B2B? Get LinkedIn

We spend plenty of time talking about businesses infiltrating personally-dominated social media channels like Facebook while marketing to their customer base and potential new leads. But, what about a social media outlet that helps you cut through the personal chatter for a more business-focused outlet? How valuable is this for a business-to-business (B2B) product or service-driven marketing strategy? Enter LinkedIn.

While I am well aware that LinkedIn is not a new social media channel by any means, I want to change the way you think about it. No longer is LinkedIn purely just a home for your personal marketing, connections and career backup plan – it can be an effective social media outlet for your business – I will tell you why.

Business people are already there. There are millions of people just like you that have a LinkedIn account to market themselves to prospective employers or help with the climb up the management ladder. As a B2B company, your audience is already there for you on a digital social media silver platter. In addition, when searching for new staff members, you are able to have a more focused sample of prospective applicants.

Company pages can be linked to personal pages. It is rare that a person spends their entire career at one company. In addition, many move to a competitor within the industry to advance their careers. When a person has a LinkedIn social media page, their company page is hyperlinked within their profile, multiplying the reach exponentially. For example, past connections from other companies can see your page while exploring content on a personal page.

Personal relationships can aid business relationships. While LinkedIn is a business-focused social media outlet, people still make ‘connections’ with personal friends. While it may not seem like a relevant aspect, a connection’s girlfriend’s brother may find you through content from a personal connection who happens to be an associate at your company – extending the reach of your content.

The outlet cultivates business people making business connections. As I alluded to in the introduction, LinkedIn has a business-focus, which means you don’t have to worry about your content being diluted due to a surplus of personal content. This is especially true on other social media channels such as Facebook and Twitter, which are primarily personal social media channels with an abundance of content centering around birthday celebrations, nights out on the town and updates on breakups and new relationships. Also, many times, when someone seeks information on B2B services, they will go to LinkedIn during their research. Having a well-managed LinkedIn account can be an invaluable resource for marketing, with an opportunity to have a one-stop shop profile with all your pertinent information like a link to your website.

Continues conversations past the meeting room. When you have meetings with new connections, sometimes it is hard to know the next step when you leave the meeting room. Making connections on LinkedIn allows you to continue the conversation and relationship development over time.

How do you use LinkedIn for your business?