you can search users by industry, location, skills, and more. You can also see mutual contacts and similar users which simplifies the task of growing your network.

3. Find potential buyers/customers of a professional solution you offer.

Whether you sell books and online courses, offer a service, or are a public speaker, you’re certain to find people on LinkedIn who need what you offer. Before diving into the platform, get really clear on your ideal audience. Follow the companies and brands they follow and share content that would be helpful for them on your feed. Special interest groups also make it easy to find potential customers.

But remember – LinkedIn is about building connections and relationships, so don’t message someone and try to sell to them. Connect, send them an email and ask more about what they do and what they need. This is the best way to build a real connection and even do market research for your own business.

4. Grow your email list to serve customers off the platform.

By now you know that we strongly recommend doing everything you can to build your email list. LinkedIn is a great place to do this. Talk about what you do and share free resources. Join discussion groups on similar topics and offer to send anyone the free tools you’ve created that will help with their needs. After serving, you can build a relationship and share your offer. But remember- value always comes first!

Have you tried out using LinkedIn to grow your business or personal brand? What problems have you encountered? What have you found that really works? Let us know in the comments or share your thoughts over on our Red Bird Social Instagram right here!